SCUBA - DEALING WITH A REVERSE BLOCK

I am currently just recovered from my first scuba injury and I thought I'd share a little advice on how to avoid and treat and reverse block for all you fellow scuba newbies :)

WHAT TO AVOID: So hopefully we all know the phrase, "Anyone can end a dive at anytime for any reason", Ya girl should have really taken that to heart.

I had a little trouble clearing my ears during our initial descent. At around 35ft I finally got them to clear but it was sharp and forceful, I was concerned that I had endured a barotrauma but I continued the dive.

On ascent I experience immense pain and was unable to get my ears to clear again. I made the choice to leave the water anyways. That left me with air trapped inside of my ears and intense pain.

WHAT IT FEELS LIKE: Have you ever taken an ice pick to your ear hole?

I had a very intense ear ache on each side and then my ears began the process of attempting to equalize themselves. Think popping popcorn inside of your very sensitive ear holes.

TREATMENT: Honestly your ears just need to equalize. That's it.

Mine took four days to finally finish popping and aching but some sinus issues have kept me out of the water for over two weeks (no fun!)

If I would have been able to clear the block underwater before we surfaced I don't think I would have had as much residual pain. If you experience a reverse block, it isn't always possible to equalize underwater.

Identifying the cause is important too. I found out the next day I was getting a cold. My sinuses knew it before I had any real symptoms. I should have turned the dive on the descent that is when I first knew something was wrong. I did signal to my dive buddy (my husband) and our divemaster who both encouraged me to just continue trying to equalize. I knew that it wasn't a good idea and did it anyways. I will never do that again.

When in doubt, don't dive.

Stay safe babes!