Quote: (Originally Posted by
cramerdn)
I have always been a slow decender and equalizer and used to often have a stripe of blood in the snot at the end of a dive. Nasal polyup surgery has eliminated that issue even though I still seam to go down slower than about 1/2 the folks out there.
Surgery has definitely been suggested throughout the years by a couple of ENT's, yet they've also offered some kind of long-term use of a nasal steroid-like alternative (Flonase, Nasonex, etc.) which has always helped. I have a deviated septum, which If I understand the physiology of what's going on in there, contributes to making my nasal pasages pretty thin and obstructed. When I get the standard type of congestion from a cold, let's just say, it's not fun and it tends to last a very long time to completely clear-up.
However, I have no problem equalizing on a first dive. The problem usually develops at the end of my first dive or on the subsequent dives. The reverse squeze or the equalization on the subsequent dives gets blocked and I ALWAYS get a horrible squeeze affect that manifests itself in the nerve of a tooth in the upper left quadrant of my mouth. It's not a tooth squeeze, because I have been to the dentist for it. Instead, they tell me it's the sinus tube that runs above my tooth line and when blocked, swells and puts pressure on the nerve in a tooth - OUCH!!! That's where the Psudafed eliminates that problem altogether! My doctor also suggested Afrin inhaler, but I tried that and it was not as effective as taking one 12 hour Psudafed before diving.
Sorry for deviating from the original topic of the thread, but I thought someone else might experience a similar condition and might either benefit from it or be able to offer me some other helpful suggestion.