reflex sympathetic dystrophy of face

[soilman 0]

I have "atypical facial pain believed to be of neurpathic origin with signs of reflex sympathethic dystrophy of the face, sympathetically maintained through the sphenopalatine ganglion."

In short, in my first (tandem) jump, air rushing by my face during freefall hurt quite a bit and the pain continued for a minute or 3 after the chute opened.

Should I just get a helmet with a face protector included? I have avoided winter wind for years, because of my face. I thought the much warmer air of a skydive might not hurt, but apparently the high speed was enough to cause pain.

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Animal husbandry may not be necessary. We can maintain soil quality, for plant husbandry, with green manures and cover crops.

[freefalle 0]

a full face helmet would greatly reduce or eliminate this issue, check with your gear store, and see if theyll let you demo one for a jump some DZ's will do that

[Nightingale 0]

your DZ may or may not allow you to do aff with a full face helmet. check with them first.

[soilman 0]

Perhaps it might be better if I try as many tandems as are necessary to find something that I think adequately protects my face, before I try my first AFF? I'm not sure. It is possible I'll never find something that I feel works as well as I would like, and that I will need to go ahead and do the first AFF before I am completely happy. I've considered neoprene ski mask or snow-mobile mask type things. I could try using one of these without a helmet. And it would fit my budget better. Not sure how soon i'll be able to come up with enough tradables for my next jump. Number of hours I'll be working and rate of earnings can vary, and is hard to predict now.

I still haven't solved the problem of keeping comfortable on cold windy winter days. An acrylic knit ski mask, or polyester fabric baclava, without goggles, is not enough.

By the way Nightingale I love your skydiving web site. I think the indescribable smile on your face, seen in some of the photos, seems to be as informative as your "why" page.

I was wincing in discomfort and a bit of pain during freefall. I knew beforehand that this might happen so I wasn't alarmed. But I was glad when freefall was over. I had a ridiculous ear-to-ear grin when I landed safely.

The feeling of the air on my face during freefall was so intense that I can hardly remember anything else about freefall. I don't remember seeing anything much during freefall. I don't remember seeing the ground during freefall. I only barely remember the sound of the air. I don't remember feeling air anywhere else, except on my face. I remember going thru a cloud and seeing the "fog" of the cloud, but I don't remember seeing much else. I didn't even realize I was experiencing freefall, until the parachute opened, and then I realized that the minute of very uncomfortable air on my face, that was finally over -- that was freefall. It started when the man I was attached to instructed me to move toward the exit door, and to place my foot on the footrest just outside the door. I placed my foot on the footrest, but it blew right off; so I diligently tried to move it back on again; it blew right off again; I tried to get it back on again, and the next thing I knew I was waiting for the distressing rush of air on my face to stop and the freefall to start -- and then the parachute opened and I realized freefall was already over. I don't remember feeling any fear as I inched toward the exit door -- I assumed the man I was attached to was an expert and that I had nothing to worry about -- just relax, and fall. Nor do I remember feeling any fear during the freefall -- just the very unpleasant sensation of air on my face. Which again, was not unexpected.

Freefalle, thanks for the info.

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Animal husbandry may not be necessary. We can maintain soil quality, for plant husbandry, with green manures and cover crops.

[flighty 0]

My dad has trigeminal nuralga (sp?) and it sounds very similar. He got terrible pain in his face from wind and it got progressively worse until it was quite debilitating. He just had a new procedure that zapped the nerve with an RF "laserish thingy". It worked incredibly well, but probably will need to be repeated as the nerve grows back.

~Cindy~
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
Spelling and grammar errors are left as an exercise for the reader.

[soilman 0]

Thanks for the feedback flighty. Yes, the sphenopalatine ganglion is part of the trigeminal system. I think there are 3 branches and I have a problem with only one or 2 of them, but maybe all 3, they aren't sure. So i think they consider what I have to be a kind of trigeminal neuralgia. They wanted to do the same thing to me, radio-frequency something or other. but I would prefer to not risk this as I get fairly good control by other methods such as scrupulously avoiding ambient tobacco smoke, by using nasal decongestants, and by occaisional use of lidocaine nose drops, and a bunch of systemic analgesics, including strong ones for emergencies.

Mine came on fairly suddenly 35 years ago, and slowly improved over the course of about 10 years, but never went completely away. I got a lot of help starting in 1999 when I finally got hooked up with a good multidiscipline pain management center that got a good handle on the problem. Up till then I lived in conatant fear of uncontrollable pain. Until then I would have been afraid of jumping, and perhaps then having to deal uncontrollable pain for weeks afterward. Now I know that if that happens, there will be a doctor with drugs to help me.

Fortunately, 45 seconds to a minute of 120 mph air, wasn't enough to cause a week-long problem. It didn't seem to be nearly as bad as a typical blustery winter day. There was some pain for about 2 minutes after the chute opened. By time we landed I was back to normal. But it still partially spoiled my enjoyment of the jump.

This didn't really matter a lot though, as most of the enjoyment was not the jump itself, but getting to spend a few hours with my son and grandchildren, surprising my son who was pretty sure that I was going to chicken out even before I was suited up and the day was not going to cost him anything, and knowing that my grandchildren were going to tell people that "grandpa jumped out of an airplane."
Oh yea, also there were all those pretty young women with ear to ear smiles on their faces. Goodness gracious.

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Animal husbandry may not be necessary. We can maintain soil quality, for plant husbandry, with green manures and cover crops.

[ltdiver 3]

RSD is very painful indeed! Especially in it's acute phase.

I've worked with several patients with this, the latest with RSD of the leg.
So sorry that you've had to suffer and deal with this!

As far as skydiving instruction (welcome btw!), a full face, hard helmet will not be allowed for tandem. Too much of a risk in hitting your TM's head (think: teeth) with something as tall (taller than your head) and hard as a full face.

AFF is a possibility, but you'll have to talk with your instructors to see if something like this might be within their comfort level. Ya see, we want to 'talk' with you in freefall and your -eyes- gives us alot of information on how you're doing.

Have you considered Static Line? Sure, the wind would be hitting your face while out on the strut (if you're in a small plane where you have to be out in the breeze until you let go of the plane), but an Otter would have you protected until you launch out.

Then, you'll learn how to steer and control your canopy right off the bat and be ahead of most others who choose to go the AFF route.

After you get cleared for solo freefalls (perhaps as early as 10 second delays), you'll be able to use your fullface helmet without a problem. Seems like a good scenario, no?

I learned by S/L (static line) and it worked great for me. Cheaper than AFF or tandem and got me in the air every weekend. Even if the DZ you're choosing to learn at only advertises AFF/Tandem, you might be surprised that they have S/L as well. Perris does (has the hook up at the back of the plane still), but they rarely do it. No real need. Yours, I -know- they would make an exception for.

Good luck! Let us know what you decide and how it goes, k?!
ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[soilman 0]

Thanks for the info Nightingale -- I forgot to thank you before. freefalle -- thanks again. flighty.

And thanks for the info ltdiver, and for articulating the info so clearly.

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Animal husbandry may not be necessary. We can maintain soil quality, for plant husbandry, with green manures and cover crops.

[robskydiv 0]

Hi friend. If your instructor can't find a way to accomodate you then find another. There's no reason you should have to have discomfort of this type while in freefall. The fact that you still want to skydive speaks volumes to me about heart and guts. ok here's 2 cents: Save all the money it takes to pay for all your training then just do it. Have fun. Harry

[soilman 0]

Anyone know if I can I use ski goggles when skydiving? Or does one need special skydiving goggles?

I ordered one of these balaclavas for cold, windy winter days and am wondering if I can use it for skydiving too? I am thinking of ordering something like this for cold winter days, too. Clear lens for night use as well as day (don't think I can afford 2 pairs or 2 lenses). I need to get some kind of goggle for cold winter days. Perhaps spherical lenses would be better for skydiving? They would be better for "up and down" vision as well as peripheral vision?

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Animal husbandry may not be necessary. We can maintain soil quality, for plant husbandry, with green manures and cover crops.

[BillyVance 34]

Quote

Anyone know if I can I use ski goggles when skydiving? Or does one need special skydiving goggles?

I ordered one of these balaclavas for cold, windy winter days and am wondering if I can use it for skydiving too? I am thinking of ordering something like this for cold winter days, too. Clear lens for night use as well as day (don't think I can afford 2 pairs or 2 lenses). I need to get some kind of goggle for cold winter days. Perhaps spherical lenses would be better for skydiving? They would be better for "up and down" vision as well as peripheral vision?

I don't see any reason why not, as long as you secure these goggles in a way that they won't rip off in freefall.

On the other hand, I've used my old Factory Diver helmet for downhill skiing (just because it's warm, and the fact that my skiing goggles fit perfectly in the open face).

Blue Skies
Billy

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban