My first 3 AFF jumps were flawless but...

[Plokkum 0]

Hey all!

I've been waiting for this for a couple of weeks and yesterday I finally made my first 3 AFF jumps. Man that was awesome. Everything went flawless so far. One JM even let go of me in my first jump, 2nd too and in my third they both let go and they let me rotate (which is for lvl 4). I was very stable and I never fell in any of my landings. So I was really happy about it.

One thing that occured though was that I experienced strong pains in my ears as soon as I opened my canopy. I thought this was normal so I kept jumping.

In my third jump I still had that pain when opening my canopy and it felt like I had a lot of slime in my mouth. So I spit it ou in the air and saw it was blood. I kept spitting up blood the rest of the evening and one ear didn't pop open until 4 hours after my last jump. A friend of me is a doctor and he advised me not to jump until I did a medical check on my ears. So I did that this morning and it turned out that I have perforated eardrums. That's where the blood came from. My doctor said that it occured because I'm always having a cold... dunno how you say that in English, sorry. So I can't jump until I get rid of that. Hopefully I'll be back up there within a month cause I was instantly addicted to skydiving.

I was wondering if anybody else has experienced the same problem cause it didn't happen at my DZ before (as far as they know).

Weee, got my AFF :D

[mr2mk1g 10]

Hi and welcome to the sport.

Did you have a problem when you went to jump with breathing through your nose? Were you ill with something which caused your sinuses to be blocked up?

I learnt not to ever jump if I couldn't breathe clearly. It caused a lot of pain when I did once and forced a lot of mucus into my inner ears affecting my hearing for days.

You always risk a perforated eardrum if you jump when suffering from a cold/flu. It's a known complication of jumping when you really should have decided to stay on the ground with a hot drink. The simple answer is don't ever jump if you can't breathe freely through your nose (or if you have other sinus problems).

And I'm afraid you're going to have to wait till you're fully healed before doing your level 4.

[bigorangemd 0]

This is the wrong forum to post this. It'll be moved later. Not unusuall. If you cannot breathe clearly and clear your ears on the ground, don't go up.

[Tonto 1]

Quote

This is the wrong forum to post this.

Spot on.

Moved to Safety and Training. Instructors and jumpmasters really should be the people to make students aware of the consequences of jumping congested.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[valcore 0]

That happened to me about a month ago. I get really bad seasonal allergys and was suffering from a sinus infection. So I though I'll be fine to jump, nope my ears hurt like hell when I landed and did not clear for a week. Though I did not have a perferated ear drum. Hey did the doc tell you that it will effect your hearing or will everything go back to normal once it heals.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I'm from the government and I'm here to help’. ~Ronald Reagan

30,000,000 legal firearm owners killed no one yesterday.

[Plokkum 0]

Thanks for the replies!

The doc said it was already healing. I don't hear high tones at the moment but that's because of the perforation and the blood inside my ear. She also said that it probably will all be back to normal.

The problem with me is that the doc said I'm having a chronic cold. So they will have to find out what causes it. It could be an allergic reaction with pets or something. I wasn't even aware of my 'cold' because it's always been like this. So I'm sure that it's chronic indeed.

Next week they are going to do some medical tests with me so let's hope for the best.

A guy here at the DZ had a pain in his ears too a couple of months ago, when he did his first tandems. He then bought some earplugs or something and says that fixed it for him. Does anyone else have experience with those?

I'm still at the DZ and will be there until tomorrow cause it's so good to see the rest of my student-mates moving to their next levels. The weather is good too so let's just stay here ;):)

Weee, got my AFF :D

[dragon2 0]

Do NOT jump with earplugs if you have trouble with equalizing pressure! It'll make things much worse.

On the plus side, I'm always having slightly congested sinuses (bijholteontsteking) and I wasn't sure at all if i could jump. So I started out with staticline. My 2nd or 3rd jump from 12k I ended up with a ruptured eardrum as well. Hurt like %^&. A few days later I had a bad infection in my sinuses so my ears knew before i did... However my doctor said not to worry too much, besides taking care to not get your ears wet (shower/swimming) when it's ruptured, and there's always the chance of a middle ear infection. Anyway after 2 weeks i was jumping again, and only had a problem with an ear hurting one time later on, when i knew i was congested, so I quit jumping that weekend. No problems since, I just don't jump when I'm really congested to avoid problems. But I also have the problem of being allergic to SOMEthing or whatever and I can still jump most of the time

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[Plokkum 0]

Thanks for the tips, Saskia! The doctor here didn't mention not getting my ears wet, so thanks for the tip! Hopefully I can get back up in the air after a week or two too. I'll just give it a try then and we'll see what happens. I also received some nosesprays or whatever you call them in English. It should clear my sinuses, but I also want to know what I'm allergic of.

And yes, it hurts like shite indeed but I thought everybody experienced it lol.

Anyway, I hope to see you around the DZ some time. I really like the people/club. Today I've been playing the bus driver :) So I'm still keeping myself busy hehe.

Take care!

Weee, got my AFF :D

[PutaDC 0]

I feel your pain! Although I never got so far as to spew blood, the pain was so unbearable on a few jumps that I HAD to pull a few thou higher. (I did a check before opening. I was the second to last jumper out ) I began to experience discomfort while progressing past 10 second delays. I initially thought it was the wind passing by my ears.(I covered the ear holes in the Protec w/ tape) I then realized it only appeared when I jumped from above 5000'. After blowing my ear drum 2 times I saw a specialist. It's called Eustcian Tube Disfunction. It's worse when you are stuffed up. Here are some ways of lessening the pain and enjoying your jumps, from my own experience and help from the specialists:
1-Don't jump with a cold! (unless he has an A Lic)
2-use decongestants even when you seem fine.
(it helps open the tubes)
3-Anti-inflamatories help with any swelling/pain associated with the irritation of the ear drum.
4-I have a pack of gum in my pocket. A few seconds before the door opens I pop a pice in my mouth and chew , chew, chew my way to a comfortable opening.It's all over-the-counter drugs but, pay attention to the directions!! You're not operating heavy machinery but it's the only machinery you have, your body. Use a Non-Drowsy version of decongestant, and as well, consult your physician before undertaking any regular drug regimen.
Puta Del Cielo Rodriguez

"Walking near the edge makes you feel like a new man, and this new man wants to walk even closer to the edge!"