Skydiving and Pressure equalization on ears

[anccert 0]

I have really bad allergies that cause me to have sinus pressure 24/7, which is why I think my ears have trouble equalizing to pressure changes. I did a tandem skydive in the past which was fun, but NOT so fun was afterwards my ears were ringing for about an hour, hearing lessened, and for about two weeks my ears felt like they needed to be popped but I couldn't pop them. Finally the pressure I felt in my ears when away on it's own. I'm now getting ready to start AFF classes and was wondering if my ears will adjust after so many jumps or if I'm going to have to deal with the pain after every jump? Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Also, does anyone know if it's OK to take an antihistamine and decongestant while jumping?

Thanks,

Mike

[lippy 766]

Do a search on the forums on 'sinus pressue' There's a lot of good info in here.

Enjoy AFF!

I got nuthin

[Lastchance 0]

You can equalize the pressure in your ears while jumping by using the Valsalva method. Hold your nose and close your mouth and try to blow, Not really hard but with a good pressure. I used to have the same prob and it was very painful. Since I started doing this once or twice under canopy and then again on the ground I've had no problems. Also the longer I've been jumping the less i feel the pressure at all.

I may be getting old but I got to see all the cool bands.

[BIGUN 1,050]

Before I did Valsalva, antihistmines, decongestants, ect., I'd have a doctor check it out. Yes, some skydivers do take antihistimines, but some have drowsy side-effects to be considered. Your doctor may be able to help you with the right choice.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[northcave 0]

Crikey....

Being a suba diver and having burst an ear drum i have a little experience with this.... it seems like you're gonna have problems. If you did one tandem and had that much of a problem i would seriously consider not jumping at all. It is worth keeping your hearing. Or at least not trying to jump through it..... i tried that diving and put a hole in my ear drum... not nice.

That feeling of thinking they need to pop but you can,t is the result of some serious over pressuring. Thats why it took so long for your ear drum to heal and get back into shape.

If you can;t fix it with decongestants then you need a small operation on the sinus tubes. but i WOULDN'T go jump anst"deal witht the pain". You'll burst your drum and end up not being able to have a shower for a month.

So thats the good news,, who wantsd the bad..

[azdiver 0]

talk to an ear doc i know some one with the same problem they have some sort of tube you can put in your ears to stop them from doing that

light travels faster than sound, that's why some people appear to be bright until you hear them speak

[iamsam 0]

I had trouble equalising for days after my first jump(s) and have found it gets easier. Someone told me your 'tubes'/canals whatever loosen up. Dont know if thats true but its only a minor annoyance for me now.

Like someone else suggested, equalise while under canopy, esp in the last 500ft if its your safe to do so.

but what do I know

[anccert 0]

Thanks all for your replies. I took a combination of Allegra-D and Sudafed today and it seemed to reduce the congestion a bit. I start AFF Saturday and will see if the drug combination helps, if not I'll have to postpone AFF classes. It also gives me a little boost, which is good since my allergies cause such a fatigue issue. The only medication that has had this much effect in the past was a steroid the Otolarynologist(ENT) temporarily put me on. Maybe I should go back to the ENT and ask if he could shove a ramrod up my nasal cavity or bore it out a bit...lol

[DeNReN 0]

Speak to your Doctor!!

have you concidered IAD or static line for your 1st few jumps??? ....lower altitudes can be easier on the ears....

My ears bother me quite alot...lower altitude jumps lessen the problem...I also find that doing several higher jumps in sucession seem to ease the problem to a degree...

Speak to your doctor.

[virgin-burner 1]

i've had pretty much the same problem, also take antihistamines and stuff. had a lot or problems to begin with, but the more i jump, the less it seems to affect me..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[jrmaf 0]

Normally, the sinus cavities will equalize pressure as the middle ear area does. If you have sinus congestion, air may be trapped and cause a "squeeze" that will trap air inside the congested sinus and cause pain, although this usually will resolve fairly rapidly once your descent rate has slowed. The pain and pressure that you felt after the tandem jump was most likely due to the swelling of tissue around your tympanic membrane (ear drum), and as the swelling decreased, so did the full feeling in your ears. Please be aware that you must be 100% mentally "there" to get the maximum from your training. If any medication has side effects that would limit your ability to either learn or react normally to any problems, do not continue your training. Make sure that your Instructor knows of any meds you are on. I have found, in both SCUBA and Sky diving, that most people's bodies will adjust to the fact of pressure changes as they continue the activity. But, if you continue to jump, and have recurring pain, see your ENT. Hope you have fun with you AFF.

[anccert 0]

Just an update. I've started AFF and have been taking Sudafed before each jump. It has helped to reduce the on-slot of ear issues. After the first jump I developed swimmer's ear in my right ear, no big deal because it hasn't been painful. By the fourth jump my left ear became clogged and I had bit of blood come out of my nose on the plane ride up. I figure by now it's a good time to go to the clinic. Turns out I have an inner-ear infection in both ears. The doctor gave me antibiotics and I should be back jumping in the next few days. Only three more jumps left to my 7 level and I'll take it easy.

[scottbre 0]

Thought I'd add my own recent experience to this thread. I have been basically not jumping all year, because I perforated my ear drum in February due to being a little too congested. It was just like you had described: felt like my ear needed to pop but I couldn't get it to. After a trip to the doctor, it turns out it was because I had perforated my eardrum. This isn't a serious problem, if the hole is a clean smallish hole, just requires keeping water out of it (not really that hard to take a shower and not get water in your ear, I've gotten quite good at it) and avoiding anything that results in rapid pressure changes (holding in a sneeze, and of course skydiving).

It had a minor effect on my hearing but more often than not, that small loss in hearing (something that I totally got used to and stopped noticing) will return when the eardrum heals and closes back up.

More than likely the reason this happened was because I've had tubes in my ears multiple times while growing up, so there is a weak spot in my ear drums from those tubes. This can also be seen as a good thing because I sort of have a pressure valve that will blow and do minimal damage if the pressure is too much, versus the whole ear drum rupturing in a larger, more jagged and permanent way.

Also note that when you are jumping, the faster you're falling, the worse the effects of the pressure change, because they are happening faster, giving your ears less time to adjust to something they already apparently have troubles with. I did some jumps in June after my initial perforation had closed up and it was the headdown dive that ended up re-perforating my eardrum, forcing me to go through the healing process all over again. This time I will make sure it has been healed for a few weeks (give the eardrum time to thicken a bit) before doing any fast flying.

I've basically ruled out ever learning to scuba dive, because everything would be so much worse and painful if water came rushing into my inner ear after a rupture, and I still had to get back to the surface slowly. But hey, the good thing is that hop n' pops have practically no effect on the pressure in your ears, because you don't get the chance to experience the rapid pressure change.

"Your mother's full of stupidjuice!"
My Art Project

[anccert 0]

Thanks again for the replies and to all the knowledgeable staff and instructors at Skydive City who assisted in helping me obtain my A License. I managed to make it through with only minor ear irritation minus the infection and a few bloody noses during freefall.

[loli-75 0]

Quote

Thanks again for the replies and to all the knowledgeable staff and instructors at Skydive City who assisted in helping me obtain my A License. I managed to make it through with only minor ear irritation minus the infection and a few bloody noses during freefall.

Congratulations on your license! Has your ear pain gone away totally when you jump yet - or do you still have it?

Also, I've heard about people having ear pain while jumping - but I've never heard of nosebleeds before. Do you know why that happend? Do you tend to get nosebleeds when you're having sinus/allergy problems when you're not jumping too?

Sorry for all the questions!! I've had a lot of sinus & allergy problems ever since I moved to Texas. I still don't know why - I came from Louisiana which has really bad air - amongst other things!

[anccert 0]

Congratulations on your license! Has your ear pain gone away totally when you jump yet - or do you still have it?

Actually the ear pain I experienced only happened when I did a Tandem. Maybe the increased fall rate had something to do with that. I did experience ear irritation, itching, from the ear infection of doing 25 jumps in 2.5 weeks. Possibly if I do enough jumps at max altitude in a short amount of time I could replicate the problem, which I have no plans on doing. I can do low passes at 7,500ft without a hitch. If I do do a max. altitude jump 13,500ft belly to earth, the most that happens is an ear may clog, though sometimes it works to equalize under canopy. I've gotten better at reading my body an no when to quit jumping for the day.

Also, I've heard about people having ear pain while jumping - but I've never heard of nosebleeds before. Do you know why that happened?

I'm guessing from the constant sinus congestion I have, coupled with the pressure changes during jumping. Usually the nose bleeds don't happen until the third jump of the day at max. altitude. Because of the rush of dry air during freefall my nose doesn't continue to bleed. I just look like Rudolph when I land.

Do you tend to get nosebleeds when you're having sinus/allergy problems when you're not jumping too?

No, though when my sinuses are really acting up I may blow my nose and get a small amount of blood on the tissue. However, no runny bloody noses occur.

thanxs

[chuck411 0]

ever try using a simple saline type of nasal spray? Not to be confused with something like Afrin...DONT USE AFRIN! they make sevral types of simple saline nasal sprays that will help with keeping your sinus moist and this may help with the nose bleed deal... OK Any of you Docs are free to chime in here:) I went through Major sinus issues b4, during and even now with skydiving. but more now I have issues with my ears rather than my nose... It took my ears like a month to clear after 3 jumps in aug. then I jumped this month and didnt have a single problem for about a week but then started having issues again. so While I know Sky diving doesnt cause all my problems I know it can comlicate them. I have trouble with what seems to be a lack of drainage from my ears. Had one ear doc tell me he was going to put tubes in my ears...I asked can I still Skydive? He told me NO!... I said then Ill let them burst and Ill be deaf but Ill still Skydive.. Never got a second on his No SKydiving. Any of you jumping Docs got any info on if you can or cannot jump with ear tubes?

Ok back to the nose thing Ask a doc about a Saline nasal spray:)

[Beerlight 0]

When I was working with patients in a hyperbaric chamber, almost all of them had PE tubes. Virtually eliminated the need to equalize the ears on descent.

And our compression rates were much higher than someone in freefall from 10K. I wonder why your doc said no to freefall?

[chuck411 0]

well im really not sure as I moved cross country shortly after that. I never asked why at the time due to the shock of him saying NO Jumping..... I guess I should talk to my new ENT and see what he has to say about it. The presure I get can be intense and LOUD. LOL The worst is when I deploy below 5K. A normal deployment around 3k and my ears are so tight and then they start what I can only describe as Screaming for the deployment and a few seconds after. The sound is horrible and sometimes Painful. I have at times even had to be real mellow with turns under Canopy due to getting very dizzy with just a single 360 from my ears being so damn clogged. Well I assume it has to do with that since thats really the only time I have that issue.
Guess I'll have to go talk to the ENT...
Silly me took the word of 1 doc and just didnt want to get confirmation I guess if he was actually right LOL.

[Beerlight 0]

Yep, I'd head back to the ENT before you really do some serious damage.

Just remember, the pressure change below 10,000 feet is the greatest. Lots of people here will tell ya to "do some low jumps, it'll be alright", but I can show you the numbers against that.

Definitely seek a second opinion with a specialist.