could I scuba dive?

[Netofficer3710]

As a kid I always used to get ear infections after going to the bottom of the pool.
When I swam in deeper pools like 10 foot or so I noticed that as I swam deeper an uncomfortable pressure would build on my ears.

Would this make me unable to scuba dive or is there something I'm unaware of that would make this not happen while breathing from a scuba rig?

I have always dreamed of getting certified and going since I was a kid so I would like to know if I should drop that fantasy or not.

 

[solitude127]

As you descend, you equalize your ear drums by holding your nose close and blowing. This will cause a "popping" sensation (equalizing) in your ears.

 

[daplatapus]

Sometimes too, people have difficulty getting rid of water out of the ear canal, after going under the water. Any type of greeblies getting in there can cause an ear infection. You may have suffered from this when you were a kid. If you go to a dive shop, they should have ear plug type things (I can't remember what they're called) that allow you to dive, but keep water out of your ears. Or if you dive up here (Canada) you're in a dry suit anyway and you just wear a dry hood

 

[r-balljunkie]

i had tubes in my ears as a kid from ear infections....sucked being the only kid who couldnt swim in the summer time while living in Saudi Arabia. i dive every week now, no problems. as mentioned earlier, some folks were plugs. i dont. a small percentage of folks with normal ears have a hard time equalizing. more you dive, the easier it gets. im down on the bottom in no time after a year of weekly diving. also with diving, anything past 30 feet is the same...30 to 130 feet feels the same.

 

[snorvich]

Diving to 132 feet requires specialized training and a lot of experience. Ear infection can be prevented with an ear wash after diving.

 

[Aschnell911]

equilization

equilization

I am a dive instructor with special training in ear issues. Let me know if you have problems, almost all people can find a way to equilize,,, if you can pinch off your nose ---- blow GENTLY and feel both ears pop you good to go.

 

[r-balljunkie]

Diving to 132 feet requires specialized training and a lot of experience. Ear infection can be prevented with an ear wash after diving.

Yes, will need your advanced open water. This was on a 14 persons group dive last weekend, a wreck dive. I stated this somewhere else; we have the largest concentration of divemasters where I live...matter of fact, largest dive club in the world based on # of tanks filled. Everyone dives here, and we preach safety safety safety. Plenty of dopes on a rope doing our deco stops when you go this deep, you basically have 8 minutes of bottom time @ 130', and then up you go, stopping at certain intervals and hanging out.

My point is/was, once your past 30 feet, you're golden. I cannot differentiate differences in ear discomfort, feeling, etc past this point.

 

[ackee]

Be careful. You might want a medical opinion if you run into any problems in a pool dive. Before holding your nose and blowing try a hard exaggerated dry swallow or two, with the blocked ear closer to the suface. Sometimes that's all it takes. Using scuba, always come up a few feet before trying to clear. Never force clearing to the point of pain. Very dangerous. After diving some vinegar with a little rubbing alcohol can be used to rinse out the ears. The eustachian tubes in your ear will clear more easily as they become accustomed to the process. It's a very individual thing, though.

 

[Aschnell911]

equilizing

equilizing

If your old enough to have watched Jacques Cousteau you will remember that he did not dive often he suffered as I did a recalcitrant ear, but all of the info here is accurate, I have dived very deep many times and like previously posted the first few feet are the most issues with clearing,,, you should clear 2 or 3 times in the first 10 feet then usually one or twice from 30 to 60 ft... from 250 to 300 ft you may not feel the need to clear at all! of course past 200 ft you should be on mix gas. With my one fussy ear I find trimix having so much helium, that it often clears on it own!


I once did a dive with a fish collector to 300 in florida that was looking for a fish he would wholesale for 5k and would market in Japan for 20k! crazy,, we did not find it on that dive but he said he finds quite a few each year ar depths from 300 to 500 ft

 

[solitude127]

If your old enough to have watched Jacques Cousteau you will remember that he did not dive often he suffered as I did a recalcitrant ear, but all of the info here is accurate, I have dived very deep many times and like previously posted the first few feet are the most issues with clearing,,, you should clear 2 or 3 times in the first 10 feet then usually one or twice from 30 to 60 ft... from 250 to 300 ft you may not feel the need to clear at all! of course past 200 ft you should be on mix gas. With my one fussy ear I find trimix having so much helium, that it often clears on it own!


I once did a dive with a fish collector to 300 in florida that was looking for a fish he would wholesale for 5k and would market in Japan for 20k! crazy,, we did not find it on that dive but he said he finds quite a few each year ar depths from 300 to 500 ft

How cold it is it at 300ft?

 

[reefinmo]

Just so any non-divers or others understand if they read this thread, diving to 250-300 feet (much less 500 feet) is an extremely advanced dive requiring many, many, hours of preparation and additional training. Below 232 feet, the air we breathe on the surface and put in our scuba tanks has too much oxygen in it. It is toxic (read deadly) at the depth, so people breathe other gases when doing these dives (trimix, heliox, etc.). This isn't something you can plan on doing right after your open water class and it is not "normal" for divers to go to those kinds of depths. The margin for error at that depth is zero. All you have to do is make one little mistake like grabbing the wrong thing to breathe off of and you die. It's that simple.

The standard depth limit recognized by all certification agencies for recreational diving is 130 feet. And while that number was really arbitrarily determined a long time ago, it has been followed for a very long time with an excellent safety record. Diving below that depth is beyond recreational diving and is a very advanced skill. Even if you have attained those skills, it is still an activity that is far more dangerous than recreational diving and it is really a different subject entirely.

To the OP asking about ear problems, if you haven't had any ear problems since you were a kid, you will probably be OK. Clearing your ears is a skill you just need to learn and practice when you take your class. But if you do have ear problems as an adult or just have concerns about it, you can always talk to your physician about it and they can advise you if diving is something that would be safe for you to do.

 

[Aschnell911]

temp at depth

temp at depth

I have never ventured beyond 300,, to do a 300 foot dive required 4 tanks,,, to go deeper usually requires a 5th. but I am told that in the carribean at 500 the temp strats to decline into the 60s at 300 it was in the lower 70s and often in the 90s at 8ft from the surface. Though past 200 the light is strange, at depth the blue is all that penetrates but as you get deeper its almost greyscale. With a flashlight though there is a lot of colour.

 

[daplatapus]

Hmmmm, just did a dive up here to 130' and the bottom temp was 49. I'm diving in the wrong spots....

 

[r-balljunkie]

Hmmmm, just did a dive up here to 130' and the bottom temp was 49. I'm diving in the wrong spots....

gasp. we dont even wear wetsuits here, bareback, or a simple rash guard. i have a shortie hanging up in my dive closet, UNUSED. its too much of a hassle to get it on/off. i just roll out of bed, put on some shorts and a grab a short sleeved rash guard. its 85-89 degrees in the water 365 days a year.

gotta love the marshall islands for this....dive every single day if you wanted to.