Day 145 - 29th June 2010 - The Reverse Squeeze

We woke this morning, and headed to the school to do our Deep and Nitrox Specs. We had prepared our tank in the last couple of days, so no need to do this morning... We jumped on the boat and headed for Chumphon... which is where the fun begins...

For the last couple of days, I have been getting what is called "Reverse Squeeze"... this is when the sinuses are slighty congested and can be painful when you come up at the end of the dive cos the air is trapped in your sinuses... In actuality, congestion can be fatal if you experience this in your lungs, because if the air can't escape as you come up, it will cause your lungs to burst.. Thankfully my congestion was sinuses only.

So yesterday, as you may recall, was a bad one... From 8 metres I felt bad head pain, and a pop behind my eye,causing a brief blindness in my left eye (slightly worrying!) when I forced myself to come up cos I couldn't wait any longer for the air to escape...

I went to the Pharmacy last night and they gave me some tablets to take 30 mins before todays dive... they said take with food... and I forgot.... DOH! So, I took a tablet this morning, forgot to eat and kitted up ready for the first dive.

Fully aware that I may have equalising issues on the way down if my sinuses were not clear, I let the people we were with know that if I had difficulty on the way down, I would abort the dive... I didn't and down we went to 32 metres and did the skills that we were required to do.

Unfortunately, at 20 metres down on our way up slowly... I started feeling the pressure in my head again.. I can't explain the feeling of inevitabilty I felt.. in my mind I was thinking "This is going to get very painful, and I hope I don't seriously damage something... but what other choice did I have... I couldn't stay down there forever...

At 14 metres, it was getting quite painful, and I made Jen and the Course Director (big cheese) aware.. I was also feeling sick, had palpitations, hot and sweaty, and shaky.. So we get to the rope, and I make my way up super slow... Jen stayed with me, and probably took 15 minutes to come up, stopping every few inches or so... taking my mask off, blowing my nose... trying to clear (under pressure) my sinuses.

At 5 metres, we have to do a safety stop for 3 minutes on every dive... and me blowing my nose....then, I guess, some capilllaries burst in my sinuses... and whooooaaa... loadsa blood outta my nose... with some real big clots...!!! I mean MASSIVE!

Guess I have got rid of the congestion...

So we get up on the boat, clear the blood, and I rest and get water with electrolytes... After 30 mins or so the shakiness goes, weakness goes, etc.... and then I remembered that I didn't eat when I took the tablet... thats why I felt so bad.... what a donkey...

So now, to let my sinuses recover and chill a bit... I shall stay outta the water for a few days...

Note to oneself.. if sinuses are blocked... screw the dives... and just wait till I'm better... no more tablets to try push through...