anccert

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

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.

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.

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

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