Cleaning up after yesterday’s experience got me to thinking. I’ve been doing this total immersion, and inverted immersion for a long time. I’ve had a few problems with mud getting into places where it does not belong. Going under while inverted is particularly hazardous to the sinuses. You can keep mud out of your ear canal with ear plugs (recommended), but you can’t block your sinuses if you’re going to be breathing through a hose. Furthermore, you can’t always keep positive pressure in your nose, because you have to inhale at some point. If you don’t use earplugs, you should get one of those ear-flusher bulb squeezy things, and flush your ears out with clean, warm water as soon as you can. I was given a Neti Pot by a friend, and I’ve found that works well for flushing my sinuses. I seem to have a much faster recovery when I use it. If I don’t flush them after being inverted in the mud, I am destined for days of blowing black snot out of my nose. Sometimes, it aggravates my sinuses enough that I get a sinus headache, and those are not fun. Mud can also get stuck in my teeth, so I generally brush my teeth and rinse my mouth before going out in public.
The eyes are another matter, altogether. If you’re getting repeatedly dunked in mud, and you open your eyes at all between dunkings, you risk getting mud under your eyelids. I almost always come home with mud under my eyelids. My eyes are generally bloodshot after mudding, and it can take up to 2 days to flush them out completely. I have found that if I open my eyes under water while I’m cleaning up, it helps to remove much of the debris. Beyond that, I use cotton swabs to gently remove anything that is visible on my eyeballs (after I get home). I get the cotton swab wet and use a rolling motion to pick up and remove the foreign matter from my eye, without putting any pressure on the cornea. Since material gets under the eyelids, it will work it’s way around to the front where it can be removed. This process may take hours or it may take as much as a full day, or more, but not more than 2 days.
I updated the gallery (2012 images) with 3 more video frames from yesterday’s adventure.
Just looked at the three photos you put in the 2012 file. Can’t wait to see what you produce as a video from this adventure in the swamp. The photos sure suggest some very interesting struggles.
Yes, the struggle was good. I’m trying to find time to finish the July 4 video, then I’ll dig into the 5 hours of swamp bondage video.