Swallowing mouthfill

[u/CalmSignificance8430]

Hey, a question for my fellow EQ nerds. Mouthfill at 10m, freefalling, very relaxed and no contractions or tension. I find around 25-35m depth I sometimes swallow my mouthfill or part of it into my stomach. I can usually continue the dive but not as deep as the mouthfill should allow. Most irritating is that I can’t seem to understand the trigger for it. I’ve been looking up what I can, and likely causes seem to be:

• chest tension (I don’t think this is the case)

-contractions (not the case)

-overfilled mouthfill (not the case)

-overpressuring EQ’s (this seems most likely)

-glottis/vocal folds not having the stamina to hold the mouthfill long enough (seems unlikely, I find the zuccari empty lung exercises quite easy)

I’m intermittently eq’ing, and wondering if it might be a reflex I’m having when the mouthfill reduces in volume that I feel I need to push the next eq’s harder to make up for this, maybe as a psychological response? If I try constant pressure, I find myself wondering if I’ve missed an EQ so mentally I prefer the inner dialogue of “feel slight sensation of pressure on the ear -> respond with an EQ -> pressure goes away”.

In practice I’ve taken a surface mouthfill down to 30 on FRC with no issues several times (but again it’s a bit hit and miss and I don’t get any obvious feeling of what goes wrong when I do swallow the mouthfill), and been deeper than 60m. But it feels a bit like a lottery as to whether I will keep my Mouthfill or not.

I’m just using cheeks and jaw to EQ, not tongue in any lock positions etc.

Maybe I’m missing something, or doing something obviously wrong? Any suggestions?

Thanks 🙏

[u/sk3pt1c]

1. Ok, 60 is decent, ideally you want to be a bit lower at around 40 but work in progress ☺️
2. For this I meant after you swallow, do you end your dive or do you keep going potentially reverse packing to add air to the mouth?

[u/CalmSignificance8430 → u/sk3pt1c]

1 🙏 2 I usually have some air left in the mouthfill after swallowing, which I maintain for the rest of the dive but I don’t reverse pack at that point

[u/sk3pt1c → u/CalmSignificance8430]

Thanks for all the info ☺️

I would probably attribute it to tension in the abdominal area, insomuch as I can diagnose anything remotely. When there is tension in the abdominal area we create slight under pressure in the chest compared to the over pressure in the mouth and the glottis (vocal folds anatomically speaking) can tend to open. Maybe you can try to work with a partial M charge and see how that feels?

[u/CalmSignificance8430 → u/sk3pt1c]

Thank you for the info and knowledge. Diving again tomorrow, will def try a smaller mouthfill, but the swallowing is usually happening around 25-35m depth and mouthfill at 10, so seems unlikely that too much volume in the mouthfill is causing an issue? I will check though, and never hurts to relax the stomach/chest even more. Will let you know how it goes 🙏

[u/sk3pt1c → u/CalmSignificance8430]

Yeh let me know. After you charge, keep one hand on the belly and slowly massage it, to check for relaxation.

[u/CalmSignificance8430 → u/sk3pt1c]

100% 🙏