100' seemed hard to breathe

[HBDiveGirl]

Any thoughts or insight into my dive would be appreciated. Thanks

My thought is to suggest you slow down a bit.
Staying at depth when you're uncomfortable just because it's a goal for the class is a risk to yourself and your buddy.

You've been certified for about a year, and according to your profile have fewer than 24 dives, all of them shallower than 70fsw until this dive.

My insight is that more experience in water shallower than 70 fsw would allow you time to increase your skills and comfort and realistic confidence.

100fsw adds several challenging factors:

• narcosis
• increased work of breathing
• anxiety.. the surface is a long way off

While you were able to control your severe anxiety before it became full panic, you were only one more problem away from a calamity.

Go have fun with trusted dive buddies in depths you are currently comfortable at.
If 60fsw is fun, do a dozen dives at that depth and practice buoyancy control, buddy awareness, relaxed breathing, and awareness of time, gas, and your surroundings.

Then, if all is smooth, dive 10 feet deeper.
Relax and make sure you're enjoying yourself.
If you identify continuing problems, seek out a highly recommended experienced diver for mentoring or coaching. Or seek out classes that have real skills to deliver, not just Tag&Go numbers to conquer.

One dive to 100fsw does not a Safe-Deep-Diver make.

Narcosis is very real, and greatly variable.
Learn how it feels to you.
Ascend a little if your anxiety climbs.

Consider learning how to use nitrox for dives deeper than 80fsw if you find that narcosis affects you strongly AND you have purposeful reasons for diving that deeply.

The last thing anyone wants is an anxious buddy who is trying to tough it out rather than take the time to learn essential skills and self-management in manageable steps.

Please dive safely and take effective action early when you feel your anxiety increasing.

Diving should be safe and fun, and new challenges should be accomplishable in modest steps.

~~~~
Claudette

 

[Aquaventurewhitetip]

Everybody is different and can and will be affected with a bout of Narcosis at any time or depth.
For now you and Cody seem to get it between 95-100'.
The fact that you knew there was a problem is a good sign. If it was Narcosis that made you feel anxious then you will be more able to recognise it if it happens again. Thus you know its not a bad thing to happen. The technique you used was great and text book, concentrating on something else enabled you to steady yourself a bit and continue.
Remember to STOP, BREATH, THINK and ACT. As you did..
As you dive towards this depth and at this depth again in the future I am sure the feelings you had will get less and less until they go away completely. The more dives you have in and around that depth the more comfortable you will be and you nice controlled breathing will return again.
Please don't ever worry about telling your buddy or Instructor there is a problem no matter how small. To not tell them may just put more pressure on yourself and could make things worse.
Well done for staying calm and dealing with it though, I know this won't of put you off in any way so happy safe diving in the future.

 

[mpgunner]

I think the key is to not think about the depth but what is around you. Distract yourself. I have experienced the same thing. They mind is a funny thing.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

HBDiveGirl gave some great advice with regard to gradually extending your comfort zone. That's the way to do it.

In addition to increasing anxiety or eliciting panic, narcosis can mitigate one's ability to task-load. At depths in the 110 - 120 fsw range, I'm aware of my tendency to fixate on certain aspects of the dive, namely my gas supply levels and NDLs. Disturbingly, I find it more difficult to recall this critical dive data despite checking my gauges more frequently. It can be more challenging to juggle camera operation, maintain proper position in the water column (relative to the wall/reef), and keep track of my buddy team. On shallower dives, I generally keep a "top-down" mental picture of the dive site (where we've been and where we're going) as well as the position of other dive teams in the area. It takes a lot more concentration for me to do this at greater depths. This is how narcosis affects me...and it's worth mentioning that it doesn't always affect me in the same way. It will probably affect you differently. Let experience be your guide.

When I using air at 100' I start to get narced. I hate it. When I'm narced it get paranoid and nothing seems right. I know I'm not at 100% mentally and it bugs me really bad. I'm fine at 90' but 100' gets to me which makes me think I'm just psyching myself out. Oh well, that is what nitrox if for!

Consider learning how to use nitrox for dives deeper than 80fsw if you find that narcosis affects you strongly AND you have purposeful reasons for diving that deeply.

Aren't all the major instructional agencies teaching students nowadays that oxygen has narcotic potential comparable to nitrogen, and therefore richer mixes of nitrox probably don't diminish the effects of narcosis? If the OP finds himself particularly prone to narcosis, perhaps he should seek out advanced training on gas mixes containing helium.

 

[ScoobaDooba]

I guess I'll have to dive many more times to truly find out about my narcosis tolerance. I remember reading dive books before I started diving and being enthralled with some of the deep stories, but I never knew it would be what it was even at 100' (I thought it was gonna be easy to go 200'+) Naive I am

 

[Aquaventurewhitetip]

Your not naive, you just starting out on a long journey in diving. Listen to people and what they say by all means but more importantly, listen to yourself and how you feel.

 

[AfterDark]

You learned at least 2 things from this hopefully more. Now you can suspect that you may be a little sensitive to narcosis and when it does start to happen you know how to control it. As time goes on and you dive more you'll feel more at home under the water. Your breathing will be more normal and you'll feel more relaxed. The most important thing you should take away from this is that deep diving for the sake of it is not a reason to do it. As a rule there is nothing much to see past 100' anyway. All my best dives have been above 100'.

 

[claudine]

ScoobaDooba: Thanks for starting this thread as I'm taking my AOW next week and this is also one of my concerns as well!

Great advice from the rest on identifying and dealing with narcosis, will keep them in mind when I'm in the water!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Welcome to deep diving and the increased knowledge that comes with it. You have learned a bit more about yourself. Hang onto that knowledge. Just one question- Why were you kneeling? On AOW deep dive I have students do a horizontal descent and stop about 2 feet off the bottom. Then we do skills. Where we are it's very dark down there and coming down on one's knees is just not a good idea. Too hard to see what;s underneath you and if the platform is missed then you are landing in 2-3 feet of silt. If that happens vis is zero in a heartbeat. Work on descending in a proper position. Horizontal underwater is more natural and gives a better feeling of control.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Hi all I recently did my AOW deep specialty and have never been past 70' before this dive. We were following the natural bottom contour down to 100' when we got to 95' I was fine but when we touched down at 100' kneeling, I started to feel like I couldn't get enough air and was breathing my reg fairly hard keep in mind I just purchased the Scubapro MK25/A700 it was on max flow and dial turned almost all the way up.

I start to get a little worried and I can't really focus on much because I just wanted to ascend a little bit but didn't want to call the dive for the sake of the other students and the Instuctor was about to do some demonstrations at depth. I would have called it had there been a real problem but I figured it was just a litle anxiety attack or a CO2 build up. I had to tell myself I couldn't make a mistake down here and I'm not going to die , don't panic, don't panic. So I took long easy breaths and after 20 secs or so I had calmed down a bit but not totally, I still wanted to go up a little. It was 53 degrees and I was feeling it and don't know if the was a factor. I focused on my comp and was couting down the psi so I could turn us at a 1/3. The instructor finished his demonstration and then promptly told him I reached my 1/3 and we needed to move lol. All was fine when we were ascending and I felt alot better. I upchucked through my reg a few times ascending and let out some burps but we did just eat breakfast prior to our dive.

Any thoughts or insight into my dive would be appreciated. Thanks

You've received some good advice, and the probable causes (narcosis and/or CO2 buildup) have been identified. Anytime I hear someone say "I felt like I couldn't get enough air" I tend to consider CO2 buildup as a probable cause ... remember it's that CO2 level that causes you to want to take your next breath.

How comfortable are you with your basic skills? A lot of times, symptoms like these are a combination of insecurity and working too hard. If you have any doubts about your skills, then my recommendation is to practice them in the shallower depths until you can do them without having to concentrate. Little issues become magnified by depth, and self-doubts tend to increase with narcosis. Also, CO2 buildup increases with effort.

A lot of people take AOW sooner than they should, because they want to go deep. I'd say stay focused on getting comfortable with yourself on shallower dives. Even though you will have a C-card that says you're qualified to go deep, keep in mind how unpleasant that experience felt, and remember that you want only pleasant memories from your diving experiences.

Practice shallow ... when you're completely comfortable there, THEN start making your dives progressively deeper.

I wrote an article for my deep diving specialty class that you may find helpful ...

The Allure of the Deep

... Bob (Grateful Diver)