First Sense of Panic

[MrChen]

I grew up around the water, swimming at my grandmothers since a toddler, competitive swimming and water polo in high school, countless hours at the beach, etc. So when I started diving, I LOVED being under water, it was a life long dream come true (I still ask myself why I waited so long). Not once during any class or exercise did I feel an ounce of panic. My first deep drift dives off the boat were awesome, etc. Well you get the point...

I remember in classes seeing a few students flee for the surface, I really didn't get it. That urge didn't make sense to me at all. I know I have time under water if I run into an issue with air supply etc and that if I panic that time will be dramatically decreased.

Anyways, on to my dive. I've had a slight illness the last few weeks. Luckily it hasn't affected my sinuses or ability to clear my ears. So I dove a week and half ago, no problems. Well, this pesky bug I have hasn't completely cleared up. A few days ago I went diving again, another drift dive off Jupiter. I entered the water, found my buddy, and started my descent. I ended up getting a small amount of water in my mask, this happens occassionally and I just clear it out. At about 60 ft, I decide to do this before getting close to the reef at 90 ft, but there's a problem. I can't exhale out my nose! It was weird because I had no problem equalizing my ears and I felt like I needed to plug my nose to do so. I decide to see if I can inhale through my nose and I got stuck with some water in my nostrils. The water in my nose was pretty uncomfortable.

Then it happens, a sense of panic and the urge to call the dive and head for the surface!! NO WAY!! I couldn't believe it was happening. I noticed I was breathing heavy and fast. Now all of this is happening in the matter of 15 to 20 seconds.

So I talked myself down from the panicked state (in my mind anyways). I slowed my breathing, did everything I could do to relax, tried playing with my exhales to get any air out my nose (simultaneously exhaling through my mouth and nose), then after a few exhales I felt the water clear my nose. I'm still slowly descending, getting close to 70ft now. I successfully exhaled air out my nose on two additional breathes and cleared my mask.

My dive buddy thought I was having trouble with my ears. Said I didn't looked panicked at all. Once I got to 85 ft, I checked my SPG and had sucked down 800 lbs of air just on the descent. I was lucky though, I had a 500 lb overfill on the tank . Got relaxed, SAC rate went up, and after about 45 minutes at 85-90 ft I had just under 1000 lbs or air left. Shortly afterwards we saw the DM and ascended near her.

On my 2nd dive off the boat, at 10 ft, 20 ft, 30 ft, I kept checking that I could exhale through my nose. I found it difficult on the first attempt but doable and then was fine.

So I learned something about myself this day. I learned what panic felt like. I learned that I could calm myself, think clearly, and work through the problem. I learned that I want to check that I can exhale from my nose early in the dive and that if I could, I was good to go. I think the incident has made me a better diver.

And please understand that when I say I felt ill, I wasn't sneezing, didn't have a runny nose, it didn't stop me from breathing through my nose, my ears cleared fine, etc. You wouldn't know that I felt a little under the weather. But it still obviously affected my nasal cavity and under pressure caused a reverse blockage.

Thank you for reading.

Chris

 

[boulderjohn]

I am glad you were able to overcome that rising panic. Well done!

I have a comment on your stuffed nose. It might not have anything to do with your state of health. I have had similar problems in the past, out of nowhere, with no clear cause that I can see. It can happen at any point in a dive, whether I am in an ocean, lake, or swimming pool. Suddenly my nose is completely stuffed. It becomes really, really hard to clear my mask. Fortunately, it does not happen often, but it has happened more than a few times. It goes away almost as soon as I surface.

I started a thread about it a number of years ago, and quite a few people reported similar problems. I don't recall anyone identifying a cause.

 

[MrChen]

Interesting. I'll definitely be making sure I can always exhale through my nose from the moment I begin descending from now on.

 

[warmwaterturner]

I had the same sort of issue until I had an ENT do a CT Scan on my sinuses. Turns out that I had developed a polyp that would periodically create temporary blockage when it shifted. Never had trouble descending but would frequently experience a reverse block on ascent. Sinus surgery was performed to remove the obstruction and have not had any additional issues. Might be time to check with a Doc.

 

[TSandM]

I think conquering that rising anxiety is one of the most constructive experiences a diver can have, because what you learned is that you CAN. I was lucky enough to have that experience in my OW class, and it stood me in good stead a year or so later, when I had a dive where things began to spiral downhill and my reptile brain was sitting up on its haunches and howling.

I don't think anyone who hasn't had this experience knows what they will do when it happens.

 

[MrChen]

I don't think anyone who hasn't had this experience knows what they will do when it happens.

I actually asked myself this as it was happening. You're in a panic, what are you going to do about it? I just relied on my water confidence, reminded myself that I was in no danger of drowning so there was no reason to freak out. The rational thoughts allowed me to gather composure and work it out.

Thank you for sharing and personally I think it was a great way to get introduced to panic since it was manageable. I'm a more confident diver for it.

---------- Post added December 12th, 2013 at 08:33 PM ----------

I had the same sort of issue until I had an ENT do a CT Scan on my sinuses. Turns out that I had developed a polyp that would periodically create temporary blockage when it shifted. Never had trouble descending but would frequently experience a reverse block on ascent. Sinus surgery was performed to remove the obstruction and have not had any additional issues. Might be time to check with a Doc.

Interesting. I'm going to let this bug clear up and see how it goes on my next dive. I think my sinuses are slightly swollen, just not filled with mucus.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I've never heard of some type of spontaneous nasal blockage on a dive (until now). Are you sure it was not a really bad mask squeeze that wrapped the skirt around your nose or something?

 

[DevonDiver]

I don't think anyone who hasn't had this experience knows what they will do when it happens.

I agree. I think it underlines the prudence of advice given to novice divers to 'dive conservatively and within your comfort zones'.

It's easy to become acclimated to enjoying dives where nothing goes wrong and you're having a lot of fun. It's also wise to not anticipate that every dive will be flawless... and thus, never make assumptions about your ability to deal (psychologically or physically) with the impact of problems that may arise. One thing is for sure, you are unlikely to respond as well as you did when practicing pre-rehearsed 'emergency' skills when supervised in training.

Diving 'within your comfort zone', should anticipate your comfort in the worst case, not the best case, scenarios.

 

[MrChen]

I've never heard of some type of spontaneous nasal blockage on a dive (until now). Are you sure it was not a really bad mask squeeze that wrapped the skirt around your nose or something?

No, I could feel it in the back of my throat, as if I was preventing air from entering my nasal cavity with my tongue. It could have been completely mental, I have no idea. Once I worked it out, I didn't have any more problems. The weirdness of it is what freaked me out. I mean, why can't I exhale out my nose? But I was able to inhale some and that's when I felt the panic, I now had water in my nose and I couldn't get it out. It was extremely uncomfortable and the desire to take flight for the surface entered my mind in a sudden panicked state. That's when I told myself to calm down, slow down my breathing, yes I can still breath, what am I going to do, and then I told myself to figure out how to deal with it without going for surface. I just kept slowly exhaling while trying to also simultaneously exhale out of my nose. I slowed my descent, which is probably why my buddy thought I was having problems with my ears. I remember the relief of getting the water out of my nose, but it wasn't an easy exhale. The next exhale was easier but not completely unblocked. By the 4th or 5th exhalation, the issue was resolved. I cleared my mask and headed for the reef and had an awesome dive.

---------- Post added December 13th, 2013 at 01:55 PM ----------

I agree. I think it underlines the prudence of advice given to novice divers to 'dive conservatively and within your comfort zones'.

It's easy to become acclimated to enjoying dives where nothing goes wrong and you're having a lot of fun. It's also wise to not anticipate that every dive will be flawless... and thus, never make assumptions about your ability to deal (psychologically or physically) with the impact of problems that may arise. One thing is for sure, you are unlikely to respond as well as you did when practicing pre-rehearsed 'emergency' skills when supervised in training.

Diving 'within your comfort zone', should anticipate your comfort in the worst case, not the best case, scenarios.

Once the water was in my nose, I felt like I couldn't breath. The panic hits fast and hard. I was surprised by the inability to exhale, then shocked by the panic, and had a strong desire to go to the surface. I told myself to calm down, breath, do something about it.

The entire incident probably didn't last more than 20 seconds. The sense of time is difficult to manage when managing a panic, but not everyone had reached the depth of the reef. I was the 3rd diver in, only 3 were below me and one was my buddy waiting for me.

 

[DevonDiver]

Once the water was in my nose, I felt like I couldn't breath. The panic hits fast and hard. I was surprised by the inability to exhale, then shocked by the panic, and had a strong desire to go to the surface. I told myself to calm down, breath, do something about it.

It does indeed. On my more advanced diving courses, I run a drill to clear a mask while inverted (face-up, towards the surface). It tends to invoke this reaction. It's a good test, because most people will get that sort of panic reaction when their nose floods. It takes some discipline to keep calm, but once you do, you realize it's only discomfort and that you can maintain regular breathing.