Training Dive #5- What went wrong?

[racerrex9727]

I got open water certified by PADI over the last two weekends, yay. I did pretty well although I sucked my oxygen twice as fast as my two other co-trainees. The instructor playfully made fun of me that I "needed to find my zen." The dives took place in a lake with very poor visibility no greater than 5 feet. It freaked me out at first. I managed to push through though and even started to enjoy it. The fourth final dive with my buddy went really well and I got certified. The instructor said I looked awesome and everything I did was perfect (although my air was 45% depleted for a 25 minute, 27-foot dive).

I took a peak performance buoyancy class immediately that same day following our open water certification. When I geared up and was walking down to the lake, I felt off. My chest was tight and I loosened my BCD trying to breath normally. I could not tell if it was sickness or nerves. I jumped in anyway and proceeded to the descent point. I was already feeling a little out of breath.

This was my fifth dive. We descended only about 14 feet for some trim exercises and I was already having problems. I struggled to stay neutrally buoyant and was struggling to breathe through my regulator. At first I told myself I'm just getting excited and need to slow down. I slowed my breathing but it only got more strained. I felt like my regulator was not giving me enough air. After struggling to stay on task and not thinking clearly, I signaled my instructor something was wrong and I was going to surface. I went up and met two instructors who told me to just breathe and ultimately swam with me to shore.

I told the instructors helping me that I must have a cold, so I dismissed myself from the buoyancy class. At least I pushed through enough to get my open water certification. I had somewhat strained breathing for the rest of the afternoon, and I started to get dizzy and had a sharp earache. I went to the urgent care and they said my right ear was blocked and gave me decongestants to prevent an infection.

I was sick with a moderate cold for two days. Logically, I had sudden problems on my fifth dive because I got sick. But I can't help but think it was psychological because a cold does not stop me from doing other things. I did freak out a little and was struggling to pull myself together. No matter how much I tried to slow down it just got worse and my ability to think clearly declined. The water was closing in and crushing me in a claustrophobic manner. The regulator was simply not giving me enough air.

The experience was so unpleasant it made me question if I wanted to dive again. Can something as simple as a cold cause a dive experience to go suddenly awry like this, especially when I already had four successful dives?

 

[SubMariner]

I got open water certified by PADI over the last two weekends, yay. I did pretty well although I sucked my oxygen twice as fast as my two other co-trainees. The instructor playfully made fun of me that I "needed to find my zen." The dives took place in a lake with very poor visibility no greater than 5 feet. It freaked me out at first. I managed to push through though and even started to enjoy it. The fourth final dive with my buddy went really well and I got certified. The instructor said I looked awesome and everything I did was perfect (although my air was 45% depleted for a 25 minute, 27-foot dive).

I took a peak performance buoyancy class immediately that same day following our open water certification. When I geared up and was walking down to the lake, I felt off. My chest was tight and I loosened my BCD trying to breath normally. I could not tell if it was sickness or nerves. I jumped in anyway and proceeded to the descent point. I was already feeling a little out of breath.

This was my fifth dive. We descended only about 14 feet for some trim exercises and I was already having problems. I struggled to stay neutrally buoyant and was struggling to breathe through my regulator. At first I told myself I'm just getting excited and need to slow down. I slowed my breathing but it only got more strained. I felt like my regulator was not giving me enough air. After struggling to stay on task and not thinking clearly, I signaled my instructor something was wrong and I was going to surface. I went up and met two instructors who told me to just breathe and ultimately swam with me to shore.

I told the instructors helping me that I must have a cold, so I dismissed myself from the buoyancy class. At least I pushed through enough to get my open water certification. I had somewhat strained breathing for the rest of the afternoon, and I started to get dizzy and had a sharp earache. I went to the urgent care and they said my right ear was blocked and gave me decongestants to prevent an infection.

I was sick with a moderate cold for two days. Logically, I had sudden problems on my fifth dive because I got sick. But I can't help but think it was psychological because a cold does not stop me from doing other things. I did freak out a little and was struggling to pull myself together. No matter how much I tried to slow down it just got worse and my ability to think clearly declined. The water was closing in and crushing me in a claustrophobic manner. The regulator was simply not giving me enough air.

The experience was so unpleasant it made me question if I wanted to dive again. Can something as simple as a cold cause a dive experience to go suddenly awry like this, especially when I already had four successful dives?

There are a number of areas where your anxiety and apprehension simply got the best of you. First & foremost, never be afraid or embarrassed to call a dive. If you are not feeling 100%, there is no need to push yourself to dive: the water will always be there waiting for you when you are up to it.

Most of the issues you describe are due to inexperience and lack of familiarity with your equipment/diving. It is not uncommon for new divers to go through a lot of air; more dives and better weighting usually solves the the air consumption issue. Relax, take deep long inhales & exhales...

As for diving with a cold -- don't. Because of mucous, congestion and generally feeling like crap, you cannot properly equalize. You may have been able to do one or two dives with cold coming on, but as you saw, eventually it catches up with you. Case in point, your ear issues.

Hope this helped,

 

[kevindsingleton]

I got open water certified by PADI over the last two weekends, yay.

...

The experience was so unpleasant it made me question if I wanted to dive again. Can something as simple as a cold cause a dive experience to go suddenly awry like this, especially when I already had four successful dives?

Congratulations on getting certified! Diving in poor visibility can make it very difficult to get your bearings and can be very disorienting. As SubMariner said, new divers often use more air than more experienced divers. It can be a part of the process of getting comfortable in a new environment. If you truly were (are) sick, then wait until you feel better to start your next course. Don't worry about thumbing the dive. It happens.

 

[timz]

Sounds a little like panic attack. But not that serious...

It could be due to everything mixed together. Catch cold + overexcited... then moucous blocking the airway making breathing difficult. And soon, adding everything together, panic kicks in.

When panic kicks is, everything is just not right.

 

[Frosty]

5 foot viz. Quite cold temps, doing training dives and you have a cold. Im surprised you managed to do the course at all with all those factors.
So basicly don't worry.

 

[TMHeimer]

A cold will stop anybody, even those who normally equalize effortlessly. Having congestion in the lungs can cause possible serious problems other than equalizing ones. When I have courses coming up that's the one time I don't want to catch one of my very infrequent massive colds.

 

[Neilwood]

I would guess that your tightness of breath etc were simply the onset of the cold made worse by the feeling something wasn't right.

Don't stress about it. I would actually congratulate you on having the fortitude to thumb a dive when things weren't going right.

As for your air consumption, it will improve. On my OW dives I was getting about 30 mins from a 12l cylinder, on my latest dive (number 8) I got 44 mins from a 10l doing a similar profile. I just felt that bit more relaxed and comfortable so was breathing better

 

[racerrex9727]

Thanks all I feel better about it now. It took me a week to get over the cold and my ear is still sore. But I am glad it isn't really a big deal and the conditions contributed to the sucky experience. I'm already planning a dive to Florida Keys. I look forward to having another way to vacation.

 

[Sleepdr]

5 foot viz. Quite cold temps, doing training dives and you have a cold. Im surprised you managed to do the course at all with all those factors.
So basicly don't worry.

Those are challenging conditions for training.

I'm still way, way out of practice and was lulled into a false sense of security by a low RMV on a tropical dive after 2 decades dry. Dive 2 back in the saddle was a quarry training dive - Overexertion in 95 degrees F above water, 55 degrees F below, 14mm neoprene, 0-4 foot viz, and sloppy weight calculation that left me heavy.

My profession revolves significantly around respiratory physiology, so I should have realized that my CO2 production was running overtime under suboptimal conditions. The gas consumption was embarrassingly high, and the CO2 hit left me with a screaming headache.

I digress. Yes, a cold can absolutely affect you. A "common cold" is only common at the surface or with slow pressure changes. When you change quickly, via diving or altitude, gas exchange in air-filled spaces of the body can be impaired. Lungs, sinuses, ears, etc. all can be affected.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm going to approach your problems from a slightly different direction.
What you describe as a tight feeling and not able to get enough air followed by a ear/headache.
Yes the onset of a cold could have caused some of the issues, but from my first though you being a new diver, is that it's possible you were overweighted to a degree that to stay on the surface prior to descent your BC (if you had a jacket style) could have been inflated to the point of crushing in on all sides squeezing you preventing you from getting full deep breaths. As a result of not being able to get full deep breaths combined with the nerves of being a new diver and breathing shallow as a matter of stress you could have been experiencing an excessive residual C02 buildup which will give you that feeling of not being able to get enough air no matter how much you breathe, along with an impending feeling of doom and eye/ear/head aches. It takes a while to blow off excess C02 to feel normal. Shallow breaths are the leading cause of C02 loading along with overwork which just plain stress can easily mimic.
There are many other factors also.
Do you smoke? are you overweight? What kind of general shape are you in? How much work was it logistically to get your gear on and to the water? Was it a hot day? Long walk?
The water could have been cold but were you cold in your wetsuit, were you shivering? Or was it just your feet face and hands?
All these are contributing factors.
I certainly wouldn't give up diving, but I would look a little further into the physical mechanics of the dive and the gear to help determine the root cause.
It could have been all of the above including the cold virus.
However, many people dive with colds due to being on vacation and not wanting to miss dives, etc.
I have dived many times with colds due to work obligations or classes that I simply wouldn't have been able to make up. We take decongestants and monitor ourselves carefully. I'm not advocating diving while sick but the point is it can be done if the symptoms are not extreme.
The ear blockage and the resulting vertigo dizziness are more problems associated with colds. Being out of breath and having the feeling of not getting enough air is C02.