(08 SEP 04) Panic Attack

[vjongene]

After reading much of the wisdom shared here I decided to post my experience to see if any of you can relate to it, and/or offer advise on how to change it.

I had very similar experiences on several dives following the completion of my CMAS P** (Rescue) training. This was in the lake of Geneva, which is always cold and with limited visibility. The feeling of panic and doom always correlated with depth (> 25 m) and cold (< 10C), and was accompanied by accelerated breathing. In all cases, ascending to 15 m or less eliminated the symptoms. I mildly p***ed off some of my buddies by insisting on reducing depth, but I couldn't stand the feeling of utter panic. I still don't know for sure if it was narcosis helped by cold and darkness, or more simply stress. At 15 m the water is warmer and there is a lot more light, so this may be all that was needed.

The symptoms just went away with experience. It is still awe-inspiring to be swimming under overhangs with tooth-like rocky protrusions in pitch darkness (except of course for our torches), at over 40 m below the surface, and in bitterly cold water. The first few times it really freaked me out. Now I have learned to relax. BTW, I never had such problems in warm tropical waters.

 

[divenut2001]

No mistake about it, cold water diving "IS" more stressfull. As you can see the majority of similar experiences here have all happened in "COLD" water. What will stress you out in cold water may not even bother you in warm water. You may even find that your reg works just fine once you learn to RELAX. Ask yourself honestly what your fears are and then work on them and try to RELAX...

Once you can relax and get comfortable diving in a cold water environment you can dive anywhere...

Good luck and Happy Diving...

 

[mloe]

In addition to all the other comments - maybe the low viz and currents were getting onto you? The Gautsch, though beautiful, is in 28-42 metres depth, and the adriatic is rarely clear enough to see farther than 15 metres. And you have a steady current - I remember my first descent there, open water, current pulling, hood tightly around neck and face, and nothing below but the anchor line... I got to like it, but its not for everyone!
And quarries, too, can be disorienting when viz drops to a few metres, and you see neither bottom nor the surface, but only green...
All the best to you, michael

 

[Xanthro]

Cold cause major physical changes in your body, and your body can really react quickly. Some people find it near impossible to not breath rapidly when they are cold. It an uncontrolable response for them. Most people to some extent, when they are quickly cooled suffer from this. As you pass the thermocline, you quickly go into colder water, and this can trigger the response. You breath rapidly, which not only increases your CO2 intake, stresses you out because you wonder if you can get enough air to keep up, but in many people the rapid breathing itself leads to panic feelings.

Panic and breathing are very related. Just as you can't sneeze and keep your eyes open, you can't have a physical panic response and breath deeply and slowly. Because of this relation between rapid breathing and panic, some people have panic from the rapid breathing alone.

This could be what is happening to you. Cold causes rapid breathing, rapid breathing causes panic. With practice, you may be able to over come this, and knowing that it is cold induced can help as well. Practice slow breathing BEFORE you pass the thermocline, when you hit the cold, concentrate on your breathing. Pretend you are imitating Darth Vader's breathing. If you keep your breathing under control, you cannot panic.

Xanthro

 

[deepdiverbc]

Cold water and low vis as pointed out can increase your stress level especially if your not used to it.

Do you drink coffee or take sinus medications that are "non drowsy"? These will accelerate your nervous system and make you more succeptable to a panic attack.

Try not to exhert yourself, a high heart rate wont help matters. Cold water gear can be a bleep to get on so when you gear up start earlier than the other divers and do it slow. When you get in the water take it slow and don't exhert yourself. Buy good fins. Cheap fins with heavy cold water gear will also exhert you.

Continue to practice buddy skills, out of air drills, mask clearing, etc. Confidence is built through training.

If your having a panic attack don't go deeper. Signal your buddy, take a moment to calm yourself and if you can't shake the feeling ascend until you feel better. There is alot to see at shallower depths and continuing the dive will endanger yourself and your buddy.

my 2cents

 

[Divindave]

Well TDP I can tell you from personal experience you are not alone, and not in just a spiritual sense. I too have shared your out-of-air, I,m-going-to-drown feeling, and it also was in cold water. I was tagging along with a class of five divers and their instructor in 100 feet at Lake Tahoe, in California, the water temp was in the low to mid 40's. I remember starting to feel that out-of-air feeling after we descended through the thermocline at about 62 feet. Certainly not a pleasant feeling! After reaching our preplanned depth I looked up toward the surface with the realization that if I truely was having breathing problems I'd never make the surface alive. For a few seconds it was all I could do keep from bolting to the surface. Luckily I had realized early on, or at least convinced myself, that this out-of-air feeling was due more to anxiety then an actual breathing problem and as long as I didn't do anything stupid I'd live to dive another day. I figured at the worst, even if I froze in panic a fellow diver could keep my reg in my mouth and bring me to the surface, where I'd have a lot of soul searching to do. My worst fear was panicing and letting the instinctive flight syndrome take over thereby substantially reducing my survival odds. It still amazes me today how isolated and alone I felt when the most basic requirement to life was being withheld. In any event this eye-opening sensation only lasted a few minutes, though it felt like an eternity. Out of nowhere a plastic cube with different letters on 6 reels was thrust into my hands at which time I was to duplicate an exercise we had conducted on the surface of spelling out four words to measure any effects of nitrogen narcosis. Immediately my mind focused on this task and when I finished (in less time than at the surface) the out-of-air feelings and accompanying anxiety were gone. The sense of relief I felt could only be measured against the sense of doom I had felt just a few moments before! I have run into these feelings a couple of times since but by focusing on some other tasks I have found them easier to overcome. My gut feeling is that the cold waters encountered when I have run into these sensations is the root cause for their occurrence. It's like jumping into a cold water lake in just a bathing suit and having the low temp "take your breath away". You just hope it returns it in a very short time! Good luck diving in cold waters, for me I'm getting a drysuit, Yippie!!! Dave

After reading much of the wisdom shared here I decided to post my experience to see if any of you can relate to it, and/or offer advise on how to change it.

I have shared on another thread that my OWD training was quite lacking imo. That being said, I do not think I can blame my instructor for my lack of experience any more than I can blame my parents for what my life is today.

I was in Croatia in May of this year on a dive trip. We were going to dive on the wreck Baron Gautsh which lies in 40 meters of water. The top of the deck is at about 33 meters. I have an AOWD which I completed in Egypt last December. The sea was rough due to several days of storms. We had held off diving due to the weather and were trying to get the dive in before we had to head for home. There were 8 of us with one Instructor. I was buddy'ed with a person I didn't know well and had only dived with once.

We were in the water waiting to descend and everything seemed fine. We began our descent and at about 15 meters I started feeling "nervous" and began breathing deeper, we continued our descent to the ship. I had the feeling that I couldn't get enough air. Even though I was breathing very deeply and my regulator, (a new ATX 50) was working perfectly. My feeling of tension led to greater nervousness and then deeper breathing to the point where I was nearly hyperventilating. A thousand thoughts go through my mind. Panic was one of them. I am going to die was another. Pride was certainly an issue. I felt that I could not quit because the dive had cost my buddy a great deal of money and if I quit, he would lose out as well. I decided that I had to "stick it out" I did my best to calm my breathing as we penetrated the very large upper deck and swam the length of the ship. I was sticking so close behind my buddy that he gave me a glance or two wondering what I was doing.
I know I was glassy eyed with terror but pressed on. We swam back through the second side of the ship back to the anchor line and slowly made our ascent to a safety stop. I completed the dive and when back on the boat I was soo relieved. I didn't talk about the issue with the others, (mostly because I am only just learning the language and it was impossible to really explain)

I let it go and wondered what in the world went wrong. Thinking it to be some quirk of unexplainable fright or panic I tried to forget it and went home.

Two weeks later I went diving with a friend and the instructor I did my OWD with. The friend was doing his AOWD and allowed me to come along.
We went to a quarry for his deep dive. We went into the water at about 5 meters and the instructor began to swim away in the front (leading the way I guess) with the student, "my buddy" right on his heels. We were swimming fairly fast down into the cold water when at about the same depth I began to have the same feelings of not being able to breathe. Like I was drowning. This time there was no reason to continue so I signaled to my buddy that I was Ok but needed to surface. I tried to tell him to continue with the instructor and enjoy the dive. well, I was slowly ascending when the instructor caught up with me and asked if I was Ok. I gave him the swirling finger by the brain signal as well as Ok. He accompanied me to the surface and I told him I was calling the dive. I couldn't explain but I was not going down again just then. I was ready to quit. I told myself, if I cannot even go to depth without feeling like I am drowning, it is time to sell the gear and stay on the ground. Well, they returned and here I am ready to tell the instructor "I quit" when he asks me, as a statement really, "You are going to try again on the second dive RIGHT?
I said, Yes, sure, I'll try again. This time I explained as wel as I could to him in Czech what I felt and he suggested we do the second dive differently. We swam out to the buoy and slowly descended to depth. 30 meters. I was fine. we signaled ok and began to swim back towards the far end of the quarry. From 30 meters it gradually returns to 5 or so near the shore. The dive lasted around 35 minutes and I was fine.

Okay, all of that to get here. I "think" my problem stems from the feeling of the very cold water that seeps into the mask around my nose. It causes me to feel like I cannot breathe and so then I start to breathe deeper and faster thinking I am not getting enough air. I really do not know but this is my hypothesis. We went back to that same quarry a couple weeks later and began from the shallow end and at about 20 meters I began to have the same feeling. This time I stopped, ascended to about 13 meters and relaxed, got under control and we continued the dive without problem, even to 30 meters and 40 degrees.

I had one other event where I had the same feelings, stopped, calmed myself and continued without problem. All of these happened in very cold water. In the Red Sea, even to 33 meters I had no such feelings. I am trying to figure out the root of the problem. I think it is the fear of drowning and the feeling of discomfort caused by the cold water on and in my nose.

So, I have admitted to not enough practice and this is what I am trying to do about it. Every dive, in shallower water of course. I am practicing removing my mask and getting used to the feeling. Could it be this simple? Am I overlooking something? The instructor tried to explain it by swimming fast and getting a heavy dose of Nitrogen. Is this what has been meant by "dark narcosis" ?

Thanks for taking the time for the long read and for your advice.

TDP

 

[ScubaJorgen]

Diving in cold water is different from diving in warmer water: you breathe more air. So you breathe differently.

Check out your diving gear. Isn't your stab-jack to tight? Having much neoprene around you (in cold water) probably can make breathing more difficult. Having a tight neck seal (dry suit) might result in carotid-sinus reflex: due to the pressure of the seal blood pressure 'sensors' in your neck measure to high bloodpressure (of coarse there is nothing wrong with your bloodpressure). They signal your heart beat to go down, leading to low bloodpressure. I guess this won't make you feel comfortable :11: .

The cause also may be stress. All stressed divers I encountered complained of getting insufficient air and malfunctioning equipment.

A good idea :33: is to practice in a swimming pool under controlled conditions (using a buddy). Do some hard work under water, e.g. go swimming fast. When you feel out of breath, relax and try to get breathing under control (if not, just go up). In this way you can feel what it is and how to cope with it.

 

[DennisW]

I posted a reply to your buddy's post. I too was diving in colder water than I normally dive. So it may have also been a factor. Here is my reply:
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=92891

 

[Stirling]

Okay, all of that to get here. I "think" my problem stems from the feeling of the very cold water that seeps into the mask around my nose. It causes me to feel like I cannot breathe and so then I start to breathe deeper and faster thinking I am not getting enough air. I really do not know but this is my hypothesis. We went back to that same quarry a couple weeks later and began from the shallow end and at about 20 meters I began to have the same feeling. This time I stopped, ascended to about 13 meters and relaxed, got under control and we continued the dive without problem, even to 30 meters and 40 degrees.

I had one other event where I had the same feelings, stopped, calmed myself and continued without problem. All of these happened in very cold water. TDP

There may be something to your hypothesis, if this is happening to you only in cold water, and you are not normally a cold water diver. Cold water on the face can trigger the so-called "mammalian diving reflex" and alter your breathing (the reflex is actually apnea, or holding your breath), which of course you notice and may react to by forcing yourself to breathe in an unnatural (or "unrelaxed") way, and you press on feeling very uncomfortable and not breathing normally, and from there you can quickly start down the road to hyperventilating, which only aggravates your problem.

I think the best reaction is to stop and relax until your breathing returns to normal; pressing ahead and exerting yourself while your breathing is still labored or forced is only going to make you feel more anxious and your problem is likely to get progressively worse until you stop and adjust to the conditions of the dive. Bad visibility can do the same thing to some people.

On edit: but in fact the diving response is not triggered by cold water in or around the nose, but higher on your face - around the forehead and eyes, especially.

On edit again: Never mind. Just saw this thread is from last year.

 

[mrobinson]

One of my biggest complaints about diving is that people are not forthcoming with stories like this - hats off to you for sharing.. You're getting some real good advice. I also have had panic attacks. Between the way the BCD fits, the medication, the lack of... the list goes on and on.
I read in a sport mental game book for atheletes a trick that worked for me. (I let my mind wander too much.) Try to block out the "wrong" thinking and replace it with the "right" thinking. I've found that has helped me concentrate on just "this" dive and not the next dive right after, the dishes I left, the jeans I need to wash while I dry my dive gear....
Good luck and keep trying with a dive buddy that is willing to work with you on this.