35ish dives in, started to panic, had to abort - still causes some concern

[seeker242]

We had rounded a corner so no current, and swimming along the wall. I was still feeling quite puffed and a little difficulty in drawing as much air as I felt I needed. i was starting to feel restricted by my reg's airflow...then I started to feel panic.

Like others have said, that's pretty much textbook symptoms of CO2 retention, due to overexertion.

I thought to myself that I could try to rest and see if I can calm myself down out of it...but I reasoned that if it kept building up, then that's another few minutes I am away from being on the surface. So I signalled my buddy (my wife) that I wanted to abort the dive

Perfectly reasonable thing to do. Although, I bet that if you understood the reason why it was happening, while it was happening, you would have been able to calm yourself out of it with appropriate action, or non-action you could say, and breathing properly, etc. You would have known that it could not continue if you were to remove the cause, AKA high CO2, which can easily be done by getting your breathing under conscious control.

There is really no need to worry about it just randomly happening again because it didn't happen randomly the first time. Just don't overexert yourself again and it won't happen again.

 

[chillyinCanada]

OP, as others have stated, I think you handled the situation just fine. The only thing I would change is the safety stop you conducted before hitting the surface. While typically it is never bad to do a safety stop, if you are uncomfortable/in distress and aborting the dive from recreational depths and time limits then the safety stop can be omitted as it not a requirement but only a suggestion for recreational diving....even more so if ascending from the depths you were at, as you stated you were not yet AOW certified which one could infer that on a guided dive you were more than likely above 20 meters depth.

Don't get me wrong, doing the safety stop in general is better in all cases, but if you feel you need to be at the surface there is no reason you have to stop for a non-mandatory safety stop on your way there.

Good job on handling the situation and being aware of yourself...you now have experience you can reflect on and apply to your diving in the future, and by doing so you become a better diver, at least in my opinion.

-Z

In general a good little piece of advice Zef but in this case, our diver friend had calmed down, most likely due to his breathing changing and CO2 buildup that was causing the fearful feeling of being short of breath had abated.

 

[Zef]

In general a good little piece of advice Zef but in this case, our diver friend had calmed down, most likely due to his breathing changing and CO2 buildup that was causing the fearful feeling of being short of breath had abated.

I think we read the original post differently. This piece quoted from it indicated to me that he had not calmed down until he was conducting the safety stop, and regardless of the reason why he was in the mental/physical state he was in, there was no reason obligating him to make that stop:

I was starting to calm down on the safety stop.

The safety stop is only 3 min long, the quoted sentence does not imply that the OP was completely recovered from their bout of panic by the time the safety stop was finished...it could have unrolled that way but it is not clear from the post.

As I stated, the OP made a good call to end the dive given what he was experiencing. Given that they are only OW certified and profess to not have much experience...I know from my own experience as a DM that many new divers "believe" they must do certain things that they observed in there OW class, one is that they "must" do a safety stop - which I admit is something I plan into every dive as it is a good practice but a "thinking" diver will know when it is appropriate to omit this part of the dive.

Thanks for the discussion though.

-Z

 

[wstorms]

OP: nothing to feel bad about. You are in an environment your body isn't build for, your brain can't truly comprehend you are actually there and you are doing it for fun.
Although I do not know you, I am going to guess you didn't go trough astronaut school or any other serious stress inducing training program, so it is absolutely no issue if the alien, hostile environment you are playing in while using life support system can be a bit overwhelming. Most divers will have an experience like this at some point.

Whatever causes you to panic (I agree this could have been CO2 buildup, but might be something else altogether. In my early dive days I had a freeflowing reg that triggered a bit of panic), the best way to deal with it is to remain / regain you calm. Stop what you are doing, breathe deep and slow, think about your situation and only once you determined what you want to do do it. If this means giving the thumbs up, congratulate yourself at the surface for making a safe decision and dive another day.

Use the experience to visualize what you would do if it would happen again. Even if you are deeper, (AOWD is 30 meter max) the response stays the same: relax, take it from there. If you want to abort a dive, you abort the dive. If you want to catch your breath for a few minutes and then reevaluate the situation, do that.

Regarding your question if a different reg would make a difference; yes it might, but in reality, assuming the reg is well maintained, it is more likely either physiology (like CO2 buildup) or psychologically (like "what am I doing here this doesn't feel right") that causes the onset of panic. If buying a brand new shiny reg puts your mind at ease, do it. It is a hobby after all. " because it is shiny" is a perfect reason to buy toys

Just keep doing what you are doing: slowly build on your experience, talk with other divers about it and remain conservative. Last but not least: 10 mega bonus points for going back in the water shortly after; glad to see you are still enjoying our favorite sport

 

[Zef]

@wstorms , great post.

just one thing...not all dive training agencies have a 30m depth limit for AOW:

...(AOWD is 30 meter max)...

as an example:
PADI Adavance Open Water = 30m
NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver= 40m

It should be noted that depth limits by certification agencies are for training dives only. Divers are certified to the limit of recreational diving which is 40m deep (there is at least one agency that sets this depth at around 50m, I think it might be CMAS or LIFRAS).

There has been lots of discussion about the last point I mention so I will not delve further into it here as anything further is beyond the scope of this thread.

-Z

 

[wstorms]

@wstorms , great post.

just one thing...not all dive training agencies have a 30m depth limit for AOW:

as an example:
PADI Adavance Open Water = 30m
NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver= 40m

Hi Zef,

You are absolutely right. However, the point I wanted to make (and probably should have rephrased) is:
even at any depth, the panic recovery stays the same: stop doing what you are doing, control your breathing, take a moment to collect your thoughts, and work from there. Within recreational limits you can always directly abort the dive (yes there are exceptions, but for here let's keep it simple) and go to the surface if needed, and there is no shame to use that option.

It should be noted that depth limits by certification agencies are for training dives only. Divers are certified to the limit of recreational diving which is 40m deep (there is at least one agency that sets this depth at around 50m, I think it might be CMAS or LIFRAS).

There has been lots of discussion about the last point I mention so I will not delve further into it here as anything further is beyond the scope of this thread.

Agreed, but for here I would like to add one point of view regardless of legal definitions: insurance companies do look at training standards, and do consider the training limit as the max limit. For practical guidance for new(er) divers: stay within your training limits, slowly build your experience, continue to educate yourself and take it slow all the way. Furture education does include diving into the debate Zef mentioned, but for now, take it safe and slow.

 

[Diving Dubai]

As others have said, you (@CapnBloodbeard) did fine.

I dive challenging currents all the time at home - I love them, I go to Komodo with current junkies specifically looking for the scary currents. So a couple of hints that may help, if you can't help but swim into them

Yes, decent fins are worth their weight in gold in current. However you need ones that suit you. really stiff fins, may be too debilitating for extended use, until your leg muscles have developed

Ensure you have effective flutter and frog kick technique. Inefficient poor finning doesn't help. Swap between frog and flutter to give yourself little breaks, being horizontal in trim his important, in really stiff current I make a "superman" pose with my arms outstretched, bury my head and just kick

I personally have regs with a breathing adjustment. Generally it's set to wide open, but when exerting myself I turn it down to give greater resistance - which may seem illogical - but you want to be breathing properly rather than short shallow breaths

Try (and I know this will be hard) to focus on yoru breathing to calm yourself down a bit. Currents can be overwhelming, you're out of yoru comfort zone, you haven't got confidence in your ability to cope, and you have air anxiety - worrying you'll be the first to call the dive. We've all been there, and time and experience helps for sure

Next time it'll be easier as you'll kind of know what to expect - it's not uncommon (I've seen it a lot in komodo) for experienced divers to blow through their air, in currents that aren't that strong, since they're outside of their comfort zone, and they get a bit overwhelmed

 

[BlueTrin]

OP, you did well and made the right call IMHO so congratulations on that

 

[uw]

@CapnBloodbeard, lots of good comments already, just one thing I have to add: congrats on not succumbing to any perceived peer pressure to continue the dive because you were part of a guided group. That feeling of needing to keep up, to not use the most air, etc. can really get in the way of good diving, and sometimes lead to really bad decisions (I've seen more than one diver breathe his tank dry and bolt because he didn't want to admit he was low on air.)

Also - at the time, you were confronting a challenging unknown experience that made you feel unsure about your safety, so calling the dive was the right call, even if in hindsight, or with more experience you could work through this particular cause. Any diver at any level can find themselves in that situation, and if calling the dive is an option, it makes sense.

Keep diving!
cheers,

 

[InTheDrink]

Hi OP,

As mentioned by pretty much everyone above - good call and well done. You made the right decision.

I have only one other thing to add rather than repeating what was said in other posts.

One trick I used to use if I felt anxious (particularly if there was no really obvious cause) was to distract myself either by looking at the reef, pretty fishes, taking photographs or playing some light hearted music in my head. It helps distract if the anxiety is primarily psychological.

Other than that everything mentioned by the other posters is very worth taking into account. And a double plus one for getting your own regs.

Rental gear is sometimes a necessary evil but don’t spare the regs and treat yourself to a nice set.