Anxiety Attacks

[barb]

The original post was a request for those divers who have experienced Anxiety Attacks.

I had, what I called, an anxiety attack when I was a new diver. I was AOW but with little experience.
The dive was the second dive on a moderately deep wreck (70') in cold water. I was still chilled from the first dive and when we descended on the wreck we started swimming against the current along the wreck. I suddenly had overwhelming thoughts of "what are you doing down here" "you're not supposed to be down here" "you could die". I signalled to my buddy that I wanted to go up. He saw that I was stressed out and told me to hold onto the wreck. Within a moment I felt better and was able to continue the dive with no other insidents.
I was very alarmed at this event and worried for some time afterward that it could happen to me again.
It never has but I realize that this anxiety occurred because I was a bit narced, cold, and most of all - overexerting myself with fighting the current (using my arms because I was a new diver).
I also asked around to see if other divers had experienced this and was surprised by the number that said yes. It seemed that many had the same problems: cold, tired, new experience, overexertion.
I'm grateful for a good buddy at the time - he saw my problem and did just the right thing for me.
Good Luck and keep relaxed!!!!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

David F Colvard, MD is doing a 3 yr. longitudinal study on diving saftey and his latest follow uo questionaire asks whether people have, as he puts it:

"on more than one occassion, ever have spells or attacks when you suddenly felt intensely anxious, frightened, uncomfortable or uneasy, even in situations where most people would not feel that way?"

Anyone else get that survey? The study will conclude in Jan 2004 and the paper should be written sometime in mid-late 2004 and any findings would be interesting.

 

[scubabear]

Hate the damn things, pop up at the most unexpected times.
I've been dealing with them for past 20 yrs. Mine started primarilly as a side effect of an old blood pressure medicine Aldomet. Found several things help, the more cardialvascular conditioning the fewer and less intensity the attacks.
Not recommending this to anyone, but taking 1 aspirin, .25mg Xanax, and an alka-gold( baking soda ) has kept me diving.
I also worked out signals to my buddy (wife ) when one does occur. I usally stop, do some square breathing until it subsides.
The worst attack u/w occurred in 80ft off Bonaire, had two new divers with us. I think the stress of shepearding them brought it on. All I know was I wanted out of the water NOW, but I also kwew that if I did that things would get worse. So I signalled my buddy, ascended to 20ft and shadowed them the rest of the dive.
We did 20 more dives that week with no problems, go figure!
Diving with various medical conditions is a personal choice, just make sure to advise your buddies. There's life and then there's living, I prefer the latter. Sorry for the long post, hope it helps.

 

[RiverRat]

ouachita once bubbled...
I would like to hear from others who dive and have a history of anxiety attacks in nondiving situations.

Hey there, I'm a new diver, just finished OW dives yesterday and had an issue I thought I'd like to share. I had a similier instance once before while under extreme exertion sparring in karate class.
I went on a discover scuba dive last year and it was the most relaxing, intense experience I ever had. That's why I pursued OW cert. However my first OW dive decent was troublesome. In a dark quarry, 7mm wetsuit, lots of gear and a lot on my mind, (work pressure, relationship issues etc.) I was probably trying to do too much at once my instructor said. As I went down (luckily 10 ft. or so) I began to hyperventilate for no "apparent" reason. No matter how hard I tried to control my breathing I could not slow it down. It did not help my Apeks reg was set to - (minus, dahhhh) so I think I was "over breathing" my Reg, in other words it "felt" as though I was over breathing it. As I tried to pull more air it seemed I was just "pulling" harder and harder. On the verge of panic I made a relatively controlled ascent to the surface. I sat on shore for 5 - 10 minutes, and then the instructor led me down using the wall as a visual reference. After I got my breathing under control I was fine for the rest of the weekend. What is scary is that this did "seem to come out of nowhere". I'm glad it happened here at shallow depth rather than at 90 ft. sometime in the future. I would like to find out more on hyperventilation. I think the more you breath fast and shallow the more CO2 you blow off which perpetuates the problem. In other words "I felt like I was not getting enough air due to CO2 blowoff" but in actuality probably had plenty of O2 as long as I kept my reg in my mouth. I do remember feeling a little "anxious" before the dive but I'm still not sure if this was an anxiety attack or just overexertion/hyperventilation. Please note that I said it did happen once on land during heavy exertion, same feeling, hyperventilation etc. I'll have to find out more on this, would like to confirm if possible what "really" happened. If I was on the bottom I could have just rested. One thing I did learn here is no matter what happens down there one must remain in control, keep your reg in etc. and use the emergency methods taught to get out of a tough situation, such as CESA, keep breathing etc.
I think it's important to try to stay somewhat physically fit and NOT dive if you just don't feel up to it. That being said though, how long would it have taken me to regain breathing at depth?
Can one pass out hyperventilating for an exteneded period?
Hopefully someone can answer some questions here. Anyway, I'm not about to quit, I could bite it on the way to work or any number of ways........

RiverRat

 

[RiverRat]

RiverRat once bubbled...

ouachita once bubbled...
I would like to hear from others who dive and have a history of anxiety attacks in nondiving situations.........................................

Hey there, I'm a new diver, just finished OW dives yesterday and had an issue I thought I'd like to share. I had a similier instance once before while under extreme exertion sparring in karate class.
RiverRat

I would like to post a followup to my first/the last post. I just finished my AOW and Nitrox cert. dives last weekend. Just as before I had a great weekend of diving. I squeezed my ears on my OW dives and was a little concerned about it on these dives as well as "the hyperventillation issue" was still in the back of my mind from the last dives. This time I tried to relax as much as possible before descending by snorkeling etc. before going down. As I descended on the first of 5 dives I again started to breath quick and shallow and started to feel the same as before, anxious. This time however, I was decending more slowly (paying particular attention to equalization) and simply stopped for a minute and took several DEEP, SLOW breaths and regained my composure very quickly. Again, the rest of the weekend went well. I am not a medical person, so take this with a grain of salt. Just my observation that for me it's mind over matter. I think the decent in the dark (looking down) maybe brings on a phobia reaction I was never aware I had? A visual reference on the first dive seems to help however the more I dive these cold, dark environments the more I think I deal with this head on and hopefully after getting in more dives I'll be done with it. Anyway, maybe someone with knowledge on the subjet can comment.

RR

 

[pipedope]

When you breath fast and shallow (especially on scuba) you build up CO2. This is because of the dead space in your breathing passages and regulator. Breathing deep and slow reduces the CO2.

A CO2 hit feels very much like an anxiety attack.

The best response is the same anyway.

1. Stop
2. Breath (deep and slow)
3. Relax (as much as you can at the time)
4. Breath ( deeper and slower)
5. Think (solve the problem if there is one, slow down what you are doing)
6. Breath (slow and deep, remember?)
7. Pick your next move (continue more slowly, abort, etc)
8. Breath (all the way in, all the way out)
9. Act.

Working hard causes you to make lots more CO2 and cold makes you retain more CO2.
While you can't usually make it warmer during a dive you can always stop swimming or other work.

I take an inventory during the 'think' phase including checking my buddy, gas supply and depth. Knowing my status helps to prevent problems.

 

[RiverRat]

Thanks Pipedope! (you must be a plumber )
Yes, I get "hypo" and "hyper" ventillation mixed up sometimes.
Makes sense, when you breath deep and fast you blow off CO2, just like when you want an extended skin dive, blowing off CO2 keeps one from getting the "out of air feeling". Yes, fast and shallow breathing and CO2 build up does explain the "loop" I seemed to have gotten caught in causing even more anxiety and more fast and shallow breathing.

This time I was ready for it, stopped and "forced" myself to breath deep and slow, and viola, less than a minute later I was diving in cold dark nasty quarry water without a hitch. I think as I get more dives in and more confident these issues will be long gone. In any event, a necessary evil for me to overcome and to become a good diver.

Thanks for the input, as usual good stuff on this board.....

RR

 

[pipedope]

I am a commercial diver who works mostly in stormwater drain pipes.
I am the "dope" on the end of the hose who will go into the pipe in zero vis, mud debris and who knows what to get the job done.

Inside a pipe is a bad place to freak out.

 

[BigJetDriver]

As I said once before, Michael's nickname or "handle" is a good play on words, as well as very self-deprecating. His type of diving requires a high level of skill, technical preparation, and a fair amount of mental toughness.

As I know from experience, confined-space operations in black-water (and I mean murky enough to be the equivalent of just painting your face-plate black) are serious and very demanding tasks.

To paraphrase the warnings on the car commercials these days,
"Professional Diver. Closed Course. Do not attempt!"

Or as Mr. Natural used to say: "Don't try this at home, kids!" =-)

 

[RiverRat]

Ok, I get the picture, you guys are into some serious s***!
Anyway, that's what makes this board great, lots of talented people in many areas of expertise sharing and teaching.........................great stuff