anxiety / panic attack forcing me to end dive

[spoolin01]

When I first started diving - here in Monterey - I had several instances of anxiousness which I now mostly attribute to overexertion, perhaps it could be called CO2 build-up. Those first few dives, following a DM or other divers, were too rushed for my liking. With the DM, we'd swim like mad from shore and then drop immediately for the dive. I was winded. If I wasn't already winded from the surface swim, chasing the DM underwater at top speed got me winded. I also didn't like the sensation of having to inspire with extra labor to get a breath - but that's scuba. Some of your description reminded me of those dives and I thought the different degree of exertion between ocean shore diving and lake diving might explain your different reaction. I found that if I rested first on the surface - tell the others you need a moment before descending - or breathed fully and deeply while swimming without concern for air consumption, the discomfort passed and I lost my self-consciousness. I learned to recognize when anxiety approached, and used deep breathing to get over it. It worked every time, and the tendency passed with experience.

You could do the simple experiments of taking your time and deep breathing underwater to see if that helps. This may well be the first time your breathing rhythms have been disturbed in this way and the anxiety may be the response. Distraction might also help - point things out to others, pantomime, do drills, take pictures, look under rocks, hunt critters. Talk with your buddies on the surface until you're relaxed and ready to dive.

I assume you use a thick wetsuit - is it too tight? My first farmer john was stiff and too tight and restricted my breathing.

 

[SurDo2]

Howdy.

I know exactly the feeling your talking about. I've seen divers with hundreds or even thousands of dives experience it. It's even happened to me. What's your fitness level like? How tight is your neck seal? I'm not much of a psychologist so I won't comment on the mental aspect other than just relax, but in my experience it's usually cardivascular fitness or neck seals/neck dams being to tight. Both are easily remedied.
I hope this helps. Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions.

Cheers.

 

[ScubaSarus]

The best advice I can give one if an anxiety attack occurs, is to stop, think, and react. Stop to get the breathing under control as there is a feeling you are not getting enough air and you over breath the regulator causing one to shoot for the surface if deep. Many reasons for this and I can name a few:

Rushing down the anchor line.

Rushing the dive.

Trying to conserve air and getting a CO2 hit (too many shallow breaths).

Stress before the dive or even the day before.

Stomach irritation that effects the heart rhythm and causes palpitations.

Blue Orb Syndrome (diving in an unfamiliar area, suddenly feeling lost and disorientated, diving outside the comfort zone).

Diving with people who you are not comfortable with.

Finning too hard in a strong current (another CO2 hit).

Too much caffeine or decongestants.

Gear malfunctions that distract you and gear too tight.

Lack of sleep and dehydration.

Being way out of shape.

All my 300 + dives have been in New England and the lakes here and vis can be awful and things can get cold and dark real fast. I've experienced a few bouts as such with the most dangerous one was on a 95ft wreck-boat dive; and I suddenly found myself alone at the bottom of the ocean in a current with 10 ft vis. The wreck reel got tangled and my buddies stopped to untangle it and I kept going. Thank god for dive lights. But I was close to overbreathing that reg knowing I'd be a mile from the boat if I surfaced without the anchor line. The seas were at least 3 ft also. I was alone for 5 minutes before we made contact with our lights.

Just realize you are not alone with these feelings. Go at your pace (not someone else's), dive within you comfort zone, and dive with people that you feel comfortable diving with. Do some aerobic exercise to gain physical confidence and stay hydrated and relaxed as best as possible before diving. Make sure you gear fits comfortably.

I wish you the best in dealing with this because it does make one second guess themselves to determine if diving is for them.

 

[highdesert]

I can offer absolutely zero real expertise to deal with your issue, and all posters above have offered excellent advice, I believe. But I offer another possible option ... is any dive group near you offering a trip to someplace like Roatan, or similar? The point being, what if you spent a week somewhere, with an instructor available for a refresher, where the water temp is 80+ degrees, the vis is at least 25 meters, and there is no surge or current? Do you think such an experience might be helpful? Again, you're the judge, but I believe I might consider such a trip to get me past the anxiety you're experiencing. Yes, at some point you would need to move to more challenging conditions, but it seems like some good old "warm water wuss" tropical diving, with supervision if you feel it's necessary, would be helpful right now. Even if it's not going with a local group, an hour of web searches or excellent advice here will probably yield many options.

 

[AZ Jim Diver]

California cold water diving with thick wetsuit and weight belt especially a shore dive is not easy. I've had dive buddies that get claustrophobic in their tight wetsuits. A beach dive is tiring.

Try a warm water boat dive with an instructor. Minimal skin or no wetsuit. Minimal weight.

It is a whole different sport.
Step off the back of a boat in warm water to 30 feet. tour around the anchor line and then back up.