Anxious and terrified Underwater

[Saudi-Diver]

NW Grateful diver in his last post hit the nail on the head

Now, to the scary mishap you experienced in your class. It's related to those instincts I was just talking about. It's called a "mammalian reflex" and it occurs commonly with new divers when they do the mask flood and clear exercise. What happens is that, because we humans are typically nose-breathers, when you get water on your nostrils it triggers a response in your brain that says you're breathing water ... and so your brain tells you that your regulator is malfunctioning. But of course, it's not ... it's just your brain messing with you.

When I have a student who has this problem, the solution is to spend some time breathing through the regulator while standing chest deep in water ... face in the water with no mask on. What you're doing is "re-wiring" your instincts to recognize this condition and associate it with safety rather than danger. Sometimes it takes minutes ... sometimes longer than that. Work with it first in a pool ... then in open water ... because colder water temperatures do make the feeling stronger. Start with just a couple of breaths, and work your way up to where you an do it for 15 or 20 breaths without discomfort. If at any time the stress level gets to you, simply stand up, get your stress level under control, and try again. Eventually the feeling that you're breathing water will go away. And when it does, the stress you're feeling about your equipment will also go away ... because that's really just a rational manifestation of the instinctive reaction

Many years ago I was a BSAC assistant instructor and it's very common for people to have problems with mask clear exercises and mask doff and don exercises and I spent many a happy time standing in the shallow end of the pool conducting the exercise described above.

Mask clear is a skill that has to be instinctive.

 

[maranda1389]

In your first post you said this:


Then in another post you said:



These statements seem somewhat contradictory to me. Maybe a good thing for you do would be to snorkel for a while. Have you done much of that? If so, and if you really enjoy it, then I would guess you could adapt to diving. If you can't enjoy snorkeling, I'd say you might be in for a major self-confrontation project if you want to keep diving. NWGratefulDiver is correct in that we can adapt to many things, but the one thing that I would say is a deal-killer for diving is a general fear of the water. That's pretty deeply seated in most people, and pretty tough to overcome as an adult. It can happen, I've seen it, but it took lots of work and patience.

I believe your fear of drowning due to regulator failure is irrational (although most fears are, and we all have them!) because in the depths at which you are diving, if your regulator fails you can simply swim to the surface. You do realize that, don't you? Maybe you could try some exercises to work on that; eventually you should be able to trust the fact that gear failure should NEVER be fatal in OW diving.

Panic, however, is a different story; it can and has killed OW divers on many occasions. At the risk of sounding a bit blunt, it's probably best that you devote yourself to dealing with your fear of panicking underwater before you do too much else. Good luck with it, I wish you the best, and I'm sure many of us would be interested to hear how your progress goes.

I AM very comfortable in the water. I have NO problem swimming and I can tread water for 30+ mintues without getting tired. I snorkled at ton in Hawaii last July and I was totally comfortable with it and never had panic feelings. I dive down 12ft-13ft in pools all the time with no problem.

When I say I fear drowing, I mean, if something was to happen to my air source and I was unable to get to my buddy for some crazy reason, that I would drown in my effort to get to the surface. And I have a huge fear of being choked, strangled, suffocated... anything with not breathing. Some people are scared of spiders, I'm scared of not being able to breath (part of which I am SURE comes from a past partner you choked me but that's besides the point). When I did my CESA I was at 25' and I was JUST BARELY able to make it. I took one very small cheater breath halfway through and then right as I was getting to the surface, I felt like my lungs were going to explode.

 

[maranda1389]

NW Grateful diver in his last post hit the nail on the head


Many years ago I was a BSAC assistant instructor and it's very common for people to have problems with mask clear exercises and mask doff and don exercises and I spent many a happy time standing in the shallow end of the pool conducting the exercise described above.

Mask clear is a skill that has to be instinctive.

See, I have no problem adjusting, fiddling and clearing my mask while diving. I don't even think twice about it. I actually had a mask that leaked and I had to clear it ALL the time and it was just annoying, it didn't scare me. I think it's more when I have to purposely crack it open and let cold as heck water pour into my mask...

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

Hey Maranda:

The posts above give you good advice. Why did you take up the sport? Although you should not be on the edge of panic when you dive, it's good you realize it. If 20-30 feet is your thing, stay there. You will work up to going deeper in time, if you want to. If you dive in the Caribbean, 20-30 is really fine. If you need to get to deeper wrecks, then you need some more training. Before you think about your advanced, get with your instructor. That instructor certified you, so they know your diving habits. Go slow (divers are not in a rush) and take your time. Breathe naturally. Then it won't 'hurt' the next day. A regulator is a precise piece of equipment, but it's not how we breathe 'topside.' You may be overbreathing your equpment. If you really have the desire to dive, then get some more training. Remember, we do this to have fun and be safe. I hope you find that you "want" to dive. If you do, it gets easier.

Safe diving to you.

 

[halocline]

I AM very comfortable in the water. I have NO problem swimming and I can tread water for 30+ mintues without getting tired. I snorkled at ton in Hawaii last July and I was totally comfortable with it and never had panic feelings. I dive down 12ft-13ft in pools all the time with no problem.

In this case I believe you will be able to adapt to diving with enough practice. Most divers find diving easier than snorkeling, at least I do. Just stay within your comfort zone and practice lots of air sharing with a trusted partner. I have a friend who, as a new diver, was scared enough so that she constantly kept a hand on her regulator; now she has no problem and dives regularly.

Good luck!

 

[Herk_Man]

You've named your fear, now you need to conquer it. The only way to conquer your fear of equipment failure is to prove to yourself that an equipment failure is an easy problem to deal with. This means that you need to go get some additional training with an instructor in some specialized areas.

Tell your instructor your fears and ask him to tailor a course to your needs. This should begin in shallow water and progress to deeper scenarios.

Once you learn that suddenly not having air available to you is not such a big scary monster, then your fear will evaporate and your diving experience will become a wonderful thing.

Here's a for instance. Suddenly your air just stops feeding to you in 60 feet of water. While you will initially be a little scared, your training of performing CESAs will kick in and you will be on the surface breathing air in very little time. If you practice them with your instructor, you will learn quickly that it is not a big deal.

The other key to managing your fear is redundancy. If you have multiple sources of air, losing an air source is a minor inconvenience at best.

Hope this helps.

 

[JWTWV]

For me its all about mindset, I've only done my four checkout dives but fear wasn't much of an issue for me due to the mindset I had when I went under.

Over the course of the classes I just taught myself to relax, to have faith in my equipment, and above all that I have buddies who can assist me if I run into trouble.

This came in handy during my partial mask flood at forty feet, I accidentally took in some water and while I completed the exercise I had to remain calm and breath out the water through the regulator. After my coughing fit subsided I was fine.

If I had panicked as soon as I ran into trouble at the very least I might have blown my certification chances, and at worst I could have died.

 

[Jakestg]

I've been in the water all my life...the feeling of being scared will go away .

 

[tyesai]

I used to be anxious too, but really what is there to be afraid of? You have a buddy and between the two of you you have two sources of air and four ways to access it correct? If your diving within your limits, wich it sounds like you are, worst comes to worse, drop your weights and say ahhhhhhhh!

 

[RikRaeder]

I hear golf is pretty fun.