Anxious at Nine Feet
- Thread starter Rick Inman
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gcbryan:
That is how I learned it Heliox is just O2 and He, Triox is another monster and I'm not sure what percentages are being used there. I notice Jagfish uses both terms, but I learned they are not interchangeable. Is this a typo?
Also got questions on the suggestion to switch to backgas in this situation, started another thread to discuss switching back to an He mix.
Originally, I thought of the strict definition of Triox as O2/He mixtures as well. But doesn't GUE call 30/30 triox? And I believe that in the original post, Vplanner labelled the 28/16 back gas as triox. I've just come to think of elevated O2 trimix as triox. Maybe this is misused terminology on my part...CD_in_Chitown:
Perhaps someone can clear this up.
Oops..exactly right...my bad...
Rick,
I believe I have your answer.
On reaching 9 ft. you realized that the dive was completed and, being a deco dive, you could not dive again for another hour. . . withdrawal!
I know I often have a brief panic attack when my computer beeps on the surface to let me know I have been out of the water for 5 minutes. 5 minutes . . . gotta get back in.
Actually, I liked TS&M's adrenaline rush answer.
BTW, you do know that deco software spits out the shortest stops for each depth, right? You would do your body a favor by amending the profile to add time at the depth of the gas switch . . . say, 3 minutes at 70 ft., then back to the software's suggestions. I know you can make these changes in DecoPlan, I expect you can in VPlan as well. Ask your tech instructor about taking advantage of the pressure gradient at the depth of max ppo2 when you make the gas switch.
theskull
I believe I have your answer.
On reaching 9 ft. you realized that the dive was completed and, being a deco dive, you could not dive again for another hour. . . withdrawal!
I know I often have a brief panic attack when my computer beeps on the surface to let me know I have been out of the water for 5 minutes. 5 minutes . . . gotta get back in.
Actually, I liked TS&M's adrenaline rush answer.
BTW, you do know that deco software spits out the shortest stops for each depth, right? You would do your body a favor by amending the profile to add time at the depth of the gas switch . . . say, 3 minutes at 70 ft., then back to the software's suggestions. I know you can make these changes in DecoPlan, I expect you can in VPlan as well. Ask your tech instructor about taking advantage of the pressure gradient at the depth of max ppo2 when you make the gas switch.
theskull
PerroneFord
Contributor
theskull:
It's a checkbox in V-Planner, "extended stops".
I had issues for a short while with a vertigo feeling on some dives and after being checked out medically I noticed it was only on dives I wore a hood on. It was trapping air around my ears and messing me up. Does this sound like it could have been a possiblity?
Chad
Chad
Just finnished my PADI/DSAT technical diver and had a somewhat similar experiance. I had just finnished an air dive to 160' and was waiting at a 20' stop. At the time I was looking at a metal bar and things just went blurry, can't explain it and my computer had already cleared me to the surface. I was just breathing EANx50 and offgassing a little extra for safety. It was my first dive of the day so no issues of CNS or OTU would have been a factor. I kind of shook my head around and it soon went away, but left me with a feeling of maybe I had done something wrong. After I surfaced I had no problems and completed a second dive.
Rick Inman:
Hey Rick,
Glad you had no issues! It would suck to deal with anxiety at a deeper depth although one can certainly get hurt at any depth. I had a few bouts of it in my OW-AOW training. On decent in the quarry I got anxious at about 10 ffw and bailed. The instructor explained possible causes and led me down the wall as a visual reference. That worked like a champ! Dove the rest of the weekend totally relaxed. But then again, while thinking about it all week I had the same issue on the first dive of the following weekend. This time, with the help of Scubaboard, I just stopped, took in a few DEEP breaths and it was gone. As we know there is a vicious cycle that develops from what appears to be basically nothing (or something like poor breathing, coffee, Sudafed etc. as I've learned from this and other threads) and can "jump out" at any time without warning. I've since learned that, for myself, there seems to be certain "triggers" that make me feel uncomfortable. I just came back from a Florida trip and dove 2 dives in about 25 foot vis on 2 wrecks. On the first wreck, down the line at about 40fsw I got that "breathing through a straw feeling" and the immediate anxiety and fight or flight feeling. I chalk it up to the "blue water syndrome" or whatever it's called. If I can't see top or bottom and have no visual reference it seems to trigger anxiety. But not all the time, only once in a great while. First thing I checked was my pressure (good, checking maybe valve not all the way out, but was ok) and then 2nd stage, it was dialed in a bit so I backed it out. For the record my new buddy and I made all pre-dive checks including our air. Now I have recently started servicing my own gear so maybe some hidden anxiety in the back of my mind, although I had 2 dives on my regs before this trip. After I concluded the reg was set ok I just took some more deep breaths and focused on the line and was feeling fine. We're probably talking 15 seconds or so for the whole event. So maybe it's a combo of things also? My recent servicing worries, no reference mid-water, first dives in the area, not the best vis and a boat load of spear fisherman?. I am curious about some of the medical conditions mentioned and makes me think that it's a good idea to have a more thorough checkup just to be on the safe side. No decongestants on this dive although I slammed a coffee on the way to the boat. Was on Nitrox 35%.
Rick, I'm sure you're thinking, or you should be thinking, if this happened at 9 feet could it happen at 200 feet? Yes it can, you've taken the right step to investigate the possible cause now to get a handle on dealing with it in the future if it happens again.
For me I'm planning on making more local dives in low vis and work on practicing more advanced skills like buddy breathing with no mask, blacked out mask etc. I want to "force" myself into uncomfortable situations and work on dealing with any anxiety. I got a taste of it in Divemaster class (gear swap while buddy breathing in the pool) and it's caused me to re-think where I'm at comfort wise as a diver and where I'd like to be. I think these "bouts" are more common than is reported as most divers don't really want to talk about it or admit they freaked a little on a dive.
I'd be interested in any of your findings or conclusions.
Chris
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