Choking, coughing, wheezing in overhead

[DeepBound]

I'd like to hear from anyone who has had to deal with a choking while in an overhead environment, and not had the option to start ascending. Did this pose a big problem, and how did you deal with it?

Once in a while (when not diving), while drinking water, eating, or rarely while not doing anything at all, something "goes down the wrong hole". Sometimes this leads to coughing, choking, wheezing which has never been too much of a problem on the surface. However, underwater, I wonder if it would present difficulties, such as feeling suffocated by the reg, getting water in your mouth and lungs, etc.

(I'm asking because while taking a cave diving course, I had a bit of reflux, which burned my throat and caused me to choke and wheeze for a few moments. It sorted itself out pretty quickly, but it really got me thinking about what could happen in a more serious scenario.)

 

[karstdvr]

I had a mouthpiece that came off once at the exact moment I inhaled. I just put my back up in my mouth quickly,and coughed into that regulator until I got the spasms under control,and fixed the primary regulator. The other lesson I've learned is what food I will eat and when prior to a cave dive,since the horizontal position may not agree with certain things ie OJ. There is actually a funny story that Sheck had a theory about drinking spring water during deco to reduce dehydration,and he would pull out his regulator and drink mouthfuls of water between breaths. While Sheck was doing this somebody else doing deco had pulled off their wet suit inorder to do a "#2". While Sheck was drinking water another diver pointed out the other diver who was "reading the Sunday paper' to Sheck,I understand Sheck was choking from trying to spit out all the water in his mouth. LOL

 

[Scuba-Jay]

I had a mouthpiece that came off once at the exact moment I inhaled. I just put my back up in my mouth quickly,and coughed into that regulator until I got the spasms under control,and fixed the primary regulator. The other lesson I've learned is what food I will eat and when prior to a cave dive,since the horizontal position may not agree with certain things ie OJ. There is actually a funny story that Sheck had a theory about drinking spring water during deco to reduce dehydration,and he would pull out his regulator and drink mouthfuls of water between breaths. While Sheck was doing this somebody else doing deco had pulled off their wet suit inorder to do a "#2". While Sheck was drinking water another diver pointed out the other diver who was "reading the Sunday paper' to Sheck,I understand Sheck was choking from trying to spit out all the water in his mouth. LOL

um....eww???

 

[jeckyll]

karstdvr: That's nasty

 

[Kevrumbo]

Read this (scroll down to the Red colored-text "The Real Dive", and start there):
http://www.technicaldivingafrica.com/home.html

 

[karstdvr]

karstdvr: That's nasty

Guess there were a few things (actually a lot) left out of Cavern's Measureless to Man

 

[DeepBound]

Read this (scroll down to the Red colored-text "The Real Dive", and start there):
http://www.technicaldivingafrica.com/home.html

Wow, thats an amazing story. I can't imagine how he got through that.

 

[DeepBound]

While Sheck was doing this somebody else doing deco had pulled off their wet suit inorder to do a "#2". While Sheck was drinking water another diver pointed out the other diver who was "reading the Sunday paper' to Sheck,I understand Sheck was choking from trying to spit out all the water in his mouth. LOL

LOL, that makes me want to barf right now

 

[H2Andy]

yeah... when i was doing the last dive of my Intro. to Cave class, and during an OOA, i swallowed a little bit of water, which made me choke and gave me a fit of coughing.

i couldn't stop coughing

i put my reg in my mouth and tried inhaling, but just couldn't inhale through the coughing. i am not sure how long this went on for... perhaps a few seconds, when it dawned on me:

crap! i can't breathe...

so i switched to my backup reg to see if maybe it was my primary. no good. still choking, coughing.

at that point, i was still somewhat cognizant, though scared s****less (great, i'm under 10,000 tons of rock and i can't breathe)

i then signaled my instructor with my light. he had swam ahead a little, but had already turned around to watch me (he could tell something was wrong).

i gave him the "OOA" signal and tried to breathe from his regulator. not sure why... i was just going through the motions .... somewhow, i was able to get enough air past my throat to get a few breaths in ... and in a while, the coughing stopped.

my mind, however, was not exactly settled, and all i wanted to do was get out of that cave. on the way out, he pulled a "missing diver" on me, and i didn't notice he was missing for the longest time. when i realized he was missing, i went back to look for him, but i felt like crap. it was a very good learning experience, but man, what a day.

the odd thing is that we didn't stir one bit of silt during that mess. training works!

 

[dmdoss]

i would be throwing up. not just spitting water out