Cold, Sore, Exhausted

[Neda]

Hi everyone, so happy to have female divers to ask this too.

Ok, I learned to dive a few years ago, did a lot of my early dives in quarries around the MD area...always had trouble with being cold, even in a full 7mm jane and hood, gloves and boots, but we were only ever down for half an hour or so and I could always warm up on the surface.

Figured it was just from being in 42F water.

Now I'm living in Brisbane, Australia. My husband and I have done a few dives off of the reefs around here. I'm still getting cold! I have a new wetsuit (turns out the old one was too old and wasn't insulating me) it's a 5mm jane. Last time out I was ok for the first dive, but middle of the second dive I noticed I had started shivering. Let my buddy know and we tried staying in shallower warmer water. At the end of the dive swimming back to the back of the boat I of course got a horrid leg cramp, tried to deal with it then swim again back and ended up with two, once I got back to the ladder I was in such bad shape I had to be lifted up to the boat and couldn't stand for awhile.
This was after just two under an hour dives.

(trying to shorten my life story here!)

I'm still getting very very tired after doing just two dives, still have trouble breathing (wetsuit too tight? but if it's looser it wont keep me warm????) and I still feel like I cant keep up with my dive buddy and that I'm always cutting the dives short and that I'm not a strong enough diver. And yes, I had my bananas before the trip to try and boost up my potassium.


any help

 

[TSandM]

Well, as far as the cold goes, here are some ideas: Are you wearing a hood? Wearing even a thin hood makes a HUGE difference. With my 5 mil suit, I wear a 2 mil hooded vest, and I do that in any water, no matter how warm.

Second, does the wetsuit fit well? My ScubaPro 5 mil suit has soft neoprene seals at the wrists and ankles, but the neck doesn't fit well at all, and if I don't wear the vest, water just pours through the thing, and it isn't warm. Good fit is really key with wetsuits.

Third, are you cold DURING the first dive, or only when you get out? As hard as it is to believe, you have to get OUT of the wetsuit between dives, and wrap up in something warm. The wet suit is chilling, even though it seems as though it should be thick and insulating. I went back and read your OP, and you say you started shivering during the second dive -- I suspect you didn't really get warm between dives, so you started the second one down on what I call "thermal units".

If you are cold, that's definitely contributing to your fatigue. Being cold is exhausting, in and of itself.

As far as muscle cramps go, they happen to all of us. Potassium has little or nothing to do with it, unless you are on some kind of medication or have chronic diarrhea -- most people consume PLENTY of potassium in their diet. But conditioning makes a difference, and so does stretching. HERE is a good website with a couple of articles about cramps that are well worth reading.

Finally, your last paragraph suggests to me that whoever you are diving with, they are intimidating you to some degree. Maybe they swim too fast, or get irritable if your dives are shorter because of gas consumption, but I'm hearing a lot of low morale. We ALL had to start somewhere. We ALL used more gas at the beginning. I still don't like to swim fast, and I can't keep up very well if other people do. I solve that by 1) telling people I don't like to swim fast, 2) trying to find buddies who take pictures or otherwise are likely to move slowly, and 3) not diving again with people who won't slow down.

Good luck with all of this -- Diving is really worth persisting at!

 

[Scuba Nurse]

I have the same challenge as yourself with getting cold. Having a dry suit has made a world of difference for me in colder waters, especially with a 300grm undergarment. As for warmer waters, I found a hooded vest under my wet suit has made a huge difference. I even tried a 7ml but that was a little too warm. When I can, I also wear gloves.
As far as muscle cramps, it could be lactic acid build up from the shivering. One thing that has worked for me is being sure that I am well hydrated. I will have to disagree with the previous post about the postassium. I found that combining hydration and consuming -1-2 bananas per day helped with the cramping. I do agree with stretching and conditioning as well. I used to get horrible cramps when I would do water aerobics or swam laps. Of course this just worked for me so it could be a fluke. Perhaps, if you find a set up where you are not as cold you may not stress your body so much and will have less tendency for the cramps.
As far as keeping up with dive buddies. One thing I found is that after I improved my bouyancy and relaxed, I was able to swim more efficiently in the water. Sometimes if my hubby is swimming fast or one of my partners I have a hand signal that says "slow down". Don't feel like there is something wrong with you because you are asking someone to slow down. One thing I learned is that scuba diving is supposed to be a situation where you are relaxed and you just get to leisurely view the underwater world. An instructor of mine said, slow is fast and fast is slow. If you try to move about or try to perform a task in the water too fast you will get yourself agitated and this will actually slow you down and burn your air. I think that was the best advice I ever got.
Best of luck

 

[diverlady]

I wear a 5mil suit and hood diving in the Caribbean where it's 80 degree water!

Go dry. It's really the only way.

I used to get leg cramps all the time. Dehydration. So, before I dive I down a small bottle of Gatorade and drink plenty of water between and after the dives.

Your fins could be contributing to the problem of tiredness. I have different fins for my drysuit than my wetsuit and I find my wetsuit fins much easier to fin with. Perhaps a more flexible fin would help.

Diverlady

 

[mikerault]

Another thing that helps thremal resistance ishaving a proper amount of Iron and B vitamins. Men tend to have more of both, hence we don't get cold as easily. In fact vegetarians have problems with cold many tmes because of low Iron (good old red meat!). I dove in Monterey with a couple of Vegans, after three dives (in dry suits, they with fancy 300 gram polartecs and me with whatever gets shipped with a Bare nexgen) I was still ready to dive again and they were begging off with cold.

Of course some might argue it is because I built like a Walrus but don't listen to them!

Mike

 

[CheddarChick]

Poor baby... us girls always seem to be the first one cold....See I always knew men were hotter (LOL, Temp I mean).... I mean come on girls...aren't they like a furnace at night???? Nothing better on a cold WI night than a husband, or a cat....

 

[SteveAD]

Stipulating that I am not a girl.

Body mass plays a significant role in cold tolerance. All else being equal a little person will get cold faster than a big person. Assuming your picture is indeed you you are a skinny little thing, and therefore will wave relatively poor cold tolerance compared to bigger buddies. Therefore you need to insulate substantially more than the big guys. Look into a Drysuit. It will keep you warmer on the dives as well as eliminating the surface interval chilling that Lynn mentioned.

 

[Neda]

or a cat....

Ha! yes!

oh, the hubby does help too.

TSandM, that link wasn't working for me, that does look good to read. Current dive buddy is my husband, newer to diving than I am, but grew up with ocean swimming and more used to currents and salt water. We do usually take it slow, my problems seem to be on the surface when we have to fight waves and swell to get to the back of the boat. That or I'm already exhausted from the dive and dont realize it cause of the high *shrug*? I may ask him to let me swim first back to the boat and keep him behind me

Current wetsuit fits tight, I almost never notice water getting in. I do have a hood and I should wear it, even if I do get funny looks for diving a hood and thick 2piece in brisbane! Hooded vest I think may be out of the question as it is already near impossible to get the zip up on my wetsuit jacket. The boat we're currently using requires wetsuits off to go to the toilets (and that's my first destination on surfacing!) I do leave my skin on and that may be the issue as it's not dry. I'll try changing out of that on the next SI. The boat we've been using does have an urn on all day with tea and coffee to be made, including decaf. I am tempted to try and take a hot water bottle down inside my wetsuit.

Drysuits are unfortunately out of the question $$$ that is unless the drysuit fairy is planning a visit.

mikerault, I do take a multivit and usually pop an extra B due to my lack of consumption of any meats.

SteveAD, aye, that's me, tis just a few years old, lost a little muscle gained a little fat but not much in the past 2 or so years.

 

[scubaren]

I pour really warm water down my wetsuit before I ever get in the cold water. It is very nice and helps keep me warm. Have you tried this?

Peeing in the wetsuit feels warm too.....

I also am not fond of trying to constantly keep up with others who move too fast. I like to dive slowly and enjoy the critters.

 

[teddyg04]

Don't be worried about being colder than other divers; some of us just get cold more easily (I always seem to be wearing more than most people). In Bermuda in August, I was wearing a 3mm fullsuit; some of the other divers around me were in shorts and tshirt......... You might want to check out Hotsuits wetsuit heaters. They're designed to be worn under a wet (or dry) suit.

As far as the fatigue, practice your navigation so you finish the dive as close to the boat as possible. Even the strongest swimmers get tired slogging through the waves in full gear. It's ok to come up for a boat location check (after a proper safety stop) and drop down to swim to the boat under the waves; once you get better at navigation, this will happen less often. Don't get discouraged - everyone is different, and moving more slowly means you get to see the cool stuff!