Difficulty in breathing initially

[Diver Dennis]

It's difficult to say for sure but I'll stick with anxiety. We really need some more information to give you more definitive answers. Just another reason to fill out your profile...*hint* *hint*...

 

[fisherdvm]

We had a woman with severe shortness of breath and chest discomfort on her first OW checkout dive, and had to be towed in 3 times - as she wanted to keep on trying again. The water was murky (vis less than 10 ft), cold (60 at the surface, and 48 at the bottom), cold air temperature (50 degree with gusty wind) and she had alot of exertion (doing tired diver tow at first, and struggling with her gears, weightbelt for a long time).

I really wondered about anxiety. But she also complained of chest discomfort. Despite the fact that she never had asthma nor smoke - I do not think we should simply blame anxiety in when exertion and cold water is involved. I really think one need to look at cold and exercise induced asthma, which rarely will happen until you combine the two elements - exertion and slight hypothermia. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to recreate unless you were to hose down a runner with cold water.

She wants to try it again next weekend. I surely hope that it is not asthma. I did warned her about it, but I am just a divemaster intern.

 

[DevonDiver]

We had a woman with severe shortness of breath and chest discomfort on her first OW checkout dive, ....

I really wondered about anxiety. But she also complained of chest discomfort. Despite the fact that she never had asthma nor smoke - I do not think we should simply blame anxiety in when exertion and cold water is involved. I really think one need to look at cold and exercise induced asthma, ......

She wants to try it again next weekend. I surely hope that it is not asthma. I did warned her about it, but I am just a divemaster intern.

Good post - relevant points. Undiagnosed asthma would present a problem, but -again- it would be unlikely to resolve itself over time later in the dive. However, any person suffering chest pains during or after a dive should be referred to a Dive Doctor - just in case.

To compliment your post - I learned about these issues back when I was a Divemaster Intern some years ago...doing an OW assist in an ice cold quarry in the UK. We had one student who was grossly overweight (shouldn't have been diving IMHO) and he had a major issue with too-tight equipment, cold water and a complete lack of fitness. The end result was me (the intern) dragging his unconscious, non-breathing body out of the water. Luckily, he made a swift and full recovery - but didn't dive again as far as I know........

 

[Pook-60]

Howdy

This may/may not help: My first Atlantic dive I was struggling for breath when I first entered the water. I attempted to submerge but the lack of "breath" cause me to resurface. I wondererd if my gas was faulty, was I too anxious or "what"...then I remembered the OW lesson to avoid exhaustion and if encountered...relax...breathe...then dive.

Sure enough...I had exhausted myself on the boat: hurrying t suit up, struggling for balance, finally giant stepping into the water from a rocking boat.

Can't remember if my lungs hurt afterward but I certainly learned to conserve energy on the surface to better enjoy the dive. Not a problem since then.

Dane

 

[spectrum]

Hi,

When I first get into the sea and do my descent, I find that I have trouble breathing. I try and breathe normally - but I feel I'm getting insufficient air. I try and take deep breaths at this stage.

However after about 20 minutes or so- I start breathing ok without any difficulty.

When I get out my chest and possibly lungs hurt a bit.

On a dive to 20m, my air tank can last me up to 50minutes at least. My weight is about 78kg, height 5foot6. (170cm). Chest 100cm.

Am I doing something wrong?

Relax sipadiver,

First of all you want to be raking deep breaths and do so at a comfortable rate. As you relax and get accustomed to diving and then the dive the rate will slow and you will be content. This is probably where you are after 20 minutes.

When you first get into the water you may be pumped up from huffing your gear around. Breathing normal may mean sucking some air down. The one thing you do not want to be doing is breathing shallow. If you are pumped up when you get in the water spend some time on the surface face down chilling out with your snorkel or regulator. When you are mellow there it's time to begin the dive.

Not taking deep breaths is guaranteed to have you feeling short of breath due to carbon dioxide retention. Couple this with any anxiety or anxiousness to get on with the dive and you will not be a happy diver.

Your profile is little help (Hint to add some detail to it) but I will assume you are a new diver. If you are getting 50 minutes at 20m on a drop from a boat dive that is not all that shabby so stop beating yourself up.

You need to decide if the chest/lung discomfort worth seeing a doctor about. Speaking with DAN (you are a member right?) is also a good place to start.

How many dives does this pattern pertain to?

Pete

 

[sipadiver]

Relax sipadiver,

First of all you want to be raking deep breaths and do so at a comfortable rate. As you relax and get accustomed to diving and then the dive the rate will slow and you will be content. This is probably where you are after 20 minutes.

When you first get into the water you may be pumped up from huffing your gear around. Breathing normal may mean sucking some air down. The one thing you do not want to be doing is breathing shallow. If you are pumped up when you get in the water spend some time on the surface face down chilling out with your snorkel or regulator. When you are mellow there it's time to begin the dive.

Not taking deep breaths is guaranteed to have you feeling short of breath due to carbon dioxide retention. Couple this with any anxiety or anxiousness to get on with the dive and you will not be a happy diver.

Your profile is little help (Hint to add some detail to it) but I will assume you are a new diver. If you are getting 50 minutes at 20m on a drop from a boat dive that is not all that shabby so stop beating yourself up.

You need to decide if the chest/lung discomfort worth seeing a doctor about. Speaking with DAN (you are a member right?) is also a good place to start.

How many dives does this pattern pertain to?

Pete

Hi,

I've done close to 40 dives so far. Did 22 dives at Sipadan/Mabul and about 16 at Dayang.

I think its just anxiety and stress. I'm usually very excited when I first jump in the water. It takes awhile for me to totally relax and then I start to breathe normally.

My BCD and regulator are all hired.

Not too sure why my lungs hurt a bit - but it could be due to shallow breathing. If I can find a specialist doctor in the field- I'll go see him.

 

[Boomer1]

I think it might be a little anxiety too. I had the same problem when first certified. Those first few breaths on descent seemed so hard but once I got down 10-20 feet or so, I seemed to relax my breathing pattern. After a few dives it went completely away.

Last year I had a several month break from diving while remodeling my house and my first time back in the water, same thing. Luckily only on the first dive and by the 2nd one it was gone.

 

[sipadiver]

I just came back from Dayang. I took note of the need to be anxiety free. But it didn't help that I was wearing a new full wetsuit and I couldn't descend. I then relaxed, breathed out, counted 3 - and down I went. I had to concentrate on relaxing more... lol and just de-stressing out or tuning out. Maybe yoga breathing classes would help. But I didn't have any of the sort of chest / lung problems as before.

 

[astromattical]

I went diving in early April for the first time since my OW certification course in October of '07. I did two dives, and on the first dive I had this exact problem. I jumped in and when we started to go under water, I had difficulty breathing. Luckily my dive buddy needed to surface for a moment, so I did as well. I took a few deep breaths, relaxed, and we went down. After about 10 breaths or so, everything was perfectly fine and never had the issue again. Interestingly enough, I never had the issue during my OW course. Just the beginning of that one dive in April!

 

[sipadiver]

Hi. I thought I should reply back to this thread which I started - to conclude it. I have now clocked over 200 dives and own my own gear including reg, bcd etc..

I no longer suffer from any problems when I go scuba diving. When I'm anxious I tend to hold my breath, and perhaps I was doing that underwater- hence the reason why my lungs hurt.

I'm a lot more relaxed when I dive now. I try and get ready 15mins - 30 mins early before each dive and that definitely helps. Nothing worse than rushing to put on your gear with everyone else. Chaos , who needs it?

My underwater breathing technique is also much better now than it was back in 2008. Practice makes perfect.