Dizziness & panic!

[alo100]

I just want to thank you all for the advice and stories! Its nice to know I'm not alone. A few points though, I wasn't wearing a hood on the dive in question, so the water would have hit both ears at the same time. Crimson Ghost - I didn't have a head ache when I came out, but the calcium deposits sit with a couple of the other suggested resons - so maybe I should get my ears washed out! As to making sure my buddy knows in future. It is in my log book, and will be discussed in advance. As to having a burst earm drum, I have no pain in either ear, and haven't had any during my dives.

Again just want to thank everyone for their help!

The mostly likely reason by biscuit7: "To me this is a pretty clear cut case of vertigo induced by the lack of visual reference."

Hi diver_girl, were you using regular air?
The build up of C02 has a somewhat different symptom, it usually includes headache.
I have an experience of overexertion before, when C02 builds up it involves headache.

Another question I wanted to ask is, do you few dizzy when you are lack of oxygen on land? Are you sensitive to low oxygen. The reason is, I experienced several time of dizziness while oxygen was low.
When you talked about the low temperature related, I am thinking about the solubility of oxygen influenced by lower temperature.

Hi all, please let us know if you experience similar symptom again...
One of my friend has experienced similar symptom when she started her nitrox class recently, trying to figure out too....

 

[TSandM]

I experienced several time of dizziness while oxygen was low.
When you talked about the low temperature related, I am thinking about the solubility of oxygen influenced by lower temperature.

Unless you are diving hypoxic mixes or get a CO contaminated fill, there should be no possibility of a low FIO2 (inspired oxygen partial pressure) on open circuit scuba.

Oxygen is not carried to any physiologically important degree in a simple dissolved form, but on hemoglobin molecules. Further, gases are MORE soluble at lower temperatures (which actually does somewhat affect oxygen off-loading in tissues). And finally, if your blood temperature falls enough to affect the amount of dissolved oxygen, you are in a world of trouble completely unrelated to how much oxygen is in your bloodstream.

Hypercarbia (elevated CO2) can cause a narcotic effect, and dizziness or disorientation could be associated with it. However, it seems unlikely to me that this would occur early on in one's descent, so I don't think this was a major component of the OPs problem.

 

[alo100]

Oxygen is not carried to any physiologically important degree in a simple dissolved form, but on hemoglobin molecules. Further, gases are MORE soluble at lower temperatures (which actually does somewhat affect oxygen off-loading in tissues). And finally, if your blood temperature falls enough to affect the amount of dissolved oxygen, you are in a world of trouble completely unrelated to how much oxygen is in your bloodstream.

I see. About the absence of headache, I was thinking about this: Nitrogen narcosis may be differentiated from toxicity of oxygen, carbon monoxide, or carbon dioxide by the absence of such symptoms as headache.

The experiences I have on land were high elevation, one time only. Then couple of times in very congested area, very crowded indoor env.

So was it because of low in oxygen or high concentration of carbon dioxide, probably? Just curious...



Any chance of narcosis for her case?

"Although narcosis is most commonly reported below 30 meters, there is no reliable method to predict the severity of the effect on an individual diver. Similar to altitude sickness, its effects depend on many factors, with variations between individuals and even from time to time in the same individual. Excellent cardiovascular health is no protection and poor health is not necessarily a predictor. Cold, stress, heavy work, fatigue, and carbon dioxide retention all increase the risk and severity of nitrogen narcosis."

Since narosis is reversible, if next time it happen to anybody who have experienced it for several times... I am thinking... if she/he ascend safely to, say from 15m back to 10m depth, if the symptom is relaxed; do you think that it's possible that she/he is a more "sensitive person" to narcosis or still too many factors to distinguish?

 

[diverdown247]

You are most likely experiencing cold-water induced Vertigo. I'll tell you first hand, this is an absolutely disheartening experience. Out of 7 dives this week, I got it once at the thermocline and once because of rapid descention. Here's the cause and resolution:

C: Cold water temps
R: Wear proper wetsuit thickness, gloves, booties, and a hood (be sure hood is not too tight)

C: Descending too rapidly (head down or feet down).
R: Take more time on a descent.

C: Dehydration.
R: Drink plenty of water the night before. The day of isn't good enough becuase your body has not abosrbed it. And yes, you'll pee a lot!

C: Sun exposure.
R: Apply and reapply sunblock often (usually reapply after each dive). Sun exposure will cause your core temps to rise a bit, especially when combined with dehydration. The sudden temp. change from sun exposure to cold-water will cause the blood vessels through out the body to constrict to conserve core temperature. As a result, there is a sudden lowering of blood flow to the brain. This will quickly lead to vertigo.


Should you experience vertigo on a dive. Stop in your tracks, attempt to find something stable to hold on to or rest on the bottom, and relax/control slow and stable breathing. DO NOT close your eyes as this can cause passing out. The symptoms should subside if you stop, get stable, and control your breathing. It may take a few seconds or a minute. If the symptoms do not subside, alert your dive buddy or make a safe ascent and let a surface crew know.

 

[Seuss]

The sudden temp. change from sun exposure to cold-water will cause the blood vessels through out the body to constrict to conserve core temperature. As a result, there is a sudden lowering of blood flow to the brain.

Is this correct? Not the constricted blood vessels, but the result being a lack of blood to the brain?

My understanding is that only surface blood vessels constrict, not arteries, and that the brain, heart, and lungs actually see more blood, not less (upon sudden submersion in cold water).

Anybody know for certain?

 

[TSandM]

It is not correct. Blood flow to the brain experiences a phenomenon called autoregulation, which keeps flow steady under wide variations in peripheral blood pressure and cardiac output. Nor is vertigo (as opposed to lightheadedness) a common symptom of cerebral hypoperfusion.

 

[Peter Guy]

As TSandM wrote, she has this issue (problem). Just for kicks a while ago I asked her to close her eyes and walk a straight line -- she couldn't. While she swore she walked straight, she veered sharply (to the right I think). She then said, "Well you try it!" and so I did. She just looked at me and didn't say a word.

Her issue (I think) is that she has always relied on visual cues to "know where she is" in space -- take away the visual cues and she doesn't have any backup system. BTW, her hand-to-eye coordination is awful -- can't catch a ball etc. That's just the way she is wired and maybe that's the OP's issue too.

 

[Flamebug818]

Not sure about the other causes but a relativly simple method i use for keeping orientade is which way my bubbles go, or my octopus or weights sag.

 

[Rafael]

I will advice you to check your ears with an ENT, call DAN they can refer you to one close to you.

I do the most of my dives in the North Atlantic (USA) Very cold sometimes very low viz i been as bad as 3' viz. and as cold as 38F, my advice for this kind of conditions is get the proper suit, i dive dry the most of the year, use a line to do your descents, face on the direction where you want to head, feet down first, go down very slow, take a compass bearing top side and plan in what direction are you going to go during the dive, adjust your bouyancy during your descent, i seen many people just letting themselfs go till they hit the bottom, put some air in that BC or Dry suit before this happen, when in the bottom trim your bouyancy take your bearings and then start your dive.

But please very important take your time while going down and if possible always use a line as a reference.

Good luck!

 

[Knight]

Maybe you should stick to warm water dives? I think that would be good untill you can really figure out what is wrong with you diving in cold water because it seems like your lucky to even be alive after those cold water dives, I bet when you did this the DM almost had a heart attack, just like I remember in this one post I think some guy on here name Andy wrote (sorry been out in the commercial field working the past couple weeks and been away can't remember handles right now) but it was- some people just can't handle cold water and only warm water, something like that and I think this applies to you.

Always descending,
c.h.