Drysuit cert dive -- Near panic

[Fish_Whisperer]

I did my drysuit certification dives, this weekend, at Vortex Spring. I had no problems donning, descending, or managing my buoyancy. Everything was going "swimmingly," until we dropped to 45'. At that point, I couldn't breathe.

In hindsight, I know I had suit squeeze that could have been eliminated by adding a little air to the suit, but at that moment, all I knew, was that I couldn't breathe. I was panting and although my reg was working fine, I still felt like I couldn't draw an adequate breath. (Is this what overbreathing the regulator feels like?)

Next thing I knew, I was grabbing the line to a buoy on the surface and hauling myself up as fast as I possibly could. It was a horrible feeling to not be able to breathe. At the back of my mind, there was the thought that I might end up getting bent, but at the moment, breathing was far preferrable. Fortunately, nothing happened, and as soon as I broke the surface I inflated my BC enough to float me, tossed my reg out, and kicked my way back to the steps. I shucked my fins, hauled myself out, and made my way back to our staging area, panting and blowing like a steam engine.

I unzipped the suit and as soon as I did, "WHOOOOOOOOOSH!!" I felt like my chest could expand properly again. I immediately calmed down, got my breath back, and other than being rather embarrassed, I was none the worse for wear. I got suited up again, after an hour-long surface interval, and the second dive was uneventful. When I began to feel the squeeze, I bumped a little air into the suit, and all was well.

This was my first incident of being that close to panicking. It wasn't a nice feeling at all... And yeah... I'm still pretty ashamed and embarrassed over it. *sigh*

 

[spectrum]

Drysuit diving is a little bit of a balancing act. On one hand you want enough air in the suit for thermal loft and to relieve squeeze. On the other hand you know that the air bag will be most predictable with the least amount of air possible. You now know what too little air feels like and thanks to your second dive you know what it should be like.

When leaving the water I will often close my vent and inflate the suit a bit to keep the moblity and respiration easy. Other wise every move you make depletes volume and pulls the suit in closer.

Remember to make any upward movement slowly with the vent near the highpoint and with an open vent it will manage quite well. It will not vent nearly as fast as a BC.

Pete

 

[RiverRat]

Next thing I knew, I was grabbing the line to a buoy on the surface and hauling myself up as fast as I possibly could. It was a horrible feeling to not be able to breathe. At the back of my mind, there was the thought that I might end up getting bent, but at the moment, breathing was far preferrable.

Been there, OW dives in a dark quarry. I was only at 10 ffw, lost the group, felt anxious (no visual referance) and went for the surface. Next time around, same quarry, last OW weekend felt the same way for a bit but I STOPPED, BREATHED, THINKED and ACTED. It'a amazing what a few DEEP breathes will do to break the panic cycle. Of course in your situation if you were squeezed you could not get breathing under control until you lofted up the suit. Don't beat yourself up too bad, happens to most of us at some point in diving. The important thing is you realize that you were not close to painic, but you DID panic to some degree. You failed to act rationally. If you were to stop, and think it through you would have added air to your drysuit and tried to get your breathing under control. Then you could have made a controlled ascent and worked it out later on the surface. Blowing for the surface is not in control unless you have NO other option. I would be more concerned with AGE than getting bent on this one. Do some more research on the panic cycle and how to prevent/stop it.

 

[Rick Inman]

I did my drysuit certification dives, this weekend, at Vortex Spring. I had no problems donning, descending, or managing my buoyancy. Everything was going "swimmingly," until we dropped to 45'. At that point, I couldn't breathe.

In hindsight, I know I had suit squeeze that could have been eliminated by adding a little air to the suit, but at that moment, all I knew, was that I couldn't breathe. I was panting and although my reg was working fine, I still felt like I couldn't draw an adequate breath. (Is this what overbreathing the regulator feels like?)

Next thing I knew, I was grabbing the line to a buoy on the surface and hauling myself up as fast as I possibly could. It was a horrible feeling to not be able to breathe. At the back of my mind, there was the thought that I might end up getting bent, but at the moment, breathing was far preferrable. Fortunately, nothing happened, and as soon as I broke the surface I inflated my BC enough to float me, tossed my reg out, and kicked my way back to the steps. I shucked my fins, hauled myself out, and made my way back to our staging area, panting and blowing like a steam engine.

I unzipped the suit and as soon as I did, "WHOOOOOOOOOSH!!" I felt like my chest could expand properly again. I immediately calmed down, got my breath back, and other than being rather embarrassed, I was none the worse for wear. I got suited up again, after an hour-long surface interval, and the second dive was uneventful. When I began to feel the squeeze, I bumped a little air into the suit, and all was well.

This was my first incident of being that close to panicking. It wasn't a nice feeling at all... And yeah... I'm still pretty ashamed and embarrassed over it. *sigh*

Wow. Glad you're all good. I'll do a little Monday Night Quarterbacking here, FWIW.

My guess is that it wasn't the suit squeeze that was the problem. I'm guessing that the squeeze did bring on the anxiety, and then it escalated to panic (which can easily happen).

Yes, I would say you were over-breathing the reg, which gave you that, "Help I can't breathe!" feeling. I can descend to 50' without putting air in my drysuit and breath just fine (I know this. But that's another story ).

When you hit the staging area and opened your drysuit, there is very little chance you still had any squeeze. Any air you had at all in your suit at 45' will have expanded by the time you hit the surface. Believe me, you can't trust your feelings or perceptions when you're in panic mode.

I would also guess that the neck seal contributed to the event. Until you get used to it, it can make you feel like you are choking.

Absolutely nothing to feel embarrassed about. And good on you for posting and helping others who have had similar issues, but not the stones to post it.

Oh, and BTW. IMHO, a good habit to get into is to try to solve your problems underwater and get a hold on the panic cycle, since, if you dive enough, it's bound to happen again. Remember, that feeling that you are going to die, when it is brought on by panic, is almost always a lie, and listening to it is the real danger.

Slower is faster.

 

[RonFrank]

I did my drysuit certification dives, this weekend, at Vortex Spring.Everything was going "swimmingly," until we dropped to 45'. At that point, I couldn't breathe.

In hindsight, I know I had suit squeeze that could have been eliminated by adding a little air to the suit, but at that moment, all I knew, was that I couldn't breathe. I was panting and although my reg was working fine, I still felt like I couldn't draw an adequate breath. (Is this what overbreathing the regulator feels like?)

One of the most valuable things I've learned in diving is three words... Stop, Think, Act. I think Breath is in the mix, but in your case that was the issue!

A quick squirt of air into your Drysuit would have eliminated your issue without risk of DCS. It also would have relieved your breathing issue immediately rather than adding the time taken to ascend.

When diving a drysuit, and descending, I don't use my BC at all until I'm close to my stop depth. So IOW's I constantly squirt air into the drysuit as needed until I get to about 10 feet above my stop depth. At that point I start squirting air into my BC to arrest descent if necessary.

Don't be embarrassed, and thanks for sharing your experience. People learn more from one bad experience vs. all the good vibe posts.

 

[Rick Murchison]

I'm afraid I wasn't very compassionate when Fish Whisperer came by me and mentioned his squeeze and his less than total enthusiasm for dry-suit diving.... I think I said something like "Uh, that's why God invented inflation valves" or something else equally sensitive.
Sometimes it's easy to forget the time I came out of the water covered with dry suit hickeys (or maybe that one's suppressed on purpose)

... I can descend to 50' without putting air in my drysuit and breath just fine (I know this. But that's another story ) ...

Yeah, I'll bet it is
Rick

 

[Rick Inman]

Tough love from unk...

 

[RonFrank]

I'm afraid I wasn't very compassionate when Fish Whisperer came by me and mentioned his squeeze and his less than total enthusiasm for dry-suit diving.... I think I said something like "Uh, that's why God invented inflation valves" or something else equally sensitive.
Sometimes it's easy to forget the time I came out of the water covered with dry suit hickeys (or maybe that one's suppressed on purpose)
Yeah, I'll bet it is
Rick

 

[divad]

This is good stuff for people, like me, who are about to try drisuit diving. That's something I might not have thought of. Thanks for posting. (and no, I'm not going to just read about it and go jump in the water)

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Hahaha... Thanks, Uncle Ricky. Good to see you yet again, at Vortex!

Thanks, everyone. Yeah... The neck seal is just awful. I hate those things. I've solved problems underwater before, and I'm usually very cool and levelheaded and when I've encountered difficulty, "Stop, Think, Breathe, Act," has been exactly what I've always done, but this time, it got the best of me.

I'm still interested in purchasing a drysuit in the near future, so the one weird dive wasn't enough to ruin my enthusiasm for it. Just another lesson learned... I hope it helps someone else.

Thanks for the practical advice too, Pete. Much appreciated.