K_girl
Contributor
I've felt anxious twice in my diving experiences but managed to avoid panic. I think one reason is because as an asthmatic, I grew-up with those feelings of constricted breathing. I used to describe it as feeling like someone was sitting on your chest. There were times when I panicked and my mother would tell me to calm down. If I couldn't - I would wind-up at the emergency room for treatment. When I did learn to control it, it would just go away. Eventually, I learned to control it without the use of the inhaler on most ocassions.
I heard the stories about people with asthma dying during diving, so I took diving very slowly and set goals. I would not go below 30 feet until I stayed down at least 40 minutes, no uncontrolled ascents, successful safety stops on every dive and no asthma. I had some asthma early-on and I wasn't sure if it was the cold water of California, the exercise or the stress. Eventually, I figured out it must have been the stress because I was able to achieve my goals even in cold water.
My first dive below 65 feet was in the warmer water of the Sea of Cortez. It was just me and a dive master. Fully enjoying the dive, about 30 minutes into it, began feeling like I wasn't getting enough air. The dive master was keeping a swift pace and I felt it was getting harder to keep-up. I had just had my reg serviced, so I thought either the depth is causing the regulator (ScubaPro) to breathe differently or maybe they put the setting to "minimum" instead of the "maximum" where I had it. I thought about taking the reg out of my mouth and checking, but since I was feeling anxious, decided to just stop and take a heading on the dive master with my compass. I figured - I am getting air, maybe not as much as my body wants right now, but if I slow it down and relax, my body will stop demanding more. I decided to heck with the dive master, he'll come back, I'm just going to take care of me. It wasn't long before I started feeling better and slowly started kicking towards the direction of the dive master who was out of sight at that point. He finally had turned around and was looking for me. After the dive, I checked the reg on the surface and sure-enough the reg had been re-set to minimum. I think I did the right thing; however, with more experience now, I would not hesitate as much to switch-over to my Air2 and check the reg. I now set my reg closer to minimum on a regular basis and the reg doesn't seem to breathe any differently at different depths.
Second time I felt anxiousness was in a dry suit on a safety stop. No idea what was causing it as there was nothing unusual going on. I had certainly been in other circumstances that would have given me more reason for the anxious feelings. For some reason, I wanted to head to the surface, but didn't. I just kept my normal slow ascent and fought off the anxiousness. When I got to the surface and removed the reg from my mouth I had asthma when diving for the first time in years. I couldn't tell while I was underwater. I hung out at the bow of the boat to wait for it to subside, giving the OK sign to the boat. I told my buddy to go ahead and swim for the stern. I'm still hanging out there and the dive master on the boat calls to me asking if I need help. I say I'm having asthma, just give me a couple of minutes and I'll be fine. He's hanging off the edge of the boat ready to jump in and save me. I had to tell him several times it wasn't necessary. By the time I swam to the back the boat and climbed up on my own - the rumors were already flying that someone had to jump in and save me. Really urked me! Whether they jumped in or not, I planned to stop diving for the day. Everything was fine the next day and no more problems. The lesson for me on this one is - if I start feeling anxious for no apparent reason, I might be having asthma. In that case, not only do I need to keep the ascent very slow (which I always do anyway), but I plan to breathe out very hard and cough to expel any air that might be trapped by the mucus forming in the lungs.
Never been bothered by suit squeeze. Once I forgot to hook-up the air hose to the suit, but decided to wait to get to the bottom at about 70 feet to hook-up the hose. The biggest problem with squeeze for me is the lack of mobility. I dive one of those 6.5 mil crushed neoprene jobs - very thick suit.
Karen
I heard the stories about people with asthma dying during diving, so I took diving very slowly and set goals. I would not go below 30 feet until I stayed down at least 40 minutes, no uncontrolled ascents, successful safety stops on every dive and no asthma. I had some asthma early-on and I wasn't sure if it was the cold water of California, the exercise or the stress. Eventually, I figured out it must have been the stress because I was able to achieve my goals even in cold water.
My first dive below 65 feet was in the warmer water of the Sea of Cortez. It was just me and a dive master. Fully enjoying the dive, about 30 minutes into it, began feeling like I wasn't getting enough air. The dive master was keeping a swift pace and I felt it was getting harder to keep-up. I had just had my reg serviced, so I thought either the depth is causing the regulator (ScubaPro) to breathe differently or maybe they put the setting to "minimum" instead of the "maximum" where I had it. I thought about taking the reg out of my mouth and checking, but since I was feeling anxious, decided to just stop and take a heading on the dive master with my compass. I figured - I am getting air, maybe not as much as my body wants right now, but if I slow it down and relax, my body will stop demanding more. I decided to heck with the dive master, he'll come back, I'm just going to take care of me. It wasn't long before I started feeling better and slowly started kicking towards the direction of the dive master who was out of sight at that point. He finally had turned around and was looking for me. After the dive, I checked the reg on the surface and sure-enough the reg had been re-set to minimum. I think I did the right thing; however, with more experience now, I would not hesitate as much to switch-over to my Air2 and check the reg. I now set my reg closer to minimum on a regular basis and the reg doesn't seem to breathe any differently at different depths.
Second time I felt anxiousness was in a dry suit on a safety stop. No idea what was causing it as there was nothing unusual going on. I had certainly been in other circumstances that would have given me more reason for the anxious feelings. For some reason, I wanted to head to the surface, but didn't. I just kept my normal slow ascent and fought off the anxiousness. When I got to the surface and removed the reg from my mouth I had asthma when diving for the first time in years. I couldn't tell while I was underwater. I hung out at the bow of the boat to wait for it to subside, giving the OK sign to the boat. I told my buddy to go ahead and swim for the stern. I'm still hanging out there and the dive master on the boat calls to me asking if I need help. I say I'm having asthma, just give me a couple of minutes and I'll be fine. He's hanging off the edge of the boat ready to jump in and save me. I had to tell him several times it wasn't necessary. By the time I swam to the back the boat and climbed up on my own - the rumors were already flying that someone had to jump in and save me. Really urked me! Whether they jumped in or not, I planned to stop diving for the day. Everything was fine the next day and no more problems. The lesson for me on this one is - if I start feeling anxious for no apparent reason, I might be having asthma. In that case, not only do I need to keep the ascent very slow (which I always do anyway), but I plan to breathe out very hard and cough to expel any air that might be trapped by the mucus forming in the lungs.
Never been bothered by suit squeeze. Once I forgot to hook-up the air hose to the suit, but decided to wait to get to the bottom at about 70 feet to hook-up the hose. The biggest problem with squeeze for me is the lack of mobility. I dive one of those 6.5 mil crushed neoprene jobs - very thick suit.
Karen
