Getting my panic under control

[artistsandy]

I'll do my best to keep this post fairly short - I just completed my OW certification in Bonaire this past November 2006. Checkouts went well, no problems at all. My first dive after my last checkout dive I experienced an 'issue' with my regulator at about 45-50ft which resulted in my sharing air with a buddy. A little un-nerving for a first certified dive. My second dive after certification, I was at about 40-45ft. I was feeling my chest tense up and felt that I needed to take deep breaths because I couldn't get enough air. I started sucking air like crazy and wanted to just shoot to the top. My husband looked over at me and 'asked' me if I was okay, and I 'answered' back with the 'shaky hand' signal. He immediately came over to me and I 'told' him I was going up, NOW! He shook his head at me and 'said' that I couldn't go up, that I needed to calm down and go to 15ft for a safety stop. He grabbed me and I started to fight him, trying to go up. He held on to me and tried to get me to look into his eyes, to calm me down. I finally quit fighting him and we got up to 15ft and stopped for 3 minutes. He held on to me and I managed to get myself under control. He then signaled that we could continue to the surface. At that point I shook my head and 'said' no, I wanted to go back down. We went back down for a while, but I stayed at 15-20ft the rest of the dive. The remainder of the dives over the course of 6 days were very shallow for me.....usually from 20-30ft at the most. Once I got deeper than that I would feel my chest tense up again and panic would start to set in. I found that talking to myself, telling myself how beautiful everything was did help to calm me down.

Now we're planning to head back down to Bonaire this May. My husband is afraid if he doesn't get me back in the water soon I won't go back. I think I want to continue to scuba dive, however I get butterflies in my stomach when I think about it. I am overweight and I think that may contribute to my feeling tensed up when I get down so far.....I wonder if my wetsuit is too tight in the chest, but I'm not sure if that's it, or a combo of that and panic.

Any ideas on how to maintain my composure and not get into the panic situations. I WILL NOT dive deeper than I feel comfortable.

Thanks for any advice you can provide...

- Sandy

 

[Scuba-Jay]

Sandy,

If you can, I'd suggest trying to narrow down what it is that is making you uncomfortable - what is your concern? Is it that you might run out of air, or lose track of your buddy, or not be able to make it back to the boat? If you can figure out what it is that is causing you stress, then you can (with the help of others and using common sense) eliminate that stressor. For example, if you're worried that you might run out of air, then adapt your dive profile by deciding to surface with 1200 rather than 1000 psi in you're reserve. If you are concerned about losing track of your buddy, then spend a little extra time pre-dive going over the dive plan with your buddy, and deciding how to ensure you keep in contact. If you are concerned about not being able to get back to the boat, then chose dives with very little or no current and limit your dives to those with good vis. All of these things address specific stressors, and once addressed remove the stressors all together.

I think you and your husband did the right thing in November. You limited your dives to those where you were comfortable, and did not push harder than you felt necessary. I assume by your description of his actions during your second dive that he is at least a rescue diver. I dont know what your profile was that day, but helping you to decide to perform a safety stop was a good move on his part, and your decision to descend and continue on with the dive was also smart.

99% of stressors can be removed with time, experience and planning. Try and isolate those stressors and address them, and you will have many years of happy diving ahead of you!! Good luck!

Jay

 

[TSandM]

Were you using your own, or rental equipment?

A friend of mine had a somewhat similar experience, although she didn't get as panicky. She did a trip with us in the BVI, and noted that, whenever she went deeper than 30 or 40 feet, it seemed hard to breathe.

Came home and took her reg in to the shop, and it turned the cracking pressure (effort needed to start the flow of air) was about three times what it should have been. So she was right -- It WAS hard to breathe at depth!

Just a thought.

 

[spectrum]

Any ideas on how to maintain my composure and not get into the panic situations. I WILL NOT dive deeper than I feel comfortable.

Sandy, that is an absolutely correct attitude.

Having to do a shared air ascent on your first dive out of the nest would be a little unnerving. I'm happy to hear that your training kicked in and you managed the situation. Keep that in the back of your mind.... your training kicked in and you managed the situation! Making it a point to practice those skills is important. If you are a vacation diver I would suggest incorporating it into your orientation dive.

On the second dive when you were spooked you had the temptation to bolt but you let you buddy intervene without excessive fuss. Kudos to your husband with the presence of mind to take the upper hand. Looking you reassuringly in the eye was a very good tactic. Wanting to finish the dive at a lesser depth was very cool.

You don't say if you were diving your gear or rentals. There can be a lot of peace of ming in diving your own gear, especially the regulators. If you do not own them yet and decide to purchase be sure to spend some time in the dive shop pool to build a warm fuzzy feeling. If you rent again be sure to make a confidence building dive or 2 . See if you can "own a set" for your stay.

How is your wetsuit topside? Generally a wetsuit will loosen as the neoprene compresses with depth so the depth should not be a factor.

How was your trim? Were you diving in a nice horizontal posture? If you were feet down that will leave you lungs considerably below your second stage and you will work a little harder for your air. There are lots of threads on how to manage trim. It's not just how much weight you wear but where you put it.

Give yourself time and do some reassuring things like double checking your gear (as you should be doing anyway). Having a written checklist can be reassuring. It sounds like you have only been diving in Bonaire so by nature you have had a very low stress entry into the sport. This is where I make my pitch to become local diver in the warmer months, nothing else will build your ability and confidence like that. Follow your gut and you will come around, and trust me, it will be worth the effort.

We'll be at Buddy's for the April/May week. How about you?

Pete

 

[The Chad]

Yeah I was wondering the same thing about if you had personal gear or rental. One thing to remember is we all will have a bad dive here and there, but the important thing is not to let it really bum you out. And 9 times out of 10 we learn something new from it.

Maybe you can take some time and do some more shallow stuff, work on your comfort level and progressively build up to some of the deeper dives. Sometimes if your not very horizontal you tend to expend more energy with your kicks and just feel as if you can't keep up.

In my mind nothing needs to be done fast, just take it slow and easy and always remember 2 things..... If you have a breathable gas......and you have buoyancy.... your a happy diver

 

[artistsandy]

First of all, I want to thank all of you for responding so quickly and kindly to my post. Believe it or not, my husband just completed his OW and AOW courses on this same trip that I decided to 'freak out' on that dive. He's not a rescue diver yet, but he has said that he would like to complete that training. He's a very calm and level headed guy, which certainly came in handy for me that afternoon.

I got several helpful ideas from everyone's posts. I strongly agree with Scuba-Jay that I need to try and narrow down what makes me feel nervous. It's when I start to think about how much water is actually over my head and the fact that I can't just bolt to the top when I feel uncomfortable. Hope that makes sense? At that point the thought of making a 3 minute safety stop seems overwhelming. When you're at a depth of 50-60 feet you can't just decide that you feel uncomfortable what to go to the surface - there's an added 3 minutes to that uncomfortable feeling which can eventually lead to just plain panic. Don't get me wrong, I totally enjoy all the beauty that lies below and could spend hours and hours viewing it....I just need to gain more confidence and ease.

I do have a habit of not staying horizontal when I dive, which like some of you said may make my breathing easier.

I have to admit, I got a real kick out of Spectrum's post where he said 'Looking you reassuringly in the eye was a very good tactic.' I'm not making fun of your comment, I'm just thinking back to the experience and remembering how I was refusing to look in his eyes (eventually I did), and wanting to call him every name in the book, trying to kick away from him, and almost causing him to lose a fin. Thinking back now I can almost laugh at how stupid I must have looked.

Anyway, I will take all of your comments and suggestions to heart and work on taking my time and building myself up.

It's always touching to me when others are willing to reach out and help support someone who is new to this sport.

- Sandy

P.S. Pete, we will be in Bonarie from May 27 til June 2, 2007.

 

[spectrum]

P.S. Pete, we will be in Bonarie from May 27 til June 2, 2007.

Ahh, we'll miss you by a month


You mentioned all of that water above you...... Try not to think of it as a weight above you but rather a medium that you are neutral in. I wonder if birds worry about high they are?

As to the perception of depth remember that with your instruments you always know how deep you are. For perspective try measuring out say 50 and 100 feet in your driveway or wherever you can and visualizing this as a horizontal distance. My garage for instance is 48 feet long and even 2 of them end to end is not an intimidating visual to me or my wife. Looking up through blue water it's easy to imagine that the surface really is a world away.

As you progress I encourage you to do the rescue course with your husband. The course is very much about being a safer more confident diver. I know that with NAUI you can even take it PRE AOW.

Pete

 

[Web Monkey]

un-nerving for a first certified dive. My second dive after certification, I was at about 40-45ft. I was feeling my chest tense up and felt that I needed to take deep breaths because I couldn't get enough air. I started sucking air like crazy and wanted to just shoot to the top. My husband looked over at me and 'asked' me if I was okay, and I 'answered' back with the 'shaky hand' signal. He immediately came over to me and I 'told' him I was going up, NOW! He shook his head at me and 'said' that I couldn't go up, that I needed to calm down and go to 15ft for a safety stop. He grabbed me and I started to fight him, trying to go up. He held on to me and tried to get me to look into his eyes, to calm me down. I finally quit fighting him and we got up to 15ft and stopped for 3 minutes. He held on to me and I managed to get

Glad everything is OK! I've only got a couple of observations.

• A Safety Stop is optional for Recreational Dives. It reduces your chances of DCS, but can be skipped if you're having problems.
• A "thumb" isn't a question, it's a statement. Anybody can call any dive at any time. When you weren't feeling well, you and your buddy (husband) should have made the ascent.
  
  The only time this doesn't apply is if you're in some type of overhead environment like a cave or have a decompression obligation or are diving in a dangerous place like a busy shipping lane. As a new diver, you should never be in any of these situations and a direct ascent to the surface should always be an option.
• If the dive is over, it's over. Surfacing (or almost surfacing), then descending again with a partially used tank is a really bad idea, because of the behaviour of re-compressed gas bubbles in your blood and because your tank probably no longer contains enough gas for a safe dive.

In any event, Bonaire is beautiful and you'll love it. There's never any reason to go deeper than you want and there's plenty of cool stuff to see in shallow places.

Also, I'm not sure if you had your own equipment or not, but if not, you may want to consider buying. A poorly designed, poorly maintained or poorly adjusted regulator can make it feel like you're not getting enough air at depth. A good reg, properly adjusted will breath as easy as if you're sitting on a park bench on a sunny spring day.

A too-small BC or wetsuit can also make it difficult to breathe. It doesn't take a lot of difficulty breathing to provoke a tremendous amount of anxiety, so either of these could easily do it without you even noticing the cause.

Also, for some unknown reason, SCUBA shops tend to sell and rent wetsuits too small. You should be able to get in with a minimum amount of streching and grunting and the zipper should close without assistance from anybody else. If you need help getting into your wetsuit, it's too small.

Have fun!

Terry

 

[do it easy]

I've been thinking about panic lately... Have you tried some water comfort drills?

1) try to swim the entire length of a pool, underwater on one breathe. If the pool is short, swim more laps.

2) try a snorkel ditch and don in a pool with a deep well- wearing a mask, fins, and snorkel, swim down to the bottom of the pool, remove the mask, fins, and snorkel and place them at the bottom of the pool. (you might need to place a weight there if you have floaty fins). Then swim up to the surface, take a few breathes, and swim back down and put your gear back on and return to the surface with a clear mask and snorkel.

These aren't scuba skills per se, but they will help you realize your comfort zone and give you a way to push yourself a little bit at at time. If they are to difficult to start with, do what you can and work at them piece by piece.

Good luck!

 

[Web Monkey]

I do have a habit of not staying horizontal when I dive, which like some of you said may make my breathing easier.

Being horizontal will absolutely make breathing easier.

Your regulator works by balancing the water pressure outside of you with the air pressure inside of you. However it only works properly when your lungs are at about the same level as your second stage.

It works the same as if you were standing in a pool with your head out of the water and the rest of your body in the water. The pressure difference between the air you're breathing and the water will make it more difficult to breathe.

Being non-horzontal isn't a personal defect or something that can be overcome with "practice". Being horzontal is accomplished by making sure you're properly weighted (neutral at the surface with a nearly empty tank and empty BC) and moving things around (tank higher or lower, BC higher or lower, weights higher or lower, etc.).

If your husband has good trim (can easily stay horzontal), he can probably help you with the adjustments. If not, there should be a couple of hundered divers on the island who would be happy to help, or you could ask an instructor or DM for some help. Proper weighting and good trim will do more to make your diving enjoyable than almost anything else you can do.

Terry