Headache & vomitting

[altitudemike]

I have noticed a lot of newbies complain of bad headaches & vomitting after they dive. What is the reason for this? I have seen it happen on shore & boat dives.

 

[lundysd]

My first few dives were fun-filled with vomiting and nausea -- I had horrible vertigo because my ears equalize at different rates. After 10 or so dives, it got much better, but it still occurs about 1 in 20 dives. The trick for me? Drop down 5-feet and re-equalize and it instantly goes away.

 

[johnny_bravo]

There seem to be a lot of reasons for this including anxiety and ill-fitting gear. I used to get them early on in my diving life and I suspect it was due to carbon dioxide build-up as a result of "skip-breathing".

Here's a good article from DAN on the subject of headaches and diving:

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/articles/article.asp?articleid=68

Cheers.

-J.-

 

[fisherdvm]

I think the nausea is from aerophagia - or swallowing of air. Anxiety causes you to inhale and ingest alot of air, inflating your stomach and causing nausea.

 

[almitywife]

you can also add stress and dehydration to that...... im still amazed the OW students that dont listen and always arrive for a days classes/diving with nothing to eat and drink and they are anxious and excited. we always pack a cooler full of extras for this reason

 

[Ice9]

For me, it was equipment:

I used to get headaches after dives, but I figured out why. I had originally bought a DeepSee Focus mask that was pretty low-volume. The problem was that as I descended, and the mask compressed, the top of it spent too much time pressing on my forehead. This gave me a headache after a while.

I have since switched to an Aqualung Quartz 2 with a bit more volume and the problem is gone.

 

[Meng_Tze]

Its been said:

Co2 build up, dehydration, anxiety, boat rides, vertigo, bad food, bad night sleep, bad gas... all play part.

 

[xiSkiGuy]

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/me...p?articleid=68

Neck problems related to previous motor vehicle accident whiplash injuries to the cervical spine, or other head or neck trauma, quite commonly result in headaches while diving. The pain is usually right at the back of the head and neck and can radiate to the forehead and shoulders.
It is caused by the extended neck position that all divers have to adopt in order to see in front of them while swimming horizontally under water. It is equivalent to walking on land and looking up at the sky for up to an hour. Neck muscle spasm or compression of neck spinal nerves can occur. This causes headache. The diver may be totally pain-free at all other times, the pain only occurring when assuming the abnormal neck position under water. It usually occurs in divers with a history of neck injury and it can last for minutes, hours or even days after diving.
It is often helped by swimming forward with the body axis at a 30-degree angle to the sea bed. This allows the diver to see in front and progress forwards without excessive extension of the neck. However, divers assuming this position must remain vigilant to the environment around them: kicking may damage fragile marine organisms.
Some divers may choose to substitute ankle weights for some of the belt weights to help them in adopt this position underwater. Other divers may find them fatiguing, so make this choice with particular care.

So all those newbies at the local dive site stirring up the bottom are actually taking DAN's advice?

 

[wallacm]

i dont know about the nausea, but the headaches are probably coming from skip breathing.

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

As I said in other posts, nausea can result from the influx of colder water into the ear canals. This caloric effect stimulates the inner ear and can cause nausea. Even avid swimmers don;t get the circulation of water into the ear canals like a diver. Some divers need to wear a hood even in temperate waters to prevent this.

Also, unless you have contacts, have perfect vision of have a precisely made prescription mask, you may suffer eye strain from undercorrection. The diopter-correcting lens inserts sold by LDS do not correct for astigmatism and may make eye strain worse. If you have signficant need for corrective lenses and choose not to wear contacts, consider getting a custom-made mask (e.g., a Seavision). For me, it was a godsend.