Initial descent panic

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jcxd45

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Location
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Hi all,

My question is about panic on descent.

I have been freediving for years and am pretty comfy in the water.

The problem is with scuba, when I empty my lungs for decent there is about 5 seconds where my body is screaming at me that this is wrong.

Once I get down 5 feet and start breathing it fades. . how many dives before this goes away?

It's not preventing me from diving but I Hate those first few seconds.... anyone else?
 
Hi all,

My question is about panic on descent.

I have been freediving for years and am pretty comfy in the water.

The problem is with scuba, when I empty my lungs for decent there is about 5 seconds where my body is screaming at me that this is wrong.

Once I get down 5 feet and start breathing it fades. . how many dives before this goes away?

It's not preventing me from diving but I Hate those first few seconds.... anyone else?
Add a bit more weight so you don't have to completely empty your lungs, or, breath up a bit like a free dive before descending.
 
I do try to breathe up and just do an exaggerated exhale at the end.
It's just the feeling of descending with empty lungs that sets off all the warning bells in my head.
I get past it, just wondering if it eventually goes away... maybe all the freediving set my brain for a giant breath before descend and I just need to slowly reprogram it.
 
I do try to breathe up and just do an exaggerated exhale at the end.
It's just the feeling of descending with empty lungs that sets off all the warning bells in my head.
I get past it, just wondering if it eventually goes away... maybe all the freediving set my brain for a giant breath before descend and I just need to slowly reprogram it.
I'm a free diver too, but after I learned scuba. Trust your gear. I never had a regulator fail.
 
If you are a freediver, you already know how to get upside down and KICK for the bottom in a slightly buoyant condition. If you scuba dive like that, with a duck dive at the surface, there is no real need to start the dive with an exhalation. Just kick hard to a depth of 12-15 feet as you slowly exhale. If you dive like that, it is not even that important that every last drop of air be squished out of your BC as you begin the dive. It will become a non issue pretty quickly, I bet.
 
It's puzzling how exhaling to drop the first few meters stresses you when the same feeling happens, out of air?, while lying on the bottom at 20 meters on a free dive, signaling that it's time to ascend.
 
I would guess the difference is descending with empty lungs when I'm used to having them as full as possible.
Definitely interested in descending more like a freedive...I just thought it was considered bad form.
I'll try that on my next dive, thanks for the tip
 
Scuba is easy compared to deeper free diving. You got this.
 
Hi all,

My question is about panic on descent.

I have been freediving for years and am pretty comfy in the water.

The problem is with scuba, when I empty my lungs for decent there is about 5 seconds where my body is screaming at me that this is wrong.

Once I get down 5 feet and start breathing it fades. . how many dives before this goes away?

It's not preventing me from diving but I Hate those first few seconds.... anyone else?

I swim laps 3 times a week. When I hit the water on scuba after winter break, I start breathing like I'm doing a cardio workout. It goes away by the 2nd or 3rd dive of the trip.
 
I also haven’t had success with exhale and descent. I feel like I can only do that if I’m overweight. I usually just start swimming then aim “down” until I get to about 10 feet then everything works fine.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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