New to diving, suffering from anxiety attacks

[tamas970]

Cold & dark lakes are definitely belong to the tough start category. I recommend to book a reasonably priced flight to the Red sea, Turkey or the Canary islands and pick a decently run (typically german or english) dive center.

I did my OWD in Gran Canaria in December - perfect conditions, 20°C water, 20m visibility. Pool sessions were organized in a calm, protected bay. If time allows, we return to the canaries at the end of this year to La Palma, where I hope my better half will also get her cert.

 

[Dsix36]

I know this is overly simplified, but it managed it help me through my class and first post training dives.

Relax and Breath!

Maintain a normal breathing rate and remember to also exhale fully too.

 

[dumaresq]

I was a swimmer all my life before I started scuba diving, and like you I was very anxious in the pool, but unlike you I didn't no I was! I had been around water either boating or swimming so much the though that I was anxious didn't click for me. All I knew was that I was very tired at the end of the dives and I wasn't sleeping well the night before. When I did the open water tests the second day I did actually panic. I wrote a thread about it about two years ago If you want it I post a link here for you. I aborted my third Open water dive (not badly, I surfaced at a reasonable rate with an instructor after signaling that I wanted to surface). At the time (when aborting) I thought I was done with this sport, but in the following week, I thought about it and decided to try again. This time one to one with my instructor. It went much better, and though I've only got about 30 dives under my belt now, I'm very glad I didn't give up. Diving once your done the course is very different, because instead of worrying about the next exercise you are swimming around looking at stuff and enjoying yourself.

As the others have said getting private instruction makes a HUGE difference, I HIGHLY recommend it, and it may not cost a lot more money.

 

[Tinky]

Hello everyone, just wanted to post a quick update. Once again many thanks to all of your words of encouragement. I finished my classes and pool excercises, I was recommended for the open waters dive. Still deciding where to take them and I am actually tempted and eager enough to go over them in one weekend, even in a cold Moscow lake )) I am taking another course - Peak Performance Buoyancy or whatever they call it these days. I have decided to take some more pool time to fully acquire all good habits as assembling gear, checking everything and other stuff. Good thing, I'm enjoying myself this time.

The annoying old lady also took the course and our instructor seems to share my sentiment as she's commenting on everything he says. And when he says she did something wrong, she just complains and explains. Oh well, got buddied with a nice guy who already took some dives so we have something to talk about and at least I don't have to deal with her. Looking forward to returning to pool today.

Oh yeah, I'm so used with breathing with my mouth and something that's in it now that I accidentally took a large sip of water while i was floating at about my nose level, forgetting there was no regualtor or snorkel to breathe from )))

 

[Skittl1321]

Oh yeah, I'm so used with breathing with my mouth and something that's in it now that I accidentally took a large sip of water while i was floating at about my nose level, forgetting there was no regualtor or snorkel to breathe from )))

After having done some pool sessions on scuba, my husband and I went swimming with our nephews. We both remarked how odd it was to have to remember to hold our breath under water.

Good luck with your checkout dives: I'm in a similar situation to you- I'd really prefer to checkout somewhere warm and clear so I don't add an additional 'worry' factor to my diving, but to get it over with I'm going with the cold, dark quarry. I did do pool exercises in a hood, so I could get used to what that felt like (did not like it!) But it is to be endured so I can go somewhere nice!

 

[Tinky]

Really? I actually liked the hood because it was the only thing that was able to keep my hair from getting into my mask and thus successfully flooding it every five minutes. It's annoying as it's too short to be kept completely tied so hood was a perfect solution for me. Also, our pool is quite cold and wearing a neoprene vest with hood made an amazing improvement in how warm I felt underwater.

 

[Skittl1321]

The hood kept me warm, but it made it harder to take off and put my mask back on, plus I have a thing about stuff around my neck. But what I learned was it was much more comfortable IN the water than out of the water. I was just glad to have experienced before the OW checkouts, because having it on before we got into the water really freaked me out. I didn't really notice it once we got underwater, except the mask exercises.