Panic Attacks?

[Santa]

How would you define panic?

I don't necessarily consider getting scared and darting for the surface an act of panic. Sometimes it's just a bad decision spurred by claustrophobia, ignorance, insecurity and/or some level of anxiety.

I consider true panic a state where the levels of stress are so high that the reptile part of the brain bypasses and overrides the younger, more nuanced parts of the cognitive system. People in that state are beyond contact, fighting for their lives and potentially ready to kill to survive. THey are controlled by something completely different and VERY oldfashioned.

Most of what I've seen i'd call anxiety attacks or "a taste of panic". At least some ability to reason has been left, eye contact has been kinda possible and there has been no desparate clinging, tearing or fighting for regs.

True panic is not an everyday occurrence in my, granted, limited experience.

 

[miler10498]

I don’t know if I suffered a panic attack or just extreme anxiety.
It was about 4:00pm, water was clear, at about 100’. On the snorkel out to the dive site, my wife kept saying her mask was fogging, so being the honorable husband, I traded masks (Bad Idea). I just bought a new Reg and wanted to feel it at 100’. After about a minute at 100’ I felt narced and an overwhelming feeling of impending doom. I had to tell myself “your ok, your just a little narced, ascend 20ft and you will be ok. In which I did and everything went back to normal. I have a feeling that being narced with a completely fogged mask had something to do with it. This was the last time that I’ve been at 100, and I don’t know if I ever want to.

 

[annlaur]

All of this discussion is good. Divers need to get these subjects out in the open. I have learned that divers give off a "scent" when they are a little anxious about the dive. Sometimes the diver will show no signs and have an attack (active or passive) while on the dive. I have learned that most divers get panicked when something in the dive is "not normal" for them. The DM needs to pick the divers brain about their experiences and what they have on their mind. I always take unknown divers on an easy dive. I make sure the diver can see the ocean floor from the boat. We always do the entry at 5m and then make sure we go no deeper than 20m. I also touch the diver from time to time. There is something about someone touching you that keeps the panic away. Eye contact is what tells the story....always. Divers speak with their eyes. A good DM will look into the eyes of all the divers and read their emotion. It is easy to see the "panicked" just by their eyes. This is an art developed over time as well. Divers are a little more fearless than the average person anyway....it is the breaching of the fear threshhold that throws someone into a full panic. As DM's we need to always learn about our divers, watch them always, develop dives that reduce the possibility of throwing people into panic. This is a lot of work but it is rewarding when it works. Always keep 50 bar!!

Right on Babydamulag ! Now you’re the kind of DM I’m looking for !
I have had panic attacks in the past : years ago I had several in public transportation, and one last month diving in Egypt. What triggered it was anxiety regarding safety (there were several things about the rented-gear and the way the dive-shop worked that bothered me - of course I should have listened to my instinct and said no but I didn’t), diving in a new place, being rushed into the water by the DM, pushing my limits to follow his lead (felt like a race)… All of a sudden I got tired, breathless, but the overwhelming feeling was : loneliness. Not the nice, refreshing feeling of being alone with nature, but the scary one of being abandonned with nobody to help should anything happen.
When I finally managed to grab the DM’s fin to show him I was in a panic (I couldn’t breathe and thought I was about to die), he did calm me down : looking me straight in the eye (not an ounce of fear or worry in his eyes, that was SO reassuring), holding my hand, showing me how to exhale… inhale… exhale… deeply.
Afterwards, he held my hand thru the rest of the dive, until I felt confident enough to let go of him.
Although I think he handled the crisis really well, I believe I wouldn’t have panicked had he paid more attention in the first place. It did end well, but that wasn’t a fun experience at all.
The weird thing is, I had never been afraid underwater before (I only have 17 dives on my book, but even the first time I felt very safe and confident). So it’s not just where you dive, but who you dive with.
Just my point of view.
Anne-Laure

 

[Cacia]

A friend of mine writes for National Geographic Adventures magazine and has written a book called "Deep Survival". I liked the way he explores survival experiences, both the rational and the irrational. He discusses panic in various anecdotal incidences and has a very captivating chapter on the biochemistry and anatomy of panic. He is fascinated with the place where cognition and emotion split.... "Deep Survuval" by Lawrence Gonzales, a very good read!

 

[Craig94040]

Most of the people who claim to have panicked or witnessed panic, are incorrect. If they maintained control, they didn't panic. Panic is a one way street until the source of stress/fear is removed. Fear is not panic; stress is not panic; anxiety is not panic. They are all causes of panic. Odds are, if you are around to talk about a negative situation you experienced underwater, you did not panic. In fact, if you have clear recollection of an event, then it wasn't panic.


I think the above is the best distinction. No matter what you call it, corking or thrashing about if snagged is complete loss of control and will kill you whether you call it panic or not.

I have had a couple of events:

(1) first dive in the ocean (Monterey) 14 yrs old, viz less than one meter and heading down the line with my buddie. I get stuck and he keeps going. I started to freak a little but stopped, breathed made my way down the line and had an amazing time.

(2) narced at 31 meters looking at sharks in a cave in the Philippines. i got tired of waiting for everyone to stop taking pictures and felt a bit anxious just sitting there and thinking of all the water b/t me and the surface. i relaxed, breathed, swam around a little and was fine.

However the dive did not end well: we covered an amazing amount of ground/water on the dive and on the swim back I was a bit shallower than the rest and was swimming against a moderate current which was apparently worse at my depth. I was exhausted and fell behind as i watched the others -- including my buddy -- disapear into the mucked viz. I was almost hyperventilating so relaized I could not chase. I stopped, took some deep breaths and made my assent with an abbreviated safety stop.

(3) The very next dive the next day, i was apprehensive and didn't tell anyone. on my descent i was breathing over the top of a lot of water to the point that I had to switch to the octo. Same thing, I was on the bottom not moving while the guide searched for pipe fish in fan coral for the photographers (damn shutterbugs) and started to feel a little apprehensive. I stopped, breathed, looked, thought and actually chuckled through my octo when i though "i don't like just sitting staying in one place too long." I was fine after that and on the rest of my dives.

I was embarrased and confused by my "incidents" but spoke with the DM in training about it. I was surprised at his response. It happens, it has happened to me, you worked through it and reacted properly -- i.e. remaining in control and did not cork or flail.

I had yet another regulator fail on descent on another dive and had no issues (I think i am very comfortable with switiching between regs b/c i am a manual BC inflator). The key is recognizing issues and properly responding rather than allowing the primial overrides to take over. Afterall, that's what separates us from the beasts

 

[isurus]

Saw an epic panic attack on a drift dive a few years back. A group of us were diving a multilevel drift along a wall in frankly sensational viz when the current really picked up and we started to really fly quickly we decided to abort and were heading up to our stop when the female buddy in a coupled buddy pair got really agitated and bolted for the surface; boyf/hubby caught her and then brought her back down in a real state to finish the stop which she managed to do. It was pretty scary because she'd given every sign of being perfectly competent and relaxed until the point of losing it.

To make matters worse when we surfaced the cover had lost us due to the current and we had a ten minute + wait for our pick up....with them having a row the whole time. So we had her and him kicking off and dm and boathandler debating the lack of pick up rather vocally all the way home. That rib ride wasn't at all uncomfortable.....

 

[Kat]

I had a hyper-ventilation problem on a dive, once. Right after the back roll into the ocean, I came up & was hyper-ventilating. My buddy was right next to me. I could not figure out what was wrong. We floated there while I told him this was crazy, as I was not nervous about the dive, at all. It was an easy dive & the ocean was very calm. I don't think it was a panic attack, because there was no fear. I now believe it was caused by my wetsuit being too tight. I had gained some weight & the suit was very tight in the chest. I unzipped the suit a little & I felt better. The only divers were the DM, my buddy & me - but I was embarrassed.

 

[ItsBruce]

I see this thread has been revived.

Craig is right in his italicized comment. Anxiety and panic are two different things. Anxiety leads to panic. I like to think that by stopping, breathing and thinking, one can prevent anxiety from turning to panic.

My incident was on dry land. Scuba's only involvement was that I used scuba breathing rhythm to conttrol it. I actually watched my watch and breathed according to my watch.

I've been anxious in the water, but never to the point where I thought I needed to thumb the dive. I stopped, breathed and thought and realized no big deal, just a bit anxious.

I always like to spend a few minutes on the surface breathing on snorkel just to relax and get used to being in the water. It gives me a chance to check for possible issues with mask leakage, etc. that could lead to unnecessary anxiety.

 

[micknewton]

I know a young woman (about 26 years old) that had a seizure during a panic attack. After the attack, she told us that she began feeling strange, and then suddenly couldn’t control her body. She collapsed on the couch and began convulsing. She also stopped breathing. This lasted for a while, and then she went totally limp and began breathing again. The doctors did tests, but couldn’t find any clinical cause for the attack. He (and I) believes it was caused by stress. The young woman had recently lost her job, and had just bought her first house.

Stress sucks. I avoid it every chance I get. Some risk (= 1 hell of a lot) is just unavoidable though. We live, and life is a risky proposition. None of us is going to get out alive.

If the young woman had been diving when she had the attack then she would have been in serious trouble. However, who knows, perhaps going scuba diving would have taken her mind off of her troubles and she wouldn’t have had the attack. I suppose that might be possible for some people. My guess is that diving would just add more stress and make things much worse for her.

 

[PaulChristenson]

The only panic attack I've witnessed was in the Fire Service...A new recruit was in the Draeger Trailer and had a panic attack...by the time he vacated the trailer he had stripped his helmet, mask, hood, scba, bunker coat and was starting to work on his pants...