Panic/Hyperventilation during wreck dive (~80 ft)

[lamarpaulski]

You did good. You did not panic and did some common sense things that helped you get under control. Kudos.

As others said - some regulators handle demand for more air better than others. You might look into that. I own and really like my Scubapro. Apeks have good reputation for air delivery as do many others. Cancun rental regs may not be up to snuff one way or another..

Aerobic fitness and more diving experience also help minimize that out of breath feeling and speed recovery when/if you get it.

 

[ScubaJill]

I am new to the forum and wanted to share my story, as I feel that experience is the best teacher.

I was doing a wreck dive in Cancun last week when I experienced this. It was a wreck dive with a depth of around 80ft. The group consisted of myself, 3 other divers and the DM. We descended to the wreck and everything was going fine. As we descended, a school of beautiful eagle rays were drifting by the wreck site. We reached the bottom and started to swim towards the wreck. The current was rough, and made swimming difficult. As we went around the wreck, I spotted to eagle rays near me and swam up to get a closer look and some footage. The current picked up, and I had to swim hard to keep up with them. After getting a good look, I slowed up......and that's when it hit me. I started breathing heavily and couldn't catch my breather. I suddenly felt like I was breathing through a straw. I looked up and saw how far the surface was and I started to panic. I was breathing hard but felt like I could not get enough air. I tried to slow myself and focus on my breathing, but continued to breath hard. I stopped swimming and grabbed the side of the wreck. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, and it started to subside. I found the anchor line, and held steady until I was semi under control of my breathing. My group noticed I was gone, so I kept an eye on them until they looked up and gave them the sign that I was going to surface. I slid up the line slowly, taking my safety stop and finally surfacing.

I wanted to share this story so that everyone can learn from it. I can assume I experienced overexertion and started to hyperventilate. I did not think how hard I was swimming to see the marine life, and I almost paid a heavy price for it. But takeways from this experience were to stay calm and try to control your breathing when something like this happens. Literally one of the scariest experiences of my life.

Thanks for posting. Though focusing on your breathing is supposed to help when panic sets in, I've found focusing my attention on something else - coral, a piece of a wreck, my dive computer, anything - works better when below 60 feet or so. If I focus on my breathing, all I hear is the rasp of the regulator.

 

[fmerkel]

A not insignificant component to ventilation at depth is the physics of air density. A reg can make a difference but no reg will compensate for the fact that the air is now denser and must still navigate the biological airways. Ventilation happens in the large airways, RESPIRATION (gas exchange) happens down in the aveoli and respiratory bronchioles. Those pathways at that level are exceedingly small (think of a hollow human hair). In this area gas exchange is more Brownian motion than dynamic movement. The deeper you go the denser the gas, the more sluggish it moves. Trying to "force it" is somewhat counterproductive. Slow and easy is the way.

Yes, regulators can make a difference, both in inherent design and tuning. But, lots of new divers get the idea that if they don't have a ScubaPro Mk25/S600 they are in imminent danger of dying of suffocation at 100'. That is simply not the case. There are lots of good regs that will give you all the air you need at that depth, but no reg will change the physics of gas movement or your aerobic fitness.

 

[p0werline]

First off, I wanted to thank everyone for their responses. I just found this site and its nice to see an active community.

As for my experience, I did not want to blame the gear but a lot has lead me to believe that my octopus was also at fault. I did notice a bit of a struggle breathing when descending, but it wasn't enough to alarm me as an issue. After reviewing my GoPro footage of the dive, you can clearly hear that my breathing "sounds" harsh during the beginning of the dive; and this was obviously amplified when I overexerted myself swimming towards the rays. Regardless, this is a situation that I NEVER want to experience again, so now me wife and I are looking into purchasing dive gear. So here come the questions:

1. Am I over reacting? My wife also experienced issues with her octopus the day before (cave dive, she noticed some water coming in from her regulator at times) and the last thing I want to do is sacrifice our safety. We have dove in Jamaica and Honduras, and this is our first time experiencing issues with rental equipment. I checked everything to the best of my ability on the boat, and did not notice any issues breathing through the regulator before the dive (although I know this can change during dive conditions).

2. What is a good package to look into? I've seen aqualung's package including their Titan regulator, which seems to have good reviews. if someone could point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it. I understand that equipment is an investment and I would have to weigh my options and how often I would dive, but I feel that this is worth looking into.

Sorry for the long post

 

[kurowskj]

Similar thing happened to me on a wreck at about 119 feet. Trying to kick hard against the current to keep up with my partner. I could feel the hyperventilation coming on, it went away after I made it back to the line and ascended 20 feet. Definitely a learning experience. Everything slowed down after that.

 

[chubadoodman]

Nicely handled and thanks for sharing! I too had a similar situation where I was on the edge of panic, but without the exertion. We were around 60 fsw cruising along as I started to feel very short of air and struggled to breathe. I was about to call the dive but after a few deep breaths and focusing on my breathing it went away. Still not sure why it happened.

My wife also experienced issues with her octopus the day before (cave dive, she noticed some water coming in from her regulator at times) and the last thing I want to do is sacrifice our safety.

1. This is a topic that is discussed a lot on SB so it caught my eye, did you and your wife have cave training before doing that dive? I don't want to assume anything but I think the fastest way to sacrifice safety is to go into a cave without proper training.

2. After talking to a bunch of GUE instructors, they highly recommended the Apeks XTX50/DS4, so thats what I have. Since its my first reg set, I dont have anything to compare it to but there are a lot of good threads on here that have indepth reviews of reg sets.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

2. After talking to a bunch of GUE instructors, they highly recommended the Apeks XTX50/DS4, so thats what I have. Since its my first reg set, I dont have anything to compare it to but there are a lot of good threads on here that have indepth reviews of reg sets.

This regulator has only 1 HP port. Fine for tec diving, but if say a diver wants to dive recreationally with a backup SPG and a wireless transmitter for their wrist computer, that configuration isn't supported on the first stage.

 

[GJC]

Sounds to me like the op experienced a build up of CO2 from exertion that he could not get rid of possibly due to over breathing the reg or just breathing rapidly but shallow.

This is not hyperventilation, it's hypoventilation. The correct solution for this is to take a deep breath (which opens more alveoli in the lungs allowing blood to off gas more CO2) and then exhale as much as possible. Repeat until you feel like you have caught your breath (and CO2 has returned to normal levels).

A question for the reg tech experts, if the reg is hard to breath due to high cracking pressure, would a light touch on the purge help your breathing (without actually causing a big gas flow)?

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

Wow, sure sounds scary. Usually when I look up and see the boat it is so relaxing and fun, I can totally see how being scared would make that not a happy sight. Thanks for posting, I don't know if I would have had the presence of mind to just hang on and stop. I'd like to think that I would... I'm seriously thinking of painting on my wet suit the following: Stop. Think. Act. Repeat.
Or just a big ole star to remind me.

 

[chubadoodman]

This regulator has only 1 HP port. Fine for tec diving, but if say a diver wants to dive recreationally with a backup SPG and a wireless transmitter for their wrist computer, that configuration isn't supported on the first stage.

Could go with the DST which has 2 HP ports.