Panic in OW - advice needed

[AbyssalPlains]

The answer is very simple: Task loading. This happens ALL the time. People are not ready. I flunked my first driving test (mind you, in Germany, not in the US, so this does NOT prove I'm a complete moron...). Anyhow, why did I flunk it? Because I was nervous and made stupid little mistakes that added up. Why did that happen? Because I wasn't ready and would have needed more practice. Does this mean I became a bad driver? Of course not. Same with diving. Does your experience mean diving is not for you? Of course not. Does it mean your instructor is not very good? Possibly, but I have no way of knowing. However, I do believe he should have picked up on your apprehension. But that's beside the point. Here is what you need to do: Practice, practice, practice. Some things simply don't come easy. Unfortunately, the scuba "industry" (the word says it all) has taken on the mantra of the modern consumer society: "You can be anything you want in no time, no effort necessary. Just add money." But some things don't work that way. Some things do not come easy. You have to work hard and face your inner demons and your own fears. And then you need to add patience. And then it will work. Just relax, practice and take it slowly. You will get there. And when you do, you will love it.

 

[Lee Taylor]

You are having anxiety attacks. Your subconsciousness is anxious and has fear that your safety being is being jeopeardized. Suggestions: Buy a "spare air" bottle or purchase a "pony" tank. This is a complete second air system, independent of the other. This will eliminate fear of losing your air supply. Another sneaky anxiety generater is a leaky mask. If your mask is not sealing properly it will generate a surprising amount of negative stress. The second suggestion is to go sit on the bottom of a deep swimming pool while dressed in your scuba gear and breathing on your regulator. Stay there until you become "comfortable" with the underwater enviroment. I have tried all of these and they all work well. Good luck! Sorry your having trouble.

 

[CamG]

Greeting Jamba and welcome to SB! First and fore most congratulations on completing your OW certification. Your thread has reminded me of how tough it can be to overcome that impulse in our heads to bolt. I had issues in the pool with mask skills during my OW training. I was a nose breather which complicated mask skills and I purchased a mask with a purge valve to compensate. After extra pool time I was ready and OW dives were incredible. I still felt nervous and un-easy in the water doing mask skills but I had complete confidence in my instructor and that I could achieve the skill.
The greatest realization that helped me the most is keep the regulator in your mouth and everything is ok! Loose your mask, fin, etc. no big deal. It takes a fair amount of effort and determination but you have taken the first step. Take advantage of your instructors offer and dive with him or her to practice and build your confidence level. Take every advantage to dive and improve your skills. You have felt the effects of panic and now it is easier to identify them and deal with them in a problem- solving methodical manor. Stop - Think - then Act accordingly. It gets easier and then it gets a whole lot more fun!! The best is yet to come, hang in there and you will see. There are some very incredible divers offering tips here on SB take full advantage of them.
Keep us posted on your progress and good luck!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[Jamba]

Hi everybody,
First of all I want to thank all of you for your motivation and advice, I really appreciate it. You gave me a lot to think about and new insights in what I need to think about and do or what I shouldn't. I think I learned a lot what I might have done wrong and I will keep working on it because I want to go out there and have fun. I love the water and will not quit. I know I am on the right way and that I have improved and I will keep going.

Well, Ber has a fabulous post, and I can't add much to it, except to tell you the story of one of my very good friends. He had a panic episode underwater when he had about 40 dives. He didn't expect it (he had lots of experience in the water with other sports, and had taken to diving quite naturally) and it shook him really badly. He seriously considered giving up diving, because it was a horrible revelation to him that his reptile brain could completely take control away from him.

Thanks, for this story, this is exactly how I feelt. I was a swimmer for 10 years, grew up being at the ocean and did watersports. I have "played" several mentally and physically very demanding sports on a high competetive level for a long time and I know, that I have the mental ability to controll myself, at least I thought so. I have been in some stressfull situations (incl. first aid) before and always reacted rational and focused. My reaction was totally new to me.

Are you taking care to make sure you are breathing normally? Shallow, incomplete breaths can also cause the CO2 to build...

... do one thing that will make you more comfortable when taking your mask off... Think about blowing out a candle!! EVERY divemaster that I have ever encountered says "breathe normally". You DO NOT breathe normally! If you think right now, you are probably sitting at your computer desk - breathing normally - through your NOSE!
JR

No, I think my breathing was completely off and I will need to concentrate a lot on it. I think I was breathing pretty fast and while taking of the mask I was not breathing at all. When I realized, I did what I trained to do all these years to be able to focus and to bring my heart rate down fast:
Inhale deep through your nose and exhale through your mouth. – That, obviously that does not work that well under water. I will keep working and concentrating on breathing “scuba-style” . Next time I will imagine myself sitting in my toasty living room blowing out a candle.

Second, consider that there might be an equipment issue in play. ...Is the neck-seal in your suit too tight (remember carotid-sinus reflex?) This can really make a guy feel "off"... and generally inexplicably so.

I have not thought about that before, but it was kind of tight with that hood and not very comfi. The hood got caught up under the seal of my mask a couple of times and caused leaking.

And finally, do you have any history of claustrophobia or agoraphobia?

No.

Your job would be to convince me and more importantly yourself that you have the mental part of this sport under control.....You have to find a way to mentally shut the mammal down and focus on what you were trained to do.

Personally I believe that once you understand the panic cycle and your personal triggers it's much easier to avoid panic because you stop it before it overwhelms you.

I don't think you should be certified yet but I wouldn't say you shouldn't be diving at all. My suggestion to you is to pretend you don't have that card, put diving with anyone but your instructor out of your mind for now. Work on finding how to get your head in the game.
Ber :lilbunny:

That was what I was thinking, I would not have certified myself, but my instructor cannot look inside me. I did everything that was asked from me in the check out dives, I even took of that mask in the end twice and it slipped right of my face the second time. I managed to keep myself together and it showed me I can do it. Nontheless I know I cannot go out there without feeling totaly confident, knowing that I am absolutely in control and how to keep it. Thank you so much for your awesome advice I will definitely consider a lot of it and set up some more dives with my instructor and my "friend" the pool.

"Shut up mammalbitch, SCUBA-ME IS IN CHARGE!
Ber :lilbunny:

I love this one!

 

[Stoo]

That was what I was thinking, I would not have certified myself, but my instructor cannot look inside me.

LOL, you might be surprised at who gets certified these days. I was recently "peripherally" involved (one of those friend-of-a-friend things...) where a woman suffered a pulmonary edema on her third OW dive, surfaced successfully, blacked out, was rushed to a chamber, then admitted to a hospital and kept for three days.. and was still certified. Call me old fashioned, but when I was teaching, I had a somewhat higher standard... Any dive that ends in an ambulance ride and hospital stay wasn't considered "successful"!

Jamba, you have received lots of good, sound advice here, and I hope you won't let your experience put you off. There are few things that can compare with diving, and a little set-back shouldn't mean the end of your involvement (assuming you WANT to keep it up...). Get some help from a good instructor, get into some controlled water, watch your breathing, make sure your gear fits properly... and in no time, I suspect that you'll be blowing bubbles with the best of us!

 

[divebostonforcharity]

I'm goign to have to second the comment on OW certs being like a learners permit. It's OK to have some anxiety around diving just like most new drivers have some anxiety around diving. With time and practice you will be able to slowly but surely eliminate you panic and become a comfortable confident diver. That said, just like when you have a learners permit you drive in safer conditions with a more experiences driver, until you have a bunch of panic free dives under your belt you should only dive with instructors or very experienced buddies. Even then, you should try to dive with organized shore dives from your LDS or local dive club until you are completely confident with your skills. I didn't dive without an organized trip until I had completed a couple dozen dive ans I still do frequently when I want to do a more advanced dive in an unfamiliar location. You're diving for the right reasons so keep at it and you'll overcome your challenges.

 

[Joe L]

I was very nervous when I started scuba and after being away from it for a while, nervous again when I reentered scuba. I figured out a way to get over it, an it was mention above. With my very experienced buddy, we went to a depth of about 15 ' in a lake, and just sat on the bottom. It really helped, to stop and think for awhile, look at the environment around me, focus on my breathing and so on. Yes, I did breath down my tank faster than my dive buddy but, I think this comes with experience. I set my limits, take it slow and NEVER try to do more than I am comfortable with at the time. JOe

 

[ScubaSteve]

Somehow got onto wrong thread. Ooops

 

[Sinbad the Diver]

As has been said I don't consider it normal to panic on your checkout dives, but I suspect everyone had at least a bit of nerves, I know I did and I consider myself as comfortable in the water as anyone. Through my first dive I struggled, first to descend, then to settle on the bottom so we could do some skill checks. My instructor did a great job waiting for me to get comfortable and settled then we did what we needed to do.

The thing to remember is how you perform when everything is going well is IMO not the key, it's how do you perform when things aren't going well. Are you able to get it together, fall back on your basic skills and get yourself into a position to make a good safe decision on how to proceed. If you are struggling during your checkout dives that is something to keep in mind as you plan your continued scuba education and experience. Find an instructor or mentor to work with and work on skills like mask clearing, reg recovery, etc so that they become second nature then get into safe conditions and have your buddy spring emergencies on you so you have to see how you react (it's easy when you know your going to do a reg recovery, but what about when you don't know which skill you are going to be asked to do?).

And this is not something that goes away, I'm at dive 20 and am feeling pretty good about my basic skills but just yesterday I was descending and at about 30ft was having a little trouble equalizing my ears and realized I was forgetting to breath because I was concentrating so much on trying to swallow, controlling my bouyancy and my buddy was having a little mask issue. First thing in my head was go up, I had to tell myself to relax, take a couple of breaths and everything was fine, then I hovered for a couple minutes to get calm and it ended up being a fantastic dive. But it reminded me how much I still have to learn and practice and how little task loading can change everything.

 

[Shark3000]

I am an instructor for more than 10 years and I am sure that some extra time with a patient instructor in the pool and a shore dive starting on a slowly descending ground will give you the confidence and fun you are looking for. It's like driving a car. Some can do it after 1 hour and some need more time but in the end you don't see the difference, all can drive.