Question Panic in the experienced diver?

It would seem to me that, as we gain experience and go through some minor glitches on dives, we should increase our capacity to tolerate issues underwater. I'm wondering what could cause an experienced (say, more than 200 lifetime dives) diver to become distressed enough to lose rational thought. Has anyone here (who meets those criteria) been through a panic event? What caused it, and what did you do?

 

[shoredivr]

That would be an operation I would avoid.

 

[cwoco]

Not exactly an experienced diver, but the closest I came to real panic was when, during the descent on a night dive, I descended into a school of anchovy-like tiny fish that were shimmering in the light thinking it would be real pretty to watch them move away in a group.

Apparently, they didn't get the notice, and simply enveloped me, leaving me unable to see anything but mad, thrashing silver fish and flashing lights - most of the other divers were also left unable to see.

All that was still ok, until one fish found it's way into my ear and thrashed about madly trying to burrow through. I literally had to poke my fingers as far as I could into my ear, then pinch the end of the tail and yank it out. Couple of seconds later, one went into my other ear and I repeated the same thing. I basically sank to the (fortunately shallow) bottom with my hands tightly cupped around my ears and waited for the school to disperse.

Seems quite silly, but trust me, it is really quite terrifying to feel something writhing away inside your head, and not knowing if they have sharp teeth to bite the insides of your ears. Because of that, I wear a buff over my ears for all night dives now.

 

[ozzydamo]

A friend of mine had an interesting panic experience. He is very experienced--he is a tech diving instructor. He was on a very simple recreational dive at about 90 feet and suddenly, for no discernible reason, he felt some fairly intense panic. He had enough sense and experience to suspect narcosis, even though he was not all that deep. He ascended 10-15 feet and almost immediately felt better. His diving companions looked at him, puzzled, and he slowly descended to join them again. He felt fine and finished the dive without incident. He is convinced it was a form of narcosis.

I had narcosis symptoms at 50ft one time, I didn't panic, but knew it I was narccy. I calmly took hold of a rock outcrop, chilled out for a minute and it went away- I put it down to dehydration, a fast descent and a bad nights sleep the nite before. Only ever felt that way below 35m and not all the time, you expect it to happen at below that depth, not 50' which was kind of scary. I found it to be a reinforcing experience to have gone thru it.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Not exactly an experienced diver, but the closest I came to real panic was when, during the descent on a night dive, I descended into a school of anchovy-like tiny fish that were shimmering in the light thinking it would be real pretty to watch them move away in a group.

Apparently, they didn't get the notice, and simply enveloped me, leaving me unable to see anything but mad, thrashing silver fish and flashing lights - most of the other divers were also left unable to see.

All that was still ok, until one fish found it's way into my ear and thrashed about madly trying to burrow through. I literally had to poke my fingers as far as I could into my ear, then pinch the end of the tail and yank it out. Couple of seconds later, one went into my other ear and I repeated the same thing. I basically sank to the (fortunately shallow) bottom with my hands tightly cupped around my ears and waited for the school to disperse.

Seems quite silly, but trust me, it is really quite terrifying to feel something writhing away inside your head, and not knowing if they have sharp teeth to bite the insides of your ears. Because of that, I wear a buff over my ears for all night dives now.

You'd have a great time with the blood worms on Cozumel night dives...

Next time, turn your light off.

 

[miketsp]

..snip..

Closest I have come as an experienced diver. We were diving in an area where the waves pounded into the wall creating up and down currents. I have never enjoyed that feeling. Anyway we came up over the wall and had to go out into midwater swimming into a ripping current to get back to the boat. The mooring had broken so we had a job to get back to the boat.

I started feeling like the effort was too much, started feeling like a CO2 hit. I managed to grab my buddy's fin and indicate to "stay close" as he was getting ahead of me. I figured if I couldn't make it back against the current I'd rather have two of us with SMB's deployed to make it easier for the boat to find us. He just kept going :doh: I sure had words with him later!
..snip..

You may be wrong.
I went through a similar situation.
I (in my 60s) was diving with my son (very fit in his 20s, qualified instructor) and we surfaced into a strong current that was pulling us away from the boat. After a couple of minutes fighting the current it was clear I was not going to make it back without help. He suddenly left me, swimming very strongly into the current, and mentally I really started cursing him for leaving me. Anyway several minutes later he appears in the dinghy to pick me up.
We discussed it and as he correctly pointed out, by leaving at that moment he was sure he would make it on his own and get help on the boat and come back for me. He knew where I was and in which direction I was going. If we'd stayed together we certainly wouldn't make it on our own and if he'd stayed long enough to explain his chances would diminish. Of course he was quite right.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I chose to experience Narcosis dry in a chamber. Was a sobering but worth while experience. I highly recommend it for anyone who has the opportunity!

I honestly haven't experienced it diving. I was over 35 Meters before I was effected tho. I didn't feel impending doom but I got tunnel vision really bad. Pretty dangerous I got so focused on my job at hand that I lost track of everything going on around me!

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I chose to experience Narcosis dry in a chamber. Was a sobering but worth while experience. I highly recommend it for anyone who has the opportunity!

I honestly haven't experienced it diving. I was over 35 Meters before I was effected tho. I didn't feel impending doom but I got tunnel vision really bad. Pretty dangerous I got so focused on my job at hand that I lost track of everything going on around me!

I've only experienced noticeable narcosis symptoms once, after about 20 minutes at 140FSW. Like you, there was none of the "impending doom" feeling. I just felt "fuzzy" brained, as if I had taken Benadryl.

 

[ozzydamo]

I chose to experience Narcosis dry in a chamber. Was a sobering but worth while experience. I highly recommend it for anyone who has the opportunity!

I honestly haven't experienced it diving. I was over 35 Meters before I was effected tho. I didn't feel impending doom but I got tunnel vision really bad. Pretty dangerous I got so focused on my job at hand that I lost track of everything going on around me!

Exertion will bring it on, so you can mitigate the severity by slowing down/being relaxed and getting better fitness out of the water, feels like your on Mogadon(its a anti-anxiety med/downer).
Lets be real, unless your into wrecks your not going to bother going deeper then 30m. In saying that I believe it lifts your panic threshold experiencing narcosis.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Well I dive for relaxation so that may explain why I haven't had a Wet Narc

 

[cwoco]

You'd have a great time with the blood worms on Cozumel night dives...

Next time, turn your light off.

I've dived in worm and shrimp soup, but none worked their way into my ears (or at least I couldn't feel the worms on the inside of my ears). But yes, switching off my light would probably have been a good idea.