Panic without reason

[ScubaJorgen]

One of my buddies told me he paniced. It was during ascent at about 15 m/45ft. The dive itself was more than 30m/90ft. The strange thing was that there was absolutely no reason to panic or even worry about. Fortunatelly he could pull himself together and finished the dive without incident. As far as I know the guy he is a very stable person and has good diving experience. I really enjoy diving with him. He had himself examined and there was no physiological/psychological reason for the panic attack.

He did some questioning around and found a girl having had the same experience at 9 m/27ft.

Anybody familiar with this phenomenon? Is this some nitrogen related issue that can happen to anybody? :06:

 

[DennisW]

I am not sure what causes a panic attack situation. It can happen to anyone, it happened to me in about 15 ft of water. I know how the attack began and afterwords I realized what I should have done early on, but I just wasn't thinking well at the moment. My panic situation occured at Venice Beach, diving with Walter and my daughter (I am sure that had nothing to do with the situation, not!). The viz was nearly zero, I was in a full wet suit and I could have used a couple of extra pounds of weight. I believe I had a CO2 build up trying to stay down and that was a major contributor, but I was also anxious about my daughter diving in such low viz conditions. Walter and my daughter were tethered using a buddy line, I was going to follow them both, but I lost sight of them quickly, went to the surface, found the dive flag, swam to it and descended with much difficulty because I was breathing pretty heavily from swimming to the dive flag. I did this twice and then experienced my panic attack on the second descent. I did my best to calm down at the bottom, but again lost sight of my buddies. So, I surfaced and finished calming down. Walter surfaced and asked if I was ok. At this time, I was doing better, but I told him I was calling the dive and told him and my daughter to have a good time. I swam back to the beach and relaxed.

It took me several dives before I was truly comfortable in the water again because I was anxious that I might panic again. I learned a very valuable lesson that day and I am even more comfortable diving now than I was before that situation.

Be supportive of your buddy and get him back in the water soon. Tell him you will be there if he needs support, but the best thing to do if he gets panicky is breath slowly and calm down. If he is a carefull diver, he will be anxious the next few dives. He should work himself through that and do ok.

 

[Tollie]

I have seen panic come about in two ways. First some big thing overwhelms the diver. For example… during an air share drill putting the octo in your mouth upside down and getting a breath of water… but the second source is more common and more insidious. This is an accumulation of small problems or worries which in themselves are not life threatening but which can cascade so that a final straw or precipitating difficulty can push the diver over the edge into panic. From the example above… worries about a child, limited viz, equipment issues, exhaustion… all whipped together into a brew that pushed the diver over the edge.

The old advice to skip the dive if things don’t seem right makes a lot of sense. If the context enveloping the dive is wrong the chances for other things to slip increases… and so do the chances of panic. Ultimately panic is the real killer. It cuts off rational decision-making and leads one thru the bolt to the surface to expose to lung injuries or decompression injuries.

In my experience this is much more common among divers than is popularly understood. All it takes is a diver who may be comfortable in benign conditions… warm water great viz shallow depts. To find themselves outside the envelope and then have one or two more things go astray and you have panic.

Before the dive calm yourself… control your breathing and focus on what is immediately at hand… the dive. Visualize yourself relaxed and comfortable in the water. Dive with a buddy and work up to more challenging dives. The best thing you can do is to seek additional training so that as your own envelope grows you do it at least once and for the first time hopefully with an instructor who has been there many times. Continuing education is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

 

[Web Monkey]

He may not know what it was, but there's usually a reason. It might not be one thing or even anything recent. It could be a bunch of little things he didn't notice like the wetsuit is a little too tight, the reg breathes a little hard, maybe it got a little darker outside, maybe he had something scary happen in the water when he was a kid. Could be anything (or any number of little things).

There's no way for you to know, and he might not even know.

SSI has a nice Stess and Rescue course that covers how to recognise and deal with stress before it becomes a safety issue. I'm sure the other agencies have similar courses.

He might want to look into it (actually it's a great class for pretty much anybody)


Terry

One of my buddies told me he paniced. It was during ascent at about 15 m/45ft. The dive itself was more than 30m/90ft. The strange thing was that there was absolutely no reason to panic or even worry about. Fortunatelly he could pull himself together and finished the dive without incident. As far as I know the guy he is a very stable person and has good diving experience. I really enjoy diving with him. He had himself examined and there was no physiological/psychological reason for the panic attack.

 

[slowhands]

One of my buddies told me he panicked. It was during ascent at about 15 m/45ft. The dive itself was more than 30m/90ft. The strange thing was that there was absolutely no reason to panic or even worry about. Fortunately he could pull himself together and finished the dive without incident. As far as I know the guy he is a very stable person and has good diving experience. I really enjoy diving with him. He had himself examined and there was no physiological/psychological reason for the panic attack.

He did some questioning around and found a girl having had the same experience at 9 m/27ft.

Anybody familiar with this phenomenon? Is this some nitrogen related issue that can happen to anybody? :06:

Some people are more prone to panic attacks, and it just takes a little upset to trigger them. I've seen this happen twice. I don't see a chemical trigger, like excess CO2 or nitrogen in either case.

Once I was diving a shallow reef in Thailand with an apparently experienced diver, who had a minor problem going in, mask leakage, so we went back to the boat for a quick fix, then drifted around an island. About half way around, the guy signals to surface, we do. He says he is feeling out of control and wants to go back to the boat. We did, even though we could have finished the dive since we were half way around this small island. We swam back at the surface, yuch.

When we got back he was very apologetic, said it had happened to him before and he did not understand it but he could not control it. He was my buddy and said he knew he had spoiled the dive and would pay for my dive fee. I declined, saying nope, safety first. Anyone can call a dive for any reason, that's what I was taught.

I think this was triggered by a little stress, which started the panic reaction. He kept saying, you guys go ahead, I'll sit this one out at the boat. But we waited for him and he felt obligated to dive. We should have listened to him. Some people just feel these reactions, it's not in their control. A bit like claustrophobia, or other phobias.

Another time a lady in our group inhaled water on entrance and panicked. We brought her up and gave her oxygen, then completed the dive without her. Again, a minor problem tipped her over, she felt out of control and could not think clearly.

Perhaps these people were not experienced enough in handling routine diving problems like mask leakage or breathing a little water on entrance. More training with those situations might have helped, but I think the people involved already had a little phobia going and the stress magnified it. You can't reason with this and probably should just call the dive when it happens, because they will not be acting rationally during the dive and it is not safe.

I have seen other divers get into trouble and just calmly recover, because of better training I think. On a night dive, one of my group had turned his air only partially on, so his guage read OK, but he had insufficient air at depth. He realized the problem, signaled to surface, turned on his valve and we continued the dive. He was quite experienced and so but did not panic. "Stop, think, act" does work if you can make yourself do it.

In my case, I have had problems breathing at depth, feeling like I could not get enough air. I did feel panic, but I just stopped and calmed down. I think I was working more than I should have been (measuring a wreck for a deep dive course), and under time pressure to get it done. I thought I only had 20 minutes to run the line all over the boat. We finished measuring on another dive, so it really did not matter if we got done on one dive.

Now, I really try to pace myself and avoid task loading now, especially at depth. I think the more you dive, the more you can judge what is reasonable to do on a dive, make a reasonable plan for the dive, and dive accordingly.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Sometimes I've wondered if drinking too much coffee on the boat prior to a dive might induce a panic. I don't drink coffee

 

[DeepDog]

The easy stuff:

Was it the first dive of the year? If it’s been a while, that could be a reason for getting spooked.

Was he using rental or a new exposure suit? He may have felt constricted. Or, normal human winter expansion can cause the same old suit to become very constrictive.

Does he recall narcosis on this dive? Panic can definitely follow narcosis. I’ve seen some get narc’d at 90ft.

 

[DNK]

Just thought I would add my own experience.
I'm a rather new diver that found my self in the same situation.
It was a wednesday evening dive, we had planned on doing a rather shallow (50' - 65') dive and then tool around the quarry abit. Well the whole thing started out bad, I had broken a fin strap and nobody I was with had a spare. I finally found somebody that could lend me one. Then we get in the water and go to the bouy and start to descent. Well we must have gotten the wrong bouy and I saw my descent go past 65'-75'-85' feet. Well this far in excess of anything I had ever done before, but I was okay. Until my wet suit completely compresses and I start dropping like a rock and hit the bottom at about 90'. So I hit my inflator, probably to much and start coming up. So I go and pull my back dump, guess what... the freaking knob pulls off. Well for some reason (I don't know why ) I start to get panicy, because I'm starting into an uncontrolled ascent. Thank god my buddy was on the ball, he grabbed me, but by the time he got my bouancy back under control, we were at 40'. Needless to say both our computers were screaming that we needed a deco stop. By this time I was back in my head and we finished our deco's with no problem and surfaced. No DCS. Lesson learned - even if it feels okay don't go beyond your limits unless you are prepared and trained to.

 

[vjongene]

Anybody familiar with this phenomenon? Is this some nitrogen related issue that can happen to anybody? :06:

As pointed out in several replies in this thread, panic can strike for many reasons, and usually for a combination of them. Let me relate my last dive, which was on Sunday. Still gives me the shivers.

We were diving at the Castle of Chillon, one of my favorite spots because of the beauty of the surroundings (the dive actually circles a castle on a rock in the lake) and because there is a very impressive wall that can be dived at any depth between 10 and 60 m. My buddy and I decided to dive the wall at 30 m. I was leading the dive. My buddy did not have his dive light, so we stuck close together and I made sure that he could see where he was going. The visibility was abysmally bad, about 50 cm in the beam of the light.

Anyway, we got on the wall, stabilized at 30 m, and started circling the castle. I was doing OK, but a little stressed from having to share the light, keep track of my buddy, stay at a constant depth while not seeing anything, etc. In addition, for some reason my AI computer was not showing remaining tank pressure and I had to rely on an SPG clipped to the bottom of my BC. After about 10 min, the stress level started increasing, and I had the impression that the wall was closing in on me, and that I had to push away from it. This escalated within a couple of minutes into a full-scale panic attack. I was sure that I would never see the light of day again, and that I was living my last moments on Earth.

I signaled to my buddy that I was not feeling well, and started ascending. He did the right thing in grabbing my BC and slowing my ascent. I still got a violation from the computer and a mandatory safety stop. When we got to less than 15 m depth my panic started subsiding, I got myself under control, and we finished the dive with a slow ascent, respecting the safety stop, and surfacing at the planned spot. I was badly shaken, and very grateful to my buddy for having read the situation rapidly and reacted correctly. If he had not grabbed me there is a real possibility that I would have bolted.

I don't think that this needs much analysis. There were many stress factors working together (did I mention a water temp of about 8 C and diving a wet suit?), with a significant narcosis thrown in for good measure. I will have to dive again soon, shallow and relaxed, to get over this one...

 

[JJP161]

Great thread everyone and thank-you all for sharing. I experienced this very same thing when I dove in SanDiego last spring, and like many of you it was combination of multiple things that brought it on. For starters I am OW certified, certified in 95 did about 20 dives in Ohio and NC. Then got a divorce and had no dive partner, so I didn't dive again until a refresher last spring and then we hit Key West with my brand newly certified friend, PADI cert. through the DVD version of the class, who had 5 logged dives. Not to slam the DVD version of the course, I think its a great thing but I think that they don't quite hit the safety precautions and get them emphasized as much as a regular class. They get the same info, but I think especially with a good instructor they will empasize something much more and say hey this is important this may save your life. Anyways, in doing extensive research through the board here and external sources I found the divings conditions were going to be similiar to the wreck diving in the Carolinas. So I called a dive charter and made them well aware with our diving levels and abilities and that we wanted a couple of novice, easy dives. I made sure I explained that if there was nothing available we would skip the dives. So they booked us for a two tank boat dive to Los Coronados Islands. Well the day before the dive we get a call that the dive was cancelled for lack of interest but they would put us on a 3 tank boat dive to the Yukon in 100', the Ruby E in 85 and a kelp dive to 50'. I told them were only OW and couldn't go past 60' and didn't want to anyways. Said we would sign a waiver and just drop to 60' and stay there and still be able to see everything. I also explained that neither of us had and U/W navigation so if vis was bad we would have a hard time finding our way back to the anchor line and that we weren't good and didn't feel comfortable with a free ascent. Again said we would be fine vis was 50-60'. I should have aborted all together and went for the surfing lessons. But my buddy was really pumped and I did not want to see him disappointed. This was my first mistake.

We show up for the dives bright and early with me on lots of Dramamine as I get motion sick on a lot of my dives, and have to sign the waivers, another warning light that we were going beyond our skills and training. After being suited up in 2 wetsuits that were too small, and being under weighted I finally was put in an XL. I'm 5'9 and 240lbs and have been bodybuilding for 20 years, but the DM was sure all I needed was a M, then a L. Then hands me 5 pounds less weight than I was wearing in the Keys with a 3 mil suit. Assured me I didn't need any more. Oh yeah did I mention I had a brand new reg and octo, yeah I know I needed to practice in the pool, but it was delivered the day of our flights.

Now we are above the Yukon in 3-4 ft waves gearing up for the dive and I brake one of the stupid mares buckles on my fins and have no replacement. I end up with a spare kids little snorkling toy fin and one mares quattro. In the frigid water we go and I can't decend at all. Underweighted of course. So the DM tells my buddy to pull me down the anchor line, still shoot to the top when he lets me go. So hands me 10lbs to put in my fold down BC pocket. So a gimpy flipper and now I'm listing to the side like a ship getting ready to sink. Well we start our descent and vis is barely 3'. Finally it opened up to 5' when we hit the deck of the Yukon at 85', the only thing we could see at 60' was each other and not even our fins. At this point in time I'm convinced I'm going to never see the surface again, and there'll be thousands of divers reading about in Rodales going what was the moron thinking. So the panic is really starting to set in, my reg was breathing a little wet, my mask was leaking a little and I'm freezing on top of everything. I managed to keep my cool, control my breathing some and fight the urge to shoot to the surface. Basically we went over to the big guns and then went right back up, the whole time I was completely terrified. I know I was a moron and should have aborted long, long ago.

So now we head to the Ruby E and I'm thinking we should sit this one out. My buddy is really wanting to dive though. Now I get seasick and start tossing my cookies. So we get to the Ruby E and the waves are only about a foot and a seal surfaces and looks at us and since I'm dying to see a seal I make mistake number 300 and decide to dive. Well I'm still listing to port and swimming in circles with the gimpy flipper but hey theres a seal and I want to take pictures of it. Well vis is about 6' feet and we hit the deck of the Ruby E, cold, wet reg and leaky mask and start to explore. Guess what? Rand McNally and I can't find our anchor line and its time to go. So we start up a different line, lose the line, end up in a free ascent, way to fast and the dive computer appears really upset. Blew right through the 15' safety stop. Then end up with a 300 ft surface swim back to the boat.

So at this point you would think I would be smart enough to abort the final dive, but no I'm a fireman, I run into burning buildings. So I puke my way to the Kelp Bed and off we go to the Kelp. Of course in the words of Bugs Bunny we make a wrong turn at Albuquerque and only saw a couple stalks?? of kelp a rock and an orange fish.

Now on the second and third dive I didn't panic but I was still very uncomfortable. Now be gentle with me I realize I made alot of mistakes and should have aborted the dives for the both of us. I also realize that I put both of us in danger because I didn't. Now heres the list of things contributing to the panic I believe.

1. Cold
2. Cold
3. Already fatigued getting in & out of 2 wetsuits way to small in the hot sun
4. Dive Well beyond our training and comfort levels
5. Conditions way beyond our comfort levels
6. Equipment problems
7. Not familiar enough with my new gear
8. NOT USING MY HEAD - Actually the Number 1 Reason