geraldp
Contributor
It's nice to know that other divers have had similar experiences. Having never had a panic attack before, experiencing one alone at 85' was a very frightening experience for me. Hyperventilation caused me to lose vision and I came close to passing out, so I hit the inflator button. I arrested my ascent at about 50' and hung there until I could get my breathing under control. Lots of extenuating circumstances led up to that dive: lack of sleep, driving for 4 hours before getting on the 8 am charter boat, half-a-dozen cups of coffee, Advil for headache, <10' vis, and getting out of breath trying to catch up to and eventually being abandoned by dive buddies all played a part. Most of these can be addressed, like spending a bit more for a motel near the dive site so I don't have to get up early, less coffee, properly vetting dive buddies, and of course better dive planning. Still, since that dive I often am plagued by a nagging fear whenever I approach the 75'-85' level. Prior to that one dive I'd often been below that, down to 110'. Admitting that fear to other divers is embarassing, and I came close to hanging up my fins, simply because I was worried I would panic again. I came to the conclusion I was happy to stay above 80', which is apparently around where my narcosis fear hits me, and I simply plan my profile above this level. Someday I may go deeper, but I'm OK with shallower dives.