Panicky feeling when vertical in water?

[SUPERSTARDJ01]

Hi all,

I've found when in the water at the bottom stationary not going up or down but at the bottom getting instruction etc I start to get a panicky feeling, i'm not sure if it's pressure weight on chest, regulator delay? but it doesn't happen horizontally swimming or if i'm horizontal at the bottom, only if i'm on my knees, standing etc.

Any tips?

 

[vixtor]

First - except for OW training, you don't need to ever stand upright on your knees in water. So you will avoid this feeling afterwards.

Second - try to understand the reason better if you can - maybe your mask, filled with air, feels floaty.. maybe the BCD is also floaty and you feel like it will go up.. the pressure may be a reason theoretically because you breathe air at regulator's level pressure, but your chest is more down (but I don't think you can really feel that difference). We can make many guesses, but without knowing what goes in your head, it is hard to hit the right answer.

 

[tstormdiver]

I would say the simplest thing is not to get into & stay in a vertical position, even when hovering. It is the natural position for diving, why not just stay in it? Do all skills in neutral buoyancy & in horizontal trim. I really can't say why it affects you the way it does,.... ears (mild vertigo) maybe? Balance of the body in that position? Very difficult to say. You have much better overall control in horizontal position.

 

[SUPERSTARDJ01]

First - except for OW training, you don't need to ever stand upright on your knees in water. So you will avoid this feeling afterwards.

Second - try to understand the reason better if you can - maybe your mask, filled with air, feels floaty.. maybe the BCD is also floaty and you feel like it will go up.. the pressure may be a reason theoretically because you breathe air at regulator's level pressure, but your chest is more down (but I don't think you can really feel that difference). We can make many guesses, but without knowing what goes in your head, it is hard to hit the right answer.

When I was doing my OW I was fine but started to panic when I had to take my mask off, I over come this but when I was diving with a new buddy in a new lake with hire equipment he wanted to practise some drills this is when it started and i could control it but I think it maybe because I was in all their gear 7mm semi dry as well, the regulator I remember had a noticeable delay say 1/2-1 second delay after sucking for air, this maybe the cause?

 

[vixtor]

I don't think the regulator really could have such a delay between your inhalation and delivering air. It would mean that you made some kind of "void" in the mouthpiece for ~1 second before it would open..

Can you please try to describe this panic feeling in more details?

 

[SUPERSTARDJ01]

I feel like it's harder to breath in this position.

 

[vixtor]

Then it is pressure related. There are about 30 centimeters between your regulator and your chest (and in upright position the chest is exposed to more pressure). Maybe you are more sensitive to this - I never felt it, but I know that theoretically there is a difference in pressure. Some people report feeling this pressure when submerged in water with the head above the water also.

So don't consider this a panic, but a normal condition.

If you want, for the fun of it we can compute this difference if you know at what depth it was happening. Theoretically this feeling should be stronger when you are closer to the surface (where the pressure differential is higher), and should be lighter (up to when you don't feel it at all) as you descend.

 

[SUPERSTARDJ01]

It was around 5 mtrs down, and I do feel pressure on my chest and find noticeably harder to breath when in a swimming pool treading water than if I'm not in water, make sense?

 

[DivemasterDennis]

What I have to offer on this is in my blog post, Student Divers: Don't Think too Much. Click on "blogs" here on the scubaboard site, and then "Most Popular" and you'll find it right there. I am not suggesting that there is not a mechanical problem with equipment or your physiology, and if there is it needs to be corrected. But read the blog, too. You may find it helpful.
DivemasterDennis

 

[fisheater]

I feel the pressure difference in that position, too. There's an increase in the work of breathing.

I'm rarely in that position, so it's rarely any issue at all. However, in the last two weeks I spent quite a bit of time kneeling on a couple of dives trying to find and photograph mandarin fish in the Philippines. I had to get used to the increased effort to breath.


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