Post Dive Nausea

[John Reinertson]

The best answer is that you are probably both right.

Any of these drugs can make some people drowsy or adversely affect performance.
The problem is that the reactions are individualized, so if one person tolerates dimenhydrinate just fine, they can continue to use it. My wife does great with dimenhydrinate and it makes me dreadfully sleepy.

The same goes for scopolamine patches (or meclizine, which is often sold as Antivert or "non-drowsy Dramamine") The reactions vary from person to person.

In my experience, the best thing to do is try a couple different preparations before the trip to find out how you react personally.
Test your mental performance and reaction time against a favorite video game or something else that will give you a fairly repeatable score, and find out what works for your body.

I know people that swear by all three of the above, plus others, and people that are adversely affected by them.
Know what is not safe for you and avoid it.

Dive safe and alert,
John Reinertson

 

[regman]

count me in. i also get nauseous on the ascent. the feeling starts to come in when i do my safety stop at 15 ft. at which point i will probably fish feed. i've posed this same dillemna to the guys at Rodale's and they pretty much gave the same suggestions given here. i've found that slower and deeper breathing patterns lessen the effect i think it may be the CO2 in the lungs that can't get out. but it's probably not. just trying to make sense of it.

anyway, it's good to know i am not alone in this phenomenon. just remember to do it downcurrent from your buddy.

 

[John Reinertson]

Don't forget your local photographer or videographer! The
chumming you do through your regulator may give them an opportunity for a great picture!

"Every silver lining has a cloud"


John

 

[larry_foo]

just like to share with divers out there
prior to this posting, I had similar problem. however recently, i relised during surfacing while waiting for the boat to pick you up, all those finning could be rather tiring. Which I suspect could have got me feeling nausea without able to breath "enough" due to the tight BC strap. So during my last dive, I tried loosening the strap around my tummy upon surfacing, and relax as much as possible without finning too hard. The nausea feeling didn't come for that dive. Felt so much better.
Will tried a few more times to confirm. And hope I have nailed my problem.
Happy diving!

 

[Andreas]

Hi everyone.
Count me in on the nauseated surfacing divers.
But I think I actually DO have the answer for most of us. I've had this problem for all my diving-career (soon 8 years), and about 6 months ago I got some serious testing done on this subject. A doctor here is now doing a project on me and this problem of mine. And the answer most likely is CO2 (carbon dioxide)-related.
I can say that I sooo well recognize the symptoms that some of you describe! My nausea usually starts at the safety-stop between 10-20 feet(6-3m), and gets so bad at the surface that I have thrown up many times. My headache does not stop until about 4-6 hours later, and taking painkillers (ibuprofen) does not help.
Can I just ask you who experiance these problems a question.. Are you capable of holding your breath for a longer time than most of your average friends? In this case, you probably have exactly the same problem as me.
Ok, to the point.
You probably have a much higher tolerance for CO2 than most people have. This makes you breathe less often than most people, because as you tolerate a higher amount of CO2, your body does not tell you to breathe as often as you really should (as CO2 buidup is what makes us want to breathe). This creates greatly elevated partial pressures of CO2. CO2 expands your veins greatly, most importantly the veins in your head (scull), which creates a relative over-pressure inside your scull. This will, as you probably can understand, create a throbbing headache.
The answer/help to this is simply to breathe more often! As you then won't build up as much CO2.
"Hogued" said in his first post "The first day and the first two dives were no problem. During the first certification dive of the second day, I once again experienced severe nausea upon reaching the surface. "
I have experianced similar things, and will try to explain this: On the fist day there were no problems, but on the second day there were. Okay, this dive-site was new to you, and you probably weren't as relaxed as you would be on a site where you have been before. This makes you unconsiously breathe more often (as we in a state of arousal tend to breathe more). On the second day you were a bit more familiar with the site, and probably got more relaxed and thus breathed a bit less. When you breathe less, you build up very much CO2, and you get nauseated.
I have been exposed to some quite advanced testing on this particular problem, which amongst other things included breathing elevated PPCO2's and measuring my responses to it. The conclusion is partly what I have presented above.
The only thing which still is a bit puzzling is why the problems only appear when I/we get to the surface..!
The project/work that is beeing dont on me is not yet fully completed, so more answers may appear further on.
But for now, the most important advice for all of you is to BREATHE MORE OFTEN! (forget all about taking drugs before diving and such dangerous silliness!)
This is quite simply the only thing you can do to get rid of this problem while breathing nitrogen/oxygen-based mixtures (as air).
For further information on my tests and experiance, please contact me in private.

Good luck, and stay safe!

 

[regman]

well, andrea, you described perfectly what happens to me. nausea at the safety stop and headaches after. i do believe it is the CO2 in the lungs. and yes, i can hold my breath longer than my friends.

good to know there are others out there trying to figure this thing out. please let us know the results of your tests.

happy diving.