Question about anxiety

[Blue Tide]

I recently started OW training. I really enjoy it. It is a lot more fun than I expected it to be. The problem I have is, we just started the deep end stuff last night. I had a really hard time descending at first. We started at about 8 feet but every time I tried to descend I started hyperventilating. The very first time I didn't even make it all the way down. My head cleared the surface and I shot right back up. I think after about the third try I forced myself to stay down but it took a few minutes to relax enough to breathe normally. I was finally able to do the exercises and such but I never really felt comfortable. I went through 3000 pounds of air in just under two hours. I was about ready to call it quits but, this is something I've wanted to learn and do ever since I was a little kid.

My question is: Is there anyone else that had this problem when they started? I'm sure I can't be the only one, I hope. My biggest concern is how I'm going to react in Open Water. I've always been a strong swimmer and comfortable around water but, my reasoning has always been if I get tired I can always stop and tread water or if worse comes to worse I can float on my back. Those options aren't exactly available when diving.

Any insight or tips on relaxing would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Divedoggie]

See if you can schedule a separate session with an instructor at your dive shop.
Tell him/her about your anxiety. This is not uncommon.

I think that slowing the process down, and spending a lot of time underwater in the shallow end of the pool will help. If you get uncomfortable, you can stand up. The more time you spend breathing through a regulator and practicing the skills that you learn in your Open Water class, the more comfortable and convinced you will become.

The fact that you are a strong swimmer is really good. You can overcome fear and anxiety with skill, education, and repetition.

In the end, if there is still a lot of anxiety, maybe scuba isn't for you, and you will be perfectly happy swimming and snorkeling!

 

[fisherdvm]

I would ask - are you taking any prescription medicines or ever taken medicine for anxiety or depression? Have you had panic attack, fear of being in a closed space, fear of elevators? Are you afraid of certain animals, like spider or sharks? If so, you might have an anxiety disorder, and perhaps you should not dive. As you can put yourself, or your buddy in danger. If you are not sure, you can look up anxiety disorders in a psychiatric book and see if you fit the criteria, or see a psychologist/psychiatrist for sure.

If it is just a situational anxiety, continued exposure to the same environment should decrease the fear. But if you are still anxious, despite repeating the pool session for 5 or 6 times, you should give up diving.

I was quite anxious at my first pool session, and waited a few months before repeating the class and completing it. With each subsequent dives, and with new exposures to different dive environment, I am more comfortable. Now the anxiety is much subsided.

 

[spectrum]

What you experieinced is common. I'll hazard a guess that you have not been a snorkeler prior to this and maybe not much of a swimmer either.

So you show up at scuba class and learn some cool stuff in the class room. You go to the pool get all trussed up in gear that is new, exciting and for the moment probably a little intimidating. You take the regulator in your mouth and breathe and your mind is already flooded with new sensations as you have to breathe entirely from your mouth and the regulator is poping and hissing. Meanwhile you are thinking holly cow this is cool!

Now you stick your face in the water and it's time to breathe, BREATHE? your mind asks. Your face is in the water, my whole life I was trained never to breathe with my face in the water for I will drown. Meanwhile you say, "wait, this is scuba class, go ahead". So you brain says "I'll try" and you manage a rapid breathe and bubbles are thundering. Are you getting the picture?

Odds are high that with a little more time with the gear you will be fine. It varries with everyone based on the personality and related experieince. To trust the regulator took me 2 minutes, my wife needed 2 hours, no big deal. You only need to get this ball rolling once.

Talk to your instructor. You may be able to slip in with another class that is operating and just spend some time blowing bubbles. Either way make sure they know you are finding this to be a challenge.

This is an adapatation. you are asking your body to do some very odd stuff in the name of fun so be patient with yourself.

Pete

 

[R. Ordner]

Bue Tide,
Anxiety is one of those items that will diminsh with training and solid partners. I understand your plight with it very well, no one I have ever dove with didn't have it initially. The best way I know to deal with it though is via two channels preparation with your equipment, solid dive planning and as mentioned earlier a solid very experienced partner who will be a supportive mentor.

The second channel is thru mental training, setting the solid intent via preparation of diverting all of your attention / focus on the process of gettng your kit squared away, planning the dive and diving the plan and paying attention to the present, no anxiety or attention leaks that divert you from your stated intent.

Take a look at a book called the Warriors Way @ http://www.warriorsway.com
It is focused on rock climbing my other passion but the lessons contained within have increased my focus in all of my sports.

Stick with it

RTO

l

 

[scubafool]

You are exhibiting a very valuable personality trait here. With something like diving, you need to be careful not to push your comfort level to hard. Some amount of nervousness is to be expected, but you need to be relatively comfortable at each step.

That being said, I have many times felt uncomfortable with taking things to the next level, and every time that I haven't backed off and worked on the problematic issues, it has bit me in the butt. Take more time with this, schedule more pool time, asked to be passed on into another pool class before the OW portion, whatever it takes, just get your comfort level up and the skills down pat before going further.

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

Breathing underwater, like jumping out of an airplane, isn't exactly a natural activity. Some take to it quicker than others. i was a nerve bag myself, but it gets better quickly. I agree with the above comment regarding some private time. Sometimes in a group, doing skills with limited time, the fear of failure in front of others and the anxiety of being rushed or under time constraints makes things worse.

But rest assured, you are NOT alone...

 

[theskull]

. . . I've always been a strong swimmer and comfortable around water but, my reasoning has always been if I get tired I can always stop and tread water or if worse comes to worse I can float on my back. Those options aren't exactly available when diving.

Any insight or tips on relaxing would be greatly appreciated.

As a diver, the reasoning is that you can always stop, become neutrally buoyant and just relax and hover for a few minutes while you get your breath and composure back.

OR

You can always make a normal and slow ascent to the surface, inflate your buoyancy compensator, and comfortably float at the surface -- no treading water required -- while you sort out whatever is a concern at the moment.

You still have options! They're just different options than you have when you are a swimmer at the surface.

Relax and enjoy your class and all the great diving ahead of you,

theskull

 

[ShakaZulu]

We all go through this, part of the fun.....haha. Chill out, get a private session with the instuctor and let him hold your hand and decend slowly. Do that a coule of times and then practise. Will take about 10-15 dives before you are comfortable. If there are any other isues you are concerned about, this is the time to address those fears.

 

[hydro12]

Very good points so far. Another question I might ask is if you're using rental gear from the LDS. I know folks that have taken OW, used LDS rental regs that breathe like sucking a golf ball through a garden hose, so they breathe harder/faster because they feel like they're hyperventilating, which they then start to really do. There are, most likely, a number of factors contributing to what you described, all of which are likely normal and expected. Hang in there, practice, get comfortable, and your limits will grow with you. Before you know it, you'll be hanging off a deco line coming up from a 200' dive