Question: Freediver taking breath @ depth?

[g1138]

What would happen if a freediver took a breath off scuba past the depth in which their lungs were filled with fluid?

I recall that at extreme depths a freedivers lungs will leak plasma from the blood to keep the lungs from collapsing because of air compression at depth.
Would breathing air at that depth induce drowning?

 

[fdog]

Very experienced freedivers have told me that the air inhaled at great depth tends to work its way into lobes of the lung, and the surfaces of the lung "adhere" closed behind the air. During ascent, the expanding air applies pressure that forces those surfaces together more tightly; thus, the expanding air is trapped, resulting in a lung overexpansion injury and air embolus.

Diving for me is all-or-nothing. I either am freediving today, or, scuba diving. I never mix the two.


All the best, James

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Luckily the same is not true for freediving scuba breaths at shallower depths, or a pair of my favorite lungs would have been injured....

The next time Into The Blue is on the tube, watch those freediving scenes carefully; lot's of exhaling going on.

 

[Dsix36]

I was one of the deep safety divers for a free diving competition a year or so ago. I was told to never let a diver breathe anything and if they got into trouble to stay far enough away that they could not manage to get a breath off one of my regs. When they pass out, clip the self-inflating lift bag to them and open the valve. The safety record for them is much better than it is for us rebreather divers.

 

[g1138]

Well good to know that something bad does happen
It be interesting to know what exactly would happen inside a person's lungs though.....
Back to searching the pages of google I guess.

Thanks guys!

 

[Dsix36]

Freedivers are trained to "hold" their breath. This is also a very natural instinct when you are underwater. If a free divers were to take a breath at depth (even just 20 foot deep or so) and hold it on the way up, they would end up with the air expanding in their lungs and causing overexpansion. Simple terms is their lungs would burst and they would die.

 

[DocVikingo]

Oops--duplicate post.

 

[DocVikingo]

If a free divers were to take a breath at depth (even just 20 foot deep or so) and hold it on the way up, they would end up with the air expanding in their lungs and causing overexpansion. Simple terms is their lungs would burst and they would die.

Hi Dsix36,

Lung expansion can occur with breath-holding on ascent from depths much shallower than 20 ft.

Additionally, while pulmonary barotrauma typically is serious, it most certainly is not always fatal.

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[Dsix36]

No argument from me!

The free diving organizers told us that the competitors had a bout 100% chance of survival as long as they did not breathe anything. They did mention how ironic it was that the safety divers had a higher probability of injury/death that the competitors did.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Getting back to the original question: probably nothing, unless the diver held his/her breath on ascent afterward as the others have mentioned. The small amount of plasma in the lungs would not likely affect the diver at depth any more than it would after surfacing from a normal free dive.