Randomly feeling panicky and anxiety -opinion

[NAUI Wowie]

Thank you all for your insights and experience. I will leverage all them and get back in the water to continue to build my confidence and expertise.

To answer the wetsuit question, I don’t think that contributes to the panic feeling. I feel comfortable in them and have worn tight ones and loose ones. I’m thinking its more the confidence piece.

Hello there, just a shot in the dark answer combined with something boulderjohn said as I havent seen this part mentioned yet in the thread.

How are you weighted? If you are running with too much weight this can make you feel panicky as you are always fighting a downward pull. This has freaked out many divers especially as you get deeper and lose boyancy in your wetsuit.

That combined with finning harder to fight against too much weight can give you a CO2 overload which will make you fearful or have a feeling of doom, danger, need to get to the surface. Even though you can counter it with BCD boyancy being overweighted as you get deeper will be felt.

Also your panic situation in the past as has been stated may have you breathing rapidly which has more dead air space and less CO2 leaving body. As they said slow DEEP long breaths in and long breaths out help with that.

I have had a hard CO2 hit in cold water before with a friends reg which wasnt dialed out. at 90 feet I wasnt getting enough air and i hard finned up to get closer to everyone and blacked out for a couple seconds. After that in cold water diving in low viz only, say about 2 ft up to 5ft max viz I get panicky on surface and it takes me about 5 minutes to get the gumption to go down. Once down at depth with the bottom visible im ok.

Just my two cents and personal experiences.

check your weighting and go with the least amount of weight you can to get under the surface

 

[lowlysubaruguy]

Do you have anxiety on land anything set you off a little. Or is it just diving. Not that it changes my thoughts on this.

I think you should try yoga. I am not what you would think of as a yoga guy. However during my cancer treatment is suffered from all forms of anxiety and stress. I puked a lot. Hell even nine years later I end up on the same road as the cancer center I get queasy and my breathing changes. There are a lot of breathing and emotional stabilization techniques covered in yoga that may help.

I just have to make sure I don’t intentionally drive over any of them in the parking lot there are some serious freaks at some of them however it’s emotionally satisfying when I do which is why I go. And you don’t have to buy a gutted Toyota Privia fill the dash with rocks sticks and feathers nor do you have to bathe in petuli oil. I do know if I practice a couple of the breathing techniques a few weeks before a dive my air consumption is a lot less.

 

[drbill]

I'm not sure my experience is equatable to yours. I've been diving for 57 years. Some time back (after thousands of dives), I had a situation where the dip or debris tube in my tank valve became blocked upon a heads down descent and I no longer got any air after about two minutes at depth (~70-80 fsw). For a few months after that experience, I felt mild anxiety every time I descended (but was fine once at depth). It went away and I no longer experience that.

 

[Scubafanatic25]

I appreciate everyone’s insights. I haven’t had the chance to dive since our last trip but will be giving all these a shot. Definitely thinking about doing some additional trainings just to boost the confidence

 

[chillyinCanada]

Extra training is always a great idea and don't forget to breathe fully out . . .fully in . . .
Nice and slow
No hurries no worries
It's like a song

 

[Princess Chris]

As its been said nice slow breathing all the way in and all the way out and also a little self assurance goes a long way. Sounds stupid but it works. If you feel a bit panicky just stop think breathe and tell yourself you can do this.

 

[Khrissi]

hello all,

Thanks in advance for all your insights. I plan to go to a doctor but in the meantime wanted to leverage the years of experience and 1000s of dives each of you done. I have my Advance and have logged nearly 30 dives but my last two dive trips when I’m at a depth of 60+ feet I get panicky and feel the need to be on the surface immediately (haven’t aborted a dive yet though). I’m not sure what is triggering this as I am often diving in tropical places with crystal clear visibility. I’m starting to get frustrated with it to be completely honest. Before this I had never had issues diving at these depths.

The only thing that could possible come to my mind is when I was getting my advance cert. it was done in a lake. Once we got 30+ feet down it was 0 visibility, black and had to use a line to guide us to the bottom. This was prior to our last 2 dive trips. I had never been exposed to these conditions before and it definitely made me very nervous and panicky.

Has anyone else had this challenge before or have any thoughts? As I mentioned above, I do plan to seek medical guidance but hope this isn’t a long term challenge that impacts my diving.

Sorry to hear this mate, I experienced similar from OW course . Looked up at coral wall then felt very panicked ( 20m ) next dive- totally relaxed.
A) you do not have to dive deep to enjoy yrself
B) more diving in good visibility with good buddy will calm yr fears.

So ( and I am not being rude here but it could be a factor) outside of mental illness you may have, it's abt enjoying the dive. Depth is ( outside of certification) not the main point of diving. K

 

[Pearlman]

In addition to the sound advice(s) above - A low dose of some herbs Tulasi(Ocimum sanctum, commonly known as holy basil) and Ashwagandha(Withania somnifera) <400mg each can help with your stress and anxiety. these are non-prescription OTC ayurveda herbs easily available online if not in most places. Try it beginning of the week you are to go diving next, late evening and on wakeup.

Works wonders for my stress in some of the worst traffic jams and roads in the world.

Cheers
P

 

[pauldw]

I asked about his wet suit because I had a friend that seemed to have a panic attack on the surface and we ended up attributing it to a very tight neck seal. Have you seen this happen? Is it claustrophobia, or is it restriction on the carotid actually affecting blood flow? Just curious as to your opinion.

Yeah, both at the same time, sometimes, at least in my experience with a new dry suit. And in recent years I don’t like getting into a wetsuit on a hot beach, which can cause a strong and unexpected feeling that I’m gonna die if I don’t get out of it soon. I didn’t have claustrophobia until in my 50’s. Don’t know what happened. Now, a lot can make me nervous. Familiar gear helps, and taking things slow if possible.

 

[Dogparkguy]

hello all,

Thanks in advance for all your insights. I plan to go to a doctor but in the meantime wanted to leverage the years of experience and 1000s of dives each of you done. I have my Advance and have logged nearly 30 dives but my last two dive trips when I’m at a depth of 60+ feet I get panicky and feel the need to be on the surface immediately (haven’t aborted a dive yet though). I’m not sure what is triggering this as I am often diving in tropical places with crystal clear visibility. I’m starting to get frustrated with it to be completely honest. Before this I had never had issues diving at these depths.

The only thing that could possible come to my mind is when I was getting my advance cert. it was done in a lake. Once we got 30+ feet down it was 0 visibility, black and had to use a line to guide us to the bottom. This was prior to our last 2 dive trips. I had never been exposed to these conditions before and it definitely made me very nervous and panicky.

Has anyone else had this challenge before or have any thoughts? As I mentioned above, I do plan to seek medical guidance but hope this isn’t a long term challenge that impacts my diving.