relaxing and breathing

[mud8847]

Hello All,

I could use some advice (sorry for the long read) This sort of borders A&I and requesting advice so I apologize if this isn’t posted in the correct forum.

I’ve been diving for a while now (6 DSD completions) as I’ve never been in a single place long enough to get my OW cert. All of my DSD experiences were amazing if even made me a little too over confident! I finally completed my OW cert in February of 2010 in the Galapagos. All of the dives went off without a hitch except for the final dive, which was around 80 feet. I began to short breath or shallow breathe, which I’m still not sure how and seemed just out of the blue. The instructor immediately noticed taking action. He looked me in eyes, grabbed my arm, and began to pace my breathing bringing me back to normal rhythm. I chalked the incident up to a deeper depth than I was used too, excitement, and current.

I dove again in September without incident. It wasn’t until this past February I was diving in Mexico when my phantom short breathing cropped up again. It was during a two-tank dive. On the second dive, about three quarters through the dive we were rounding the corner of the reef when the current seemed to come out of no were like a passing semi-truck and picked me up and began to sweep me away destination Cuba! I didn’t handle this well! I struggled, probably was nowhere near optimally buoyant, and began to panic. I tried swimming back towards the group making no progress it seemed. The group was getting further and further away and I was seemingly unable to get anyone’s attention. We were in a group of four, with a dive master, and park official. The park official happened to turn around and see me floating off to Cuba and calmly swam over to me raising me up a few feet above the current helped me regain my breath then diving vertical through the current and rejoined the group.

Being an over thinker and at my own admission a very novice diver I’ve thought about repeatedly both incidents. I’ve talked to a few seasoned and military divers getting mostly in my opinion unacceptable answers to my questions. My question is what now? The last incident has definitely affected my confidence and left me uneasy about diving. I love diving; I’ve done it just about all my life and couldn’t imagine not diving! I want to continue my education, however, most of the choices leading towards additional education or my AOW seem to raise anxiety as they are more challenging and difficult dives and I seem to have lost the ability to complete the basic actions of relaxing, managing stress, and to stop and think. I will be traveling next month and have the opportunity to dive again. I figure I’m not ready to give up diving by any means so I have linked up a local shop in advance I researched, discussed my concerns and objectives, explained my situation, and have enrolled in what is the best option I can come with to begin to correct any problems and rebuild my confidence. The dive shop offers the Peak Performance Buoyancy course in the afternoon as two single tank dives in tandem with the DSD dive so the conditions are calm and more controlled. My rational is I most likely became out of breathe as a result of a variety of factors including buoyancy and trim issues in addition to forgetting to stop, relax, and tackle one thing at a time.

I welcome any and all constructive advice, experiences, thoughts, solutions, or suggestions. I love diving and I hate feeling anxiety. I swear ignorance is sometimes bliss. Prior to my OW certification, all seemed right and admittedly easy. After obtaining my OW, I feel like my eyes have been opened and there is so much more than I realized especially danger. In the end I’ve been left with what now, how to go about continuing my education, how to “relax”, and how to rhythmically control my breathing.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Don't feel bad. You simply aren't diving enough to be comfortable underwater yet.
Look at it this way...if you learned how to drive a manual transmission car one day and then waited several months before driving a stick-shift again, how well do you think you'd do?

I'd recommend taking an OW refresher and/or the Peak Performance Buoyancy class with a good instructor. Not all instructors are created equal. Probably best to find an excellent instructor locally so that there can be some continuity in your training. If you join a local dive club, it will give you opportunities to make new friends, dive more often, and get referrals for the best scuba instructors in the area.

Another thing to keep in mind is that people who dive locally dive more often and usually are better, safer divers than one-week-a-year vacation divers. If you know you are a better, safer diver, then you can relax and enjoy your diving.

That might give you the confidence you need to move forward.

Good luck!

 

[Brendon]

Stop..Breath..Think..Breath..Act.

Practice slowing your breathing....... Breath in 8 count...........Breath out 16 count.............. You will be relaxed when you can do this in the water. Practice at home, then do it in the water. It will force you to relax if you focus on the count and your breathing.

 

[Brendon]

Stop..Breath..Think..Breath..Act.

Practice slowing your breathing....... Breath in 8 count...........Breath out 16 count.............. You will be relaxed when you can do this in the water. Practice at home, then do it in the water. It will force you to relax if you focus on the count and your breathing.

Where did my "E's" go on breathe? Must be late....

 

[mud8847]

First off, I’m excited to have found ScubaBoard. I used to hang out on various other message boards concerning unrelated topics and never thought to look into message boards again for one of my favorite hobbies. What an awesome community!

Since completing my OW, I&#8217;ve dove six dives in three dive trips in just over a year. I generally try to shoot for 3-4 dive trips a year, I&#8217;ll admit being a complete novice < 20 dives; however, I&#8217;ve done my DSD dives and my existing six licensed dives all over the world in some pretty exotic and challenging places. Is 3-4 dive trips considered a lesser amount and warrant an OW refresher within a year and the total number of recent trips?

I like the idea of the local dive club. I think between the mutual interest and being able to establish a rapport with fellow divers and instructors I have additional points to add to my support network. I will definitely being making a visit to my local trusted dive shop!

I just keep coming back to, which is probably more negative than good how can I begin to learn through additional challenging education if I can&#8217;t relax and simply breathe, which of course gives way to further troublesome what if&#8217;s like what about if your mask or regulator gets knocked off etc. I know we can&#8217;t sit back and plan for every what if, however, I like to think along with the diving mantra of plan the dive dive the plan if I&#8217;ve practiced for certain situations and planned for certain situations I&#8217;ll be better equipped to handle certain things.

Thanks BuddleTrubble!!!!

Bredon, interesting! I like the idea of practicing breathing seems so simple yet useful. I know it may sound weird and if you haven&#8217;t noticed I tend to OVER think things and think myself into trouble in some cases. I like the idea of giving my mind something to not really focus on but set a rhythm to like counting. Can you elaborate a little more? 8 count in 16 count out? I think many of my problems are associated with in proper buoyancy causing unnecessary exertion of energy, and trying to tackle too many things at once. I love it &#8220;stop, breathe, think, breathe, act!&#8221;

PS: I can&#8217;t spell for **** and routinely argue with the spell checker, which I&#8217;m convinced makes fun of me at the water cooler or to friends and family at the total and lack of spelling and grammar ability!

 

[theskull]

Take a Yoga class. The benefits will be numerous, but will include correct breathing, focus on the breath, and controlling your breathing. Power Yoga or Ashtanga would be best, but most any style will move you in the right direction.

Also, as has already been mentioned, dive. Dive regularly, whether or not taking a class. And make sure you are planning easy dives for now that do not challenge you physically, so you can relax and enjoy the experience.

Until you have mastered your breath control and rebuilt your confidence, if you go on a dive holiday hire a divemaster to be your dedicated buddy for the dives. This does not cost a whole lot extra and will give you an added measure of security.

Part of your problem has been that you had poor dive buddies in the past, who weren't there for you when you needed them. Do your best to only dive with a good buddy who has agreed that they are your buddy for the dive and that you will stay with each other!

And remember, you're there to have fun! Relax. And if the boat anchors and the Divemaster announces that the current is screaming today, choose to sit out a dive. Better to be on the boat wishing you were in the water than to be in the water wishing you stayed on the boat.

Happy diving,
theskull

 

[mud8847]

BubbleTrubble,

Let me add as I forgot to mention, I&#8217;m totally not against taking a refresher course and look for any and all excuse to dive anywhere, however, this soon? I love the idea a lot of the more reputable shops I&#8217;ve been looking into a now requiring refresher or welcome dives as part of their policy for dealing with certified divers. I love it! In a lot of the places I&#8217;ve dove unfortunately at locations where they were all too quick to hand you gear and say have at it even not speaking very good English while catering to US tourists!

I do like the idea and was one of the topics I was thinking about lately. For example, not just diving to see pretty things but getting more time to practice exercises like sharing an air source, replacing your mask, replacing your reg, and removing and replacing your BCD in more control confined circumstances like my pool or local shop led refresher course. Plus think of the upside, I&#8217;ve been looking for an excuse to start accruing my own gear!

Thanks so much both of you!

 

[tstormdiver]

mud8847, It took me at least 50 dives, before I got out of the "survival mode", started to really relax & enjoy my dives. The relaxation comes with familiarity, familiarity comes with experience & experience comes from making dives. Try to learn something new every time you dive,.... I still do. As for what happened to you in Mexico was similar to what happened to me last year in the Galapagos. I got caught in a powerful up current that separated me from my group & eventually sent me to the surface very quickly. I was totally helpless. I just made sure I exhaled the entire way up to prevent an over expansion injury. My buddy surfaced a few minutes later. Yes, it frightened me, but there was no panic, my normal dive site is a very calm quarry. I knew I could not fight that powerful a current & didn't try. As soon as I surfaced, I set up my location flag & blew my inflator whistle. The Panga driver picked me up a couple minutes later. I did try to signal my buddy, as I was being swept away, but they were already too far to hear by the time I could do so. A little quip my instructor told me is, "Air is time, time is air". As long as you have air you are good, anything else that may happen is more or less just an inconvenience.

 

[mud8847]

TheSkull,

I thought about that, well not yoga but exercise to build stamina I have begun running a few months ago and can seemingly run at a decent pace for 5+ miles but in a beautiful underwater serine wonderland&#8230;.it seems a little more challenging but I like the thought! I have also been trying to ensure relaxing and beginner dives for a while. In my opinion, being in the water regardless is still better than working! I like the idea of checking out hiring a dedicated educated and experienced dive buddy (dive master). You are so right about the poor dive buddy&#8217;s. The last couple of dive trips were with strangers all just recently OW certified and a little to gung ho! I&#8217;ve been trying to convince my fiancée to start diving with me, however, she prefers sunning herself on the beach while I have breakfast with sharks!

Tstormdiver,

Survival mode hits the nail on the head and maybe even a little worse to the point of almost waiting for the other shoe to drop. It just seems hard to push forward and fall back on gain experience get more experience when the element of anxiety is involved. I just feel like I&#8217;m missing something or doing many things wrong you know?

My current experience was very much like quicksand. I started to become exhausted -> started shallow breathing -> begin to ascend against my will -> started thinking about the ramifications to an early ascent without safety stop including injuries -> just about started to panic everything seemed to happen so fast! Like Brendon mentioned I failed to stop, breathe, think, breathe and then take action, which I&#8217;m sure is experienced based but&#8230;..

Where is your usual haunt, in KT? I&#8217;m NY and plan to make a few trips to Dut. Springs.

Thanks everyone!

 

[CrispyCritter]

Being new to diving myself, and not having any experience with panic attacks, I have done a bit of research into the subject just to be prepared.

First, based on your account of the two incidents, I don't think you panicked in either case. In a panicked state, it is very difficult to think and act rationally, and it sounds like you were rational in both situations. However, the anxiety you experienced is the beginning of a panic attack, and if left alone probably would have resulted in one. I highly recommend that you research the panic cycle, which will help you understand.

The anxiety you were experiencing is completely normal, it is basically your brain telling you that you were in a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, the wiring in our bodies can betray us, as the "fight or flight" or "survival mode" response to anxiety can be a bad thing deep underwater. What you need to do is be able to acknowledge the reason for your anxiety and address it, or you will find yourself stuck in the panic cycle I mentioned above.

The shortness of breath was caused by your anxiety. You might have altered your breathing pattern and not been exhaling completely, or you might have been working harder fighting the current (thus producing more CO2). I have learned on these boards that the urge to breathe is caused by the buildup of CO2 in your system (not a lack of oxygen). So when you practice the mantra of "stop, breathe, think, act", keep in mind that exhaling the CO2 from your system is key to fighting the feeling of not being able to breathe.