retching and gagging underwater

[itziar]

I am a healthy and fit 37 year old female diver, with 35 dives in
the last 1.3 years since I took my OW certification. I had never
experienced any problems underwater, until this last weekend, when
repeatedly during two consecutive dives at 90 and 40 ft, I retched a
couple of times underwater. I felt as if there was something
obstructing my throat, and I had to force myself to swallow the air and
secure the regulator in my mouth and keep on breathing. I did not
feel nausea, dizziness or
unconfortable in any other way during the dives.
My rented regulator, however, did
not feel confortable in my mouth: I felt it was too small,
and I thought my reaction could have been due to
the forced position of my mouth. During the previous day, I had
happily dived without any problems with a different regulator.
At night, talking to my husband,
and buddy, I found out that he too had that retching
reaction a couple of times underwater, during our deepest dive, but
not during his second dive. He thought it could have been due to his
constant change of body position (horizontal, vertical, inverted, on
the side) since we were visiting a wreck,
and passing through the arches of the deck. He also had a bad
headeache all afternoon after the dives. He is a 40 year old, fit
and healthy man, with hypertension which he controls with
prescription drugs. He has been told by his doctor that the drugs will not
interfere with his diving.

We are a bit perplexed by this coincidence in our sensations
underwater, and do not know what to attribute it to. Could it be
that we were breathing bad air? A friend diving with us that
day did not notice anything unusual, however. I was also pondering
whether it could be CO2 toxicity, since we both are trying to
work on our breathing efficiency and we were using regulators we
were not confortable with (mine too small, his too hard to breath
from), and different from the ones we used
during our uneventful dives the previous day.
Could it be altitude related? We
live at 2200m, and dived at sea-level (not in a high-altitude lake).

I would greatly appreciate any input as to what the retching could
have been due to. Thanks for reading my long post!

 

[agstreet]

Were you seasick or queasy prior to diving? I've gotten seasick on long surface swims in heavy swell and had to vomit underwater. Also, hypothermia, diesel fumes or dehydration can exacerbate symptoms of motion sickness.

 

[itziar]

Hi, to clarify the information: I did not feel seasick, the sea was calm and there was no swell. I did not vomit, and did not feel sick in any way. I just could not avoid the retching, which felt very unpleasant.

 

[zeN||]

I have found having a poor fitting mouthpiece can stimulate the gag reflex, rubber is a foreign substance and sometimes a poor fit can stimulate the mouth to wretch just one possibility Z

 

[KrisB]

As my dive instructor said, anything that can come out of your mouth can go through the regulator. If you feel sick and must vomit underwater, hold the reg in your mouth with your hand and take care of business. Just make sure you purge it before breathing next.

After a stunt like that, you may want to clean it really well then take it in for a servicing to make sure everything is aok.

I typically suffer from what feels like a frog in my throat (not just while diving, but just about all the time). I have had no problem expunging the mucous through the reg if necessary when it comes up.

 

[BigJetDriver]

One possibility: As suggested by Zen, an ill-fitting regulator bit (mouthpiece) could stimulate the gag reflex.

Another possibility: Has anyone checked at the shop where you had your cylinders filled, or where you rented them, to see about the chance that the batch was contaminated by something. Oil or exhaust fumes are possibilities.

Just a couple of thoughts on the subject. I would lean toward the second suggestion, since you both were affected.

There are many possibilities here, but further investigation is warranted.=-)

 

[NurseShark]

While a poorly fitting mouthpiece could cause a gag reflex to be triggered, it is more likely to be triggered by a mouthpiece that is too large/long and hits the back of your mouth (not one that is too small). As well, if a mouthpiece is going to trigger a gag reflex, it would happen as soon as you put it in your mouth, not partway through a dive. Also, as BigJetDriver69 mentioned, since both you & your husband experienced the problem, it is unlikely both of you had poor fitting mouthpieces. Particularly if your husband only had problems on one of the dives (new tank, different fill?).

 

[SeaJay]

1. Bad air

or

2. Some sort of reaction to a cleaner/disinfectant used to clean the regs/mouthpieces between dives?

Obviously the regs were rented... Either of these things could be the case, although I'd say that bad air typically also contributes to headaches and nausea.

Bottom line: Your body was telling you that something wasn't right. If this situation is exclusive to this dive, then I'd chalk it up to one of the two possibilities above, and just steer clear of renting the same setup again.

While the 2200 foot difference between where you live and where you were diving could have been a contributing factor, I haven't heard of anything like that causing a gag reflex before.

 

[itziar]

Thanks for the suggestions. I did think of asking the shop about whether it could be bad air, but both my husband and my friend put me off it, because they thought it could sound like accusing them of something we were unsure of. I did not have headaches or nausea, the symptomps you mention as typical of bad air, for instance, although my husband did have a headache.
Also we realized about our similar reactions the day after the last dive, so the shop would not have been able to check the bottles we used, right? I guess I was unsure of how to approach them tactfully, and that's why I decided to start this thread.

We actually liked the shop a lot, and would like to use their services again. It is certainly the best we have found in the area (Veracruz), with comparable attention and safety standards to other operators we have used before in the US and Europe. I will stay clear of that regulator in the future though.

Yes, this has taught me that I want my own gear. I am in the process...

 

[SueMermaid]

For what it's worth, I often have reflexive gagging when I have a mouthpiece that I am not used to. I think, for me, at lesat, it has less to do with the size of the mouthpiece and more to do with how much effort I need to hold it in place. I have a seacure mouthpiece on my primary, and while it is larger and firmer than the standard kind, I can totally relax my jaw and it is more comfortable for me.
Before rolling off the boat, I accidentally put my octo in my mouth last week instead of my primary, and even though it's a smaller bite surface than the other, it made me gag.