Scared after a bad dive

[Flipmode85]

Hello everybody,

I have a qeustion and maybe there are some other people who had the same experience.
I dive for 3 years now and have made about 100 dives so far in cold murky water and in egypt.

A few months ago things went wrong on a dive.
My mask flooded,i tried to stay calm to put my mask back on.
My buddy saw me struggling and wanted to help me but accidentaly pushed out my reg.
I panicked and went straight up.

After this dive i have made a lot of other dives but i notice that i am not so comfortable anymore.
I sometimes think i will have another sort of equipment failure,and i also am scared to dive deeper.
I also noticd that sometimes my breathing goes wild and tunnelvision. And i have to relax for a little moment.
In the past dives this was not a problem and i was never scared.
But now im anxious to dive deeper and enjoy the dive 100%

Does anyone know if this feeling will go away if i will practise more. And just to continue diving.
I really feel bad because diving is my number 1 hobby and have spent a lot of money on drysuits etc..

I hope there is somebody who had something similar and have some tips for me.
Please tell me there is still hope for me!

Thanks!

 

[RainPilot]

Perfectly normal reaction. You need to relax, take stock of what went wrong, how you would deal with it now and keep diving. If you can, get an instructor to run through emergency drills with you in the pool until its second nature.

Familiarity will reduce the fear significantly.

 

[Freewillow]

100 dives and getting nervous because of a flooded mask is not a good sign. The same for a lost regulator.

I would advise you to make exercices after exercises in a pool or at low depth until these kind of incident are not causing any stress.

If you cannot overcome this, I would refrain from diving to certain depths. But with perseverence and practice, you should be able to overcome this. Good luck.

 

[Patoux01]

Train train train. Do not go deeper.
You need to be confident about your skills and capabilities if you want to be safe underwater.

By "train" I do not mean "go to your nearest padi shop and give them all your $$$", I mean "get a buddy, go diving, get comfortable with water in your mask, with regs recovery (never try to look for the primary first, get your back-up reg and THEN find your primary reg)" etc.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

I am far from qualified to respond, but here are my thoughts.

Do you have access to a pool to practice the basic skills until they become automatic? Practice breathing without a mask, repetitive Octo changes, mask clearing, lost regulator arm sweeps, etc. the key for overcoming panic situations is developing the skill set to handle the situation before it happens so the response is conditioned and automatic.

At some point you have to trust your equipment and modern equipment is as safe as it is maintained. Again, train for equipment failures in a controlled, safe, environment. The number one rule is that if you are still breathing....you are still capable of resolving the issue. Reg free flow, breath it wet until you can get to a buddies Octo, shut off your air then reopen the valve, and see if it fixes the problem. Blown o ring....buddies air if you can't breathe your own. Bcd issue- disconnect inflator hose or manually inflate...dump weights on tHe surface if necessary. I can't help with dry suit issues.

Most dive accidents are a cascade of issues with multiple chances to avoid catastrophic results. The hard part is recognizing the issue and responding appropriately before the next event in the accident chain occurs. That requires training and practice. You already have the emotional skill set to recognize your dive anxiety and control it, (tunnel vision and rapid breathing) so the hard part is done. The rest is just repetitive training even if it is thinking through potential emergencies on dry land.

Read dive accident reports and work your way through the accident. My only dive "emergency" was getting separated by a freak current and blown far off the reef. I did the lost buddy drill, then canceled my dive,,launched my SmB, and the boat was waiting on me by the time I finished my safety stop. I had read dive reports of the same type of thing, practiced launching my SmB, and had thought through the process before it happened, as well as in my rescue course. I also knew every boat in the vacinity would be looking for me as soon as my group surfaced without me. Alone in 3000 feet deep water was actually pretty amazing. Ruining the rest of the groups dive definately sucked and I happily bought beers and lunches afterwards. A few said they would have no idea what to do if it had happened to them. My screw up was training for them.

I think training and practice are the keys.

Good luck,
Jay

 

[Marie13]

If your mask flooded, why did you have to take it off, rather than just clearing it?

 

[AJ]

Because if you're start panicking you do strange things? Isuggest you find a buddy and go to some shallow dive spot and start training on mask clearing (get comfortable breathing without a mask under water) and being comfortable without a reg in your mouth. If you can do either of them comfortably, do both at the same time until you get comfortable with that too.

What also helps is pool swimming. Under water swimming is a great way to get over the panicking feeling without any risk.

 

[Flipmode85]

@Marie13

The mask strap was not properly set on the back of my head,so it went off. The panick started when i had no vision and no air.

I know i had to remain calm and grab my other reg.

But it all went so fast and trust me if you panick you cannot think rational anymore.

I also do know that if i train enough out of air situations and mask take offs i will be more relaxing.

I just hope that the panicky feeling and rapid breathing i sometims get for no reason will go away after some time.

I did not have that problem in the beginning,but after the incident.

 

[InselAffe]

After 18 years diving I had my first panic attack (about 2 years ago), first time (with reason) took me about 2-3 minutes to get over it the next dive (for no apparent reason, also anxiety) about a minute, the next 30 seconds & finally I may have the occasional flutter.
2 things I suggest:
1) Keep diving, you now have the bonus of an experience most divers haven't had.
2) As AJ said train on skills even if alone in a pool, this builds muscle memory,
A niggle with your equipment can turn into 'over-think' underwater & stress, get it fixed or double check your mask strap before going under.

 

[high/baric]

I can relate to your experience, to some extent at least. I had a near drowning experience a couple of years back. Like you I lost my mask, and regulator. I wasn't even at depth, but in waist deep water, with waves rolling over me so fast I couldn't get up. Moreover the waves were tossing me and my regulator around so I couldn't even find it where I expected it to be. People always think that it's not a big deal, anyone can hold their breath for 1-2 minutes, giving plenty of time to fix it. The reality is that in an unexpected situation a stressed person is lucky to hold their breath for 15-20 seconds before instinctively inhaling. So the experience can be terrifying (not to mention dangerous), even if to an outsider it looks like you had your regulator out of your mouth for mere instants.

Like others have said, practice gives confidence. Getting used to the feeling of having no mask and/or regulator can go a long way in giving some protection against that initial shock and some fighting chance against the panic. Practicing skills with a regular buddy also gives confidence that (s)he'll be there for you when you need it. After my incident I adopted the GUE style of carrying my back-up reg on a short hose right under my chin, so I always know with 100% certainty where to find it. It gives me some measure of confidence, but I still don't think I'll ever feel as confident with shore entries into rough sea after what I've been through. All that said, fear of drowning is actually a pretty healthy thing in most cases, and I feel like the incident I went through gave me some needed humility. Perhaps you can come out of it a better diver in the end as well.