Sleepy underwater

[Dawlfin25]

Hi everyone,
It's been a while since I've posted but I had a strange experience diving today, and was wondering if anyone might be able to shed a little light...

I was diving in Carmel, Ca. at 30-35ft for about 30mins, when I started to get pretty cold. I'm used to the cold when diving, but this time it was making my head hurt quite a bit. My buddy and I began to turn around and head back in, when I started feeling so tired, I literally wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep. I signaled to my buddy that I wanted to surface, we ascended slowly and I had a little bit of dizziness on the way up, but nothing major. The water temp was 52F, I was on air, with no new or unknown equipment. I have experienced headaches and sinus pain after diving before, but nothing like this. It was a relaxed dive, and I wasn't overexerting myself at all.

Thanks for any ideas or information!

Gina

 

[Charlie99]

Hypothermia?

 

[SteveAD]

Is 52f considered cold where you are? What were you wearing for exposure protection?

It sounds like you're describing the classic "ice cream headache" of cold water diving, and fatigue to the point of dozing off is a fairly common symptom of hypothermia.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

52F would be on the warm side in Carmel. Typical temps are 44-54F, I saw
56 on the bottom once during an El Nino year.

 

[TSandM]

Hypothermia would be a good guess, since you were feeling cold before the symptoms began. Another thing that can cause headache and sleepiness is CO2 retention -- Do you have any tendency to skip breathe?

 

[Venus]

I don't know what Camel is, if it's inland this suggestion would be wrong ....

were you taking sea sick pills - mine make me drowsy

 

[dschonbrun]

If you performed similar dives in the past with no drowsiness... the only way to examine this is to look for something different in your pre-dive day. Dehydration, a new type of med, a different style of food, a back injury... any of those could have affected you. The other option is the cleanliness of the air. If the air had a slight toxin, drowsiness could be a result... not sure about feeling cold. Who did your air fill and was it your tank?

 

[cutlass]

How did the sleepiness and dizziness resolve? If it goes away after being in surface air, the cause may have been CO2 retention; accompanying headache is more common than dizziness. If after being rewarmed, hypothermia would be a fair guess. If after drinking water, it may have been dehydration. If after drinking juices, sodas, or eating, it may have been a hypoglycemic response. Or it could have been a combination of any of these. But if it becomes chronic or there're acute episodes with increased frequency or severity, or it becomes unpredictable, then further examination should be sought.