Snorkel dizziness and nausea

[Bubblewell]

I'm currently in Naama Bay in Sharm and carried out 3 long daytime snorkels with no incident. I cut a fourth short due to a strange current that made it no fun for a lot of effort. I am not an experienced snorkeler but I have also snorkeled elsewhere and felt fine.

Last night I went on a night snorkel and around half way through I felt a little dizzy and nauseous. I did feel like I was going to vomit but only the top of the throat seemed to move and nothing came out. Then just nauseous and fuzzy again. The dizziness felt a little like being drunk, spinning repeatedly from one side to another for about half my range of vision. I tried to focus on a still object but it made no difference. I had to be towed for the second half. Fortunately only my wife was with the guide and I so I didn't spoil things for a group.

The water was calm, I wasn't tired, I wasn't hungry and I hadn't eaten for a few hours prior to entering the water. I was warm in a 3mm full suit and felt completely calm and relaxed even whilst dizzy. I was doing my best to keep flat but I did need to lift my face out of the water more for bearings as it was difficult to see where the others were and keep close. I returned to feeling great about 90 minutes after leaving the water. The only other thing different to my other snorkels was I used Earol (as I have had a reverse block in the past and I'm keen to do anything to prevent the infection that led to it). Maybe I didn't get it in both ears equally - it felt Ok but maybe it can run out in water. I also never leave the surface during snorkeling as I'm not confident in my ability diving down.

I don't understand what I experienced. Other info and posts describe more severe and long lasting symptoms than those I had. I am guessing it is possibly technique.

On the plus side, coral is amazing at night and I saw Torpedo Ray, Lion Fish, some weird spikey black ball creatures, quite a few octopus and some very nice nocturnal fish, I just wish I could have seen more in the second half.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Bubblewell,

It's very difficult to even speculate about what happened without knowing your complete medical history. How old are you, and are you under a doctor's care for anything? Has anything like this ever happened to you before? Do you have a ruptured eardrum?

Best regards,
DDM

 

[crosshairs]

sounds like CO2 poisoning ...how were you breathing?

 

[Bubblewell]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry for the lack of medical information. Norhing like this has happened before and I snorkeled fine 2 days later.

The only problems I've had are high blood pressure about 15 years ago but never since and it was very good recently. I am 35 now. I had a reverse block? Depressed ear drum outward just over 2 years ago when doing confined water dives in the pool. Doctor said I had an undetected throat infection as throat didnt hurt, which blocked the eustacian tubes leading to getting the block. I refrained from confined water training for 3 months whilst the fluid behind both eardrums cleared. I did return once a doctor gave me the OK and had no problem with equalisation. I didnt do the checkout dives due to growing frustrated at the lack of chance to practice regularly as they were always taking on try dives instead. So in effect Ive never been underwater in 21 months and my hearing is perfect still. I recently had a routine kidney and abdominal ultrasound scan which was clear. This was precautionary due to moderate sporadic abdominal pain, which given clear blood tests also, is now believed to have just been a virus. I am not seeing a doctor for anything else and am not under any instruction from a medical practitioner.

Regarding breathing I was breathing slowly and deeply and regularly. I have an Oceanic Ultradry snorkel. I'm not keen on it now as if you look down too much it closes due to the flexible part. This wasn't happening on this occasion though.