Son gets headaches when diving

[PirateFoxy]

Then the question would be why didn't the OP get a headache too? Were all four tanks filled at the same time? Did you see them filled?

That aside, it does sounds more like CO2 retention headaches to me. As has been said before, he needs to work on his breathing. Long slow pull in, *longer* slow breath fully out.

I believe it's possible for a single tank out of a set that were filled at the same time to have a problem, so the other people being fine is not proof that all the tanks were okay?

As far as CO2 retention - my late husband had a problem with that due to health issues, and one trick he was taught to make sure you were really using your full lung volume and getting the CO2 out was to exhale through pursed lips (like whistling but not actually making a sound) and then when you *thought* you were done exhaling, exhale more explicitly using your abdominal muscles. Usually there's a bit more you can get out, especially if you have bad breathing habits and tend to breathe more with your upper chest than proper diaphragm breathing, which is something a fair number of people fall into when they are exerting themselves. This is not, of course, a normal way of breathing so it's not something you do every breath, it was recommended to him as a sort of combination familiarization exercise to help him be more aware of which muscles he was using, and also as a way of helping improve CO2 headaches since it helps the exhale be more thorough and thus the inhale is also a larger volume. He'd do it 2-3 times in a row then breathe normally for a bit, then do it again a couple times if he thought it'd help his headache more. If I remember right the improvement was often pretty rapid.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Yes, one tank out of a batch could be the culprit but this was happening regularly, not just on one dive. Ergo, more likely to be a CO2 retention issue, than having the bad luck to have bad air on every dive done with dad.

 

[PirateFoxy]

Yes, one tank out of a batch could be the culprit but this was happening regularly, not just on one dive. Ergo, more likely to be a CO2 retention issue, than having the bad luck to have bad air on every dive done with dad.

Fair. People seem to make the assumption that it'll be all tanks on a certain trip in general, though, which is not a safe assumption. But yeah, it's unlikely one person would always be the unlucky one. (I guess maybe if they *always* get the tank filled at a certain time - like first or last? - then they could be repeatedly getting the bad tank that way, but it doesn't seem like people are generally that regular about who gets what.)

 

[bradlw]

Could it be from the mouthpiece...jaw pain...or related?

 

[tech_diver]

Could it be from the mouthpiece...jaw pain...or related?

I was about to mention this. I've seen someone very tense under water with their jaw clinched down hard on the mouthpiece through the entire dive. It can cause TMJ issues.

 

[SlugLife]

I second skip-breathing and dehydration.

I'd also add frequent changes in depth sometimes make me feel sick. For example, if I go between 30 and 0 feet 6 times in an hour, I'll feel rather sick. Sometimes it headaches, other times nauseous.