Spearfishing headaches

[wmag3]

While spearfishing I routinly dive to depths of 100' and I often surface with a headache. I always follow my computer to the T and usually decompress longer than suggested. I have to admit that sometimes while stalking fish I hold my breath to get a closer shot, but never more than a few seconds and never while changing depths. I do have a history of migranes, but I haven't had one in a few years. Do divers who skip breathe routinly get headaches or would you atribute it to a history of migranes. I'm just trying to figure out if my problem lies in one of these two options or if it is some factor that I am overlooking.

Thanks
WM

 

[Bob3]

Assuming you're not running into the rigs or the bottom of the boat, I'd suspect a bit of a CO2 retention problem if you're doing the involuntary breath hold while stalking the fish. (I catch myself doing that too)
If you can steal a bottle of nitrox from someone, give it a try & see if it doesn't make a difference.
For no deco dives, adding an extra safety stop at 20' & cutting your ascent rate in half would be something else you could try. That won't affect the CO2 but it will do wonders for chasing those little microbubbles away.
Otherwise going 1.5x the time for stops above 40' can be something else to take a look at.
Deep stops are nice too but I'll let someone else get into that.:tease:

 

[zeN||]

If you have a history of migraines it's not suprising the pressure changes to your body would stimulate headaches, I don't think it's uncommon for many divers to experience some minor discomfort (headaches) after a prolonged or deep dive, so much the more w someone with migraines zeN

 

[japan-diver]

This definately sounds like CO2 headaches from skip breathing. After taking a shot be sure to take a couple full deep breaths to help solve the problem. I used to have this problem to, Nitrox also helps a bit.

 

[DocVikingo]

As your inquiry appears more related to diving medicine than "the scientific aspects of decompression," the focus of Ask Dr. Decompression, I have taken the liberty of moving it here in the hope it will generate more responses.

As regards your symptoms, here is an informative piece on headache & diving by Dr. Ern Campbell (Scubadoc)---->

http://www.scuba-doc.com/headache.html

Also, here is an archive search of this forum using headache as the topic---->

http://www.scubaboard.com/search.ph...rder=descending

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[100days-a-year]

Onboard 02,usually less than 5 minutes to clear headaches.Sounds like C02,severalof my buddies routinely get them.Drinking a bottle of water before diving works for me too.We all dive with elevated P02s so I assume it is from as you described when we hold our breaths to get those last few feet closer to dinner.

 

[wmag3]

thanks for all the help