Still Nervous as a Advanced Nitrox Diver - advice please?

[fb4817]

Hello everyone, I am new to this board but I am very familiar with scubaboard.

I guess there's no getting around this - so, here it is...

Jesus has blessed me a lot to go diving in a lot of places around the world. I am an Advanced Nitrox Diver who (in recent 5 - 6 years) only get's to dive every oh I don't know 6 months or so due to my work.

My dives are very comfortable for the exception of when I'm back home on the East Coast - NC area. Whenever I go out on the board (wheather hot or cold outside) as soon as I put my gear on (dive gear, wet-suit *3 mm*) I start to feel very nautious and one time (for the first time in my life) I actually got sick on the boat! Of course, I'd like to think it was due to some nasty granoala bar with icing from the store, but still, I was getting nautious every time.

On top of that, before I dive on deep dives *80 - 100 feet* I get nervous - I still make the dives, but, I have this thought like what if my regulator or system stops working (especially when hunting for fossils, etc. where my dive buddy may go in a different direction and I can't reach him, etc.) or I am unable to find my way around - (need to get used to a compass I know) or if I tie a line down using my reel (what if it breaks or comes loose and I can't get back)?

See what I mean - this is the 1st time I've ever opened up my thoughts on this but I think I'm feeling better.

None-the-less, can anyone give me some advice on how to clear this up?

 

[gsk3]

I assume you're an Advanced Open Water diver who also has a nitrox certification? Advanced Nitrox is a decompression class....

My best advice is to give it time, take it slow, and don't beat yourself up. Schedule some nice 60 foot dives off NC first, even if they're not as pretty. Just ease into it.

 

[TSandM]

Well, if you read your post, you have given yourself some answers! If you worry about poor navigational skills, spend some time working with your compass -- you can do a lot of that on land, even if your neighbors find the sight of you walking around with a towel over your head a bit odd. If you are uncertain about your line skills, find somebody who is good with them to coach you until you feel more confident. And if you don't feel as though you have a plan in place to deal with equipment failure, analyze the situation and decide what you want to do about that. Choices can run from more training, better buddies, to equipment redundancy.

I think a certain degree of apprehension causes us to think about the "what-ifs" -- and having a plan in place for various problems makes coping with them far less stressful. If, on the other hand, obsessive fretting is taking the joy out of your diving, you do have to decide whether you have realistic concerns about your competence (which can be pretty easily remediated) or whether you just have an underlying anxiety about diving, which may or may not be amenable to a solution.

Another thing to consider, if you only get this kind of anxiety on deep dives, is whether, like me, you're relatively susceptible to narcosis. Narcosis in cold water and low viz is rarely a euphoric experience, but tends to be more of an apprehension/anxiety type of experience. I know that, even with a lot of dives under my belt, and technical training so that the depth alone doesn't mean all that much, a hundred foot dive on Nitrox tends to make me just feel "edge" and not quite comfortable, and I'm just plain happier when we start up a bit. The only solution to that is helium, or shallower dives.

As far as your nausea goes, I'm assuming you use similar equipment when you dive elsewhere? (So we're not talking a too-tight wetsuit, or a regulator that doesn't work well.) Do you boat dive elsewhere, in similar seas? Do your local boats expose you to a lot of diesel fume or smell? If you can dive off boats in similar conditions elsewhere without these symptoms, then there is SOMETHING different about your home diving, whether it's pre-dive diet or boat conditions -- or just plain high anxiety.

 

[DevonDiver]

Skills and experience do deteriorate with under-use.... so it's wrong to judge 'where you should be' in capability based on a cumulative dive count or qualification. If you're only able to dive very infrequently... then you must accept that your skill level is significantly retrograded from what it was when you graduated from your last training course and/or ceased diving frequently.

Unlike many things... it's not like 'riding a bike'... you need to re-attain capability levels and experience before resuming dives of the caliber you previously undertook.

 

[Teller]

Being a little on the worried side is not such a bad thing. Your more likely to double check and triple check things. Take it slow and remember your training.

 

[ajduplessis]

Double D & TSandM both have some good points. Dive more and practise all your skills on every dive. Have fun!!

 

[apadua]

before I dive on deep dives *80 - 100 feet* I get nervous - I still make the dives

This is the one phrase i was a bit bothered by. If you were nervous "before" the dive - why did you make them? Shouldn't you perhaps have taken it easy, changed the dive plan to 60ft or whatever would have made you more comfortable, and discussed this with your buddy?

Do not be afraid to call a dive if you're clearly nervous before it even starts. If there's stuff you want to see at 80-100ft, work yourself up to that level slowly. Shed gear you won't need - simplify. Make sure you have the same gear and setup as usual so you're not dealing with too many varying things at once.

Seasickness can happen to anyone, even experienced boat captains, but you seem to suggest you know that your sickness was related to nervousness... that's pretty nervous in my book.

There's plenty to see that's within your comfort zone. You could spend the rest of your life diving 30ft of water and being extremely confident, comfortable and satisfied. There's no "goal" except the ones you're imposing on yourself... It's supposed to be fun!

 

[boulderjohn]

Jesus has blessed me a lot to go diving in a lot of places around the world. I am an Advanced Nitrox Diver who (in recent 5 - 6 years) only get's to dive every oh I don't know 6 months or so due to my work.

I am trying to get a handle on your level of experience. Your profile is very brief. In this sentence you say you have been blessed with the ability to do a lot of diving in many places around the world, but you don't get to dive much. Your profile says you have only 0-24 total logged dives, but you describe doing some relatively advanced diving.

It would be helpful if you could give a more thorough description of your actual dive experience.

 

[Jax]

Hiya, FB!!! Welcome to ScubaBoard!!! :wavey:

Like you, I get to dive roughly every six months. AZ is stingy with its sea water, you see.


I hit the pool at LEAST once a month, and I do drills, drills, drills and practice finning technique. I pull my mask off and feel my way back to the shallow end where I come up. I swap masks. I deploy lights and cutting instruments.

What that means is when I hit the real water is that I'm pretty confident on being able to handle what comes along. Perhaps that will help you, as well.


Again, welcome! We have lots of fun here!

 

[poseident]

Although I've got over a year's worth of logged sea-time, it was years ago... On my first time off the NC coast I got seriously sea sick. After that, the hit to my pride from that first trip caused a bit of anxiety on boat rides. Any source of anxiety can cause a progression of issues that ends up in an accident. Now, I dose with Bonine and avoid the issue. I'd give the Bonine a try. It might alleviate that first anxiety trigger. If your nausea persists, it might be more stress induced. The good news is that the root of my advice above still applies. You can break down the elements of those dives that seem to cause you issues and either "work up to them" with additional experience, or eliminate them. If it's dives where the risk of losing you buddy is the trigger, don't do those dives or make sure you've got a reliable buddy who sticks with you. If it's diving deep, only book on shallower dives until you build the experience to dive deeper again without the anxiety. If you find you never feel comfortable deep, there is still a lot of diving you can do!