To Pee Or Not To Pee

[FritzCat66]

I had an instructor go so far as to say that, if you're properly hydrated, then you absolutely should be wetting your wetsuit, probably right after you start the dive... in fact, it's so important, that if you're wondering whether or not you are hydrated enough to go into the water, the aphorism to remember is:

If you're not ready to "go", then you're not ready to go.​

Look, if you're an open-circuit diver, you already have the deck stacked against you in terms of staying hydrated. Not only are you subject to the immersion diuresis mentioned before, but that ultra-dry compressed gas you're sucking down is dehydrating you with every breath.

Dehydration anytime is not good; but dehydration while diving can significantly increase your risk for DCS. One concern with trying not to pee your wetsuit is that you will be consciously or subconsciously dehydrating yourself in order to achieve your "goal", putting you at higher risk for something as serious as DCS just in order to avoid a little warm water inside your suit.

So, do the exact opposite. Take hydration seriously. Start drinking water well before the dive. Drink more water and have a salty snack during your surface interval. Your goal is "clear and copious" urine output, so indeed you should "be ready to go before you're ready to go" diving.

If you do this, although you are indeed wetting your suit, I think you'll find it's pretty dilute and doesn't tend to stink up the suit as much. Besides, the pre-packaged wetsuit cleaners do a pretty good job of cleaning out whatever smell remains - personally I find the McNett Mirazyme enzymatic cleaner to be particularly effective at that, but there are lots of homebrew methods too.

Just my .02

 

[Belmont]

For the the question is not to pee or not, but how when and do you admit it or not.

I have been dehydrated while diving, it was definitely not worth the nice suit smell. So I prefer to drink generous amounts of water and if the timing of the urge is bad, I let her go but avoid doing so in the last 15 minutes of the dive. My thought is if I am drinking enough water, my pee is clear, not yellow/orange does not smell as bad and it has a better chance of flushing out of the suit.

You have a very good point there.

I own a 3mm Henderson Hyperstretch and well flushed it doesn't smell.

 

[k ellis]

when in a shorty rolling the leg up helps so its a straight out exit. I do this when no one else is near or around. If I am in a dry suit or a full wet suit I just wait till out of the water!

 

[Belmont]

I haven't done it yet in my own wetsuit though I came really close a couple of times. Not to mention a couple of close calls on No. 2 and I almost had to contemplate the Warhammer Maneuver.

Shhhh...I got my knuckles rapped by The Kraken :mooner: two years ago when I posted "the" photo on a thread, just to illustrate what the every one was talking about.

Parental and sissy advisory: don't read on if you are easily offended with the description of normal human physiological processes.

For the sake of those who don't know what the Warhammer maneuver is:

It is the act of defecating while underwater, the picture shows a scuba diver in swim trunks standing vertically head down in a sitting position. His pants to his ankles and you can see a big cloud billowing from his behind.

This photo is forever banned from Scubaboard. The nickname of the original poster (Warhammer), Darwin, SpareAir and Split fins are among the most recurrent words used here.

 

[Paladin]

What? In my new wetsuit? Ain't gonna happen!!!

 

[k ellis]

Shhhh...I got my knuckles rapped by The Kraken :mooner: two years ago when I posted "the" photo on a thread, just to illustrate what the every one was talking about.

Parental and sissy advisory: don't read on if you are easily offended with the description of normal human physiological processes.

For the sake of those who don't know what the Warhammer maneuver is:

It is the act of defecating while underwater, the picture shows a scuba diver in swim trunks standing vertically head down in a sitting position. His pants to his ankles and you can see a big cloud billowing from his behind.

This photo is forever banned from Scubaboard. The nickname of the original poster (Warhammer), Darwin, SpareAir and Split fins are among the most recurrent words used here.

that sounds more like the scared squid maneuver. When something threatens you just excersise that maneuver and swim really fast

 

[TSandM]

You do not become dehydrated by allowing urine to leave your bladder. By the time the fluid has been made into urine and stored, it is out of your bloodstream, and has nothing to do with your hydration status. You do not slow urine production by having a full bladder (within limits -- if urine actually begins to reflux back to the kidneys, that's a different story but you have a lot more problems than a smell in your wetsuit). You may as well pass the urine and be comfortable.

I pee in my wetsuit, and make sure I flush some water through the suit, and rinse it after the dive. I have never had a bad smell in my suit.

Passing urine into the water does not cause you to get colder, either. The new urine you make is made at body temperature, so you waste no energy heating it. You lost the heat that was in the urine, but you lost the urine at the same time, so the net is really no difference.

It is far better to drink liberally and pee, than to limit fluids in order not to pee. Salt, however, does help, and expands the volume in your circulatory system as well, which is probably what you want to reduce DCS risk.

 

[Bryan]

You do not become dehydrated by allowing urine to leave your bladder. By the time the fluid has been made into urine and stored, it is out of your bloodstream, and has nothing to do with your hydration status. You do not slow urine production by having a full bladder (within limits -- if urine actually begins to reflux back to the kidneys, that's a different story but you have a lot more problems than a smell in your wetsuit). You may as well pass the urine and be comfortable.

I pee in my wetsuit, and make sure I flush some water through the suit, and rinse it after the dive. I have never had a bad smell in my suit.

Passing urine into the water does not cause you to get colder, either. The new urine you make is made at body temperature, so you waste no energy heating it. You lost the heat that was in the urine, but you lost the urine at the same time, so the net is really no difference.

It is far better to drink liberally and pee, than to limit fluids in order not to pee. Salt, however, does help, and expands the volume in your circulatory system as well, which is probably what you want to reduce DCS risk.

I hadn't heard that about salt, but it makes complete sense--thanks!

During the summer, I tend to consume a lot of Gatorade, but hate that it contains so much sugar.

I've read that you can make 2 quarts of regular Crystal Light into a sugar-free Gatorade drink by adding 1/2 to 1 tsp of Morton's Lite Salt (Morton®Salt - Lite Salt™ Mixture). I'm going to have to try that

 

[FritzCat66]

I've read that you can make 2 quarts of regular Crystal Light into a sugar-free Gatorade drink by adding 1/2 to 1 tsp of Morton's Lite Salt (Morton®Salt - Lite Salt™ Mixture).

I haven't tried that, but I do take along packets of Crystal Light - Fitness when diving (which used to be called Crystal Light - Hydration). It's basically just regular Crystal Light packets for bottled water, but with just a little potassium and sodium added, perfect for diving.

 

[senseiern]

Here, I just thought that was how neoprene smelled, having only used rental suits. But, when at the LDS, I noticed how the ones on the rack were unscented. I figured it was new car-type of smell.