Un-Nerving Diving Experience....

[scuba_junkie]

While on a dive trip to Gilboa, I had my first scary experience while diving. As a note, I am very relaxed and comfortable in the water, and have loved every minute of diving except for the few minutes I am about to tell you....

My dive buddy and I where at the tubes in about 60 feet of water. We did this exact same dive the day before, so this was not anything new to me. Well, I ventured through one of the tubes and when I came out the other side, I waited for my buddy. While waiting, I noticed that for some reason or another I couldnt seem to get enought air. I checked my gages, all OK. When my buddy appeared, I motioned him over. At that point I didnt feel too bad, so I motioned for him to follow me... I headed back down one of the tubes which lead to shallower water. As I swam down it, again, I felt short of breath and could not seem to get enough air... then I started getting a little panicky. Not to the point where I was going to do anything stupid, but just where I started thinking about my options. My brain told me to get the regulator out of my mouth so I could breathe without the constriction... but of course logic said "Hey.. your 60 feet under water.. it doesnt work that way dummy!". The fear of drowning started to creep me out... and all I wanted to do was get to the surface... Well again, logic and training took over and reminded my fear stricken brain about what happens when you surface too fast... so finally my brain and logic came to an agreement that we should start heading up at the 'safe' rate and not panic. I motioned to my buddy that I wanted to surface and that I didnt feel right... he gave me an OK and started to go up with me... slowly. At this point, I was at one of the rock cliffs that goes from the bottom of the 60 foot area to within about 10 feet of the surface... I stared at the wall as I stated ascending just to give me a visual reference of my speed and also something to occupy my mind and hold the fear at bay. Well after only about 5-10 feet, I started feeling better, so I stopped and motioned for my buddy to do the same. After another few seconds I felt back to normal and was ecstatic that I had conquered the situation. I tried my best to explain what had happened to my buddy, but just ended up finally letting him know that I was OK. We continued our dive, and actually went back to the 60 foot area again a few minutes later. I felt fine.

I dont know what really happened to me, if I just got truly winded and could not catch my breath (I mountain bike a ton, so I doubt that is it), or maybe I had cranked my BC a little too snug and couldnt expand my chest comfortably.... I dont know. One thing that does stick out in my head is that the night before I had a couple 'around the campfire' beers (3-4) which I have never done before a dive. I suppose that could have been a contributing factor, but I am not sure. I remember that anything more than 'social' drinking the night before a dive is a 'no-no', so maybe it was it. If thats the case, I was lucky and will know better in the future. I guess the partial case of smoke inhalation from sitting by the campfire helped try to kill me too.... heh heh ut:

In any event, I havent had the chance to do any more diving since then, but I still think about what happend and it makes me a little nervous. I want to get out again so I can get over the fear and hopefully prove to myself that it was just a series of things I should have avoided in the first place that caused my litte spook.

Any advice or thoughts here? I know that someone will give me a good slap upside the head for the 'beer' thing, and I wont mind at all... trust me. Like I said... lesson learned.

scuba_junkie

 

[Uncle Pug]

Male/female?
How old are you?
Weight/height?
Smoker?
Family cardiac history?
When was your last physical?

 

[MikeFerrara]

carbon dioxide build up can cause a feeling of breathlessness. "dspnea" (sp?)

If that's the issue the quickest fix is to relax and breath. I of course can't say for sure that this was the problem but I think it's likely.

 

[jepuskar]

I really doubt the beers the night before had anything to do with it......

The fact that you felt better when you ascended a little should be our most important clue as to what happened.

Seeing you were at 60 feet, I guess it is remotely possible you were narced a little bit.....I'm sure the water was cold so it can't be entirely out of the question..although unlikely...as soon as you ascended the symptoms went away..classic example.

Maybe your reg had some difficulty at that depth with the cold water for just that brief period??

One thing you should of done is continued to ascend at a normal slow pace and ended the dive, instead of continuing.

Jason

 

[Zagnut]

I had this happen to me (only without the panic) once on Columbia Reef at Cozumel. We had just descended, and leveled off at about 100'. I was really concentrating on breathing slow to maximize my bottom time due to this depth. We were drifting with the current. I don't think I had even finned at all or if so very little. I started to feel out of breath like I had been finning like hell or something. I run regularly and am thin and in good shape so I knew it wasn't due to physical exertion. About the time I came to this realization, I decided to sort of speed my breathing up a bit and I took about 2 or 3 good deep breaths at a normal breathing rate and the problem quickly went away. I believe what happened to me was what Mike described. It didn't panic me, I just figured that I had been breathing a little too slowly at this depth and I needed to get some of that air into my body....air is good stuff! ..ain't it?

 

[Zagnut]

I once bubbled...

I was really concentrating on breathing slow to maximize my bottom time due to this depth

We were only going to spend a short time at this depth and then work our way back up the reef, so I knew that my air would be the limiting factor on this dive and not my NDL, as there was no residual nitrogen in my system because this was our first dive of the day.

 

[scuba_junkie]

Uncle Pug - Male, 32, 235lbs, 6'2, Non-Smoker, No family cardiac problems that I am aware of, last physical was a few years ago... so I am probably due for another.

jepuskar - I thought about the nitrogen narcosis possibility, but it was weird that it didnt happen the day before at the same depth in the same conditions... Plus I have been 20 feet deeper at the same temps before. Maybe just a combination of other things that contributed? I realize that I probably should have ended the dive, but I got straightened back out and calmed down, and wanted to keep going. I felt back to normal after that.

Zagnut - I suppose its entirely possible that I was breathing a lot slower than I normally do when diving... I really dont remember though.

I guess its just one of those things I never experienced before and it spooked me at first. If there is a next time, I will have a better grasp on how to handle it.

Thanks for the advice and comments so far!

 

[Uncle Pug]

... mention the SOB and ask about asthma.

 

[jepuskar]

UP??

Such language!!

 

[daylight]

Scuba_Junkie,

Interesting thread.
All's well that ends well. You may never know what "that" was that caused the dread. Sometimes the creepies just show up. I would suggest a good post-dive discussiion with your buddy, just so he's aware of what happened and may have noticed something you missed.
I concur that you should have turned the dive and not continued. Could have been a lot of things from being Narced to over breathing your reg and building up some CO2.
Dive Safe,
Larry