Vomiting UW question

[TMHeimer]

Chew your food. No chunks

But do you know if inhaling "non-chunk" food is definitely no risk to breathing?

 

[boulderjohn]

But do you know if inhaling "non-chunk" food is definitely no risk to breathing?

Inhaling food is never good.

 

[Akimbo]

Inhaling food is never good.

For sure. Just ask yourself how pleasant it was the last time you burped up a few CCs of stomach acid into your mouth. Now imagine that going down your bronchial tube. Now image you are at 60'/10M. It's enough to cough your regulator out and make your eyes water. Aspirating barf gets a LOT worse than that even if the chucks don't block your airway.

 

[boulderjohn]

I was not long ago under anaesthesia for a surgery lasting many hours, followed by a prolonged hospitalization. I was for a while allowed almost no food--just sips of water or ice chips. Because of problems I am about to describe, I looked up the swallowing process and anaesthesia and discovered that the process of swallowing is extremely complex; things must happen in a certain order. It turns out that after prolonged anaesthesia, the muscles in the throat sometimes forget how to do it properly, and as a consequence, it is very easy to inhale things that are supposed to be swallowed instead. I am mostly talking about those little sips of water and those melting ice chips. Believe me, it is no fun to inhale anything not intended for the lungs.

 

[Akimbo]

looked up the swallowing process and anaesthesia and discovered that the process of swallowing is extremely complex; things must happen in a certain order.

This video illustrates the complexity:

​

 

[Dody]

In my case, it is strange. No matter how strong my urge to vomit is, I can't do it underwater. It always happens right after surfacing. Less than two seconds after. As if the pressure was blocking something.

 

[jhelmuth]

I've had a few UW vomiting episodes. From my experience and perspective, there is zero reason to NOT keep you regulator in your mouth and work through the vomiting episode. One such incident was during an end-of-dive episode that went on for quite some time. It was mostly dry-heaves after the first few spasms - but while it was definitely uncomfortable, it was certainly manageable and I worked through the safety stop and exit.

I don't believe anyone can say with any certainty that you might be best to remove the regulator from your mouth. Just work the problem and you will be safe to dive again when things are a bit more comfortable...

 

[DeltaWardog]

Agree with keeping the reg in. I've had to do this twice because I have an insane gag reflex and if any water hits the back of my throat unexpectedly I gag hard and go into a coughing fit underwater. A couple times the uncontrollable coughing escalated to a bile ejection.

The coughing fit doesn't even bother me anymore, I hold the reg in and cough it out. The couples times it it led to stomach purging I followed the same procedure and once I was back in control of myself, took the reg out, rinsed my mouth, purged the reg a couple times, stuck it back in my mouth, good as new. Well, kinda.

Turned out not to be as big a deal as I thought it was going to be after they told us about this in training.

 

[klausi]

I've thrown up several times underwater with no issue and the reg out, usually due to an upset stomach from tropical bugs. It's not a problem to maintain airway control for a somewhat experienced diver. For a beginner, this might be a different affair, so it's probably advised to leave the reg in.