What do you do when donating to a panicked diver who initiates a buoyant ascent?

[Angelo Farina]

-Follow your buddy in a quick ascent from depth and make sure to exhale?

This. Done it at least three times.
But I was the instructor, and the panic diver was a student, so I was forced to stay with them and control the ascent for ensuring it was safe.
In one of these cases the problem started during the mask evacuation exercise.
The student removed the mask and the sudden flooding of nostrils triggered the neonatal mammalian reflex, which causes the epiglottis to close. So he was unable to breath anymore, spitted his perfectly working reg, grabbed my one, but when he realised that he was yet unable to breath, he panicked and sprinted towards the surface.
I grabbed his harness and ascended with him.
He was not exhaling, as the glottis was closed.
So I inserted two fingers in his mouth and forced the glottis to open, getting good bubbling.
Everything was fine in the end...
If I had left him going free, he had very easily ruptured his lungs.

 

[MidOH]

You also run into another problem: Who am I to hold a diver down?

If they want to race up, should I really stop them?

 

[happy-diver]

Nah my ex instructor mate, instructor not mate he's an amazing diver, a cross between a frog and a fish
little guy, I carried him across the threshold into reception at a resort we were diving at on my shoulder
and he still thanks me for ducking, well him and a student having spent a bit of time at eighteen metres
were going ballistic up a whoops not panic just accidentally up ballistically anyway it was only a shop BC

Stab slash hack, back to the boat off to the pub

 

[Landau]

sudden flooding of nostrils triggered the neonatal mammalian reflex, which causes the epiglottis to close. So he was unable to breath anymore

Do you have a reference link for more information on this? I've never heard of the epiglottis seizing closed before.

 

[rhwestfall]

I watched an instructor punch a guy in the stomach to get an individual to breathe when the guy "locked up"....

 

[lostsheep]

If I'm in a situation where I'm on a cattle boat without a known dive buddy, I will happily pay for a private guide/DM so I can skip the whole instabuddy process. Been burned too many times.

Guide/DM is no guarantee of a competent buddy.

 

[Imla]

There are many ways for people to want gas/a way out. However, I am not sure the likelyhood of someone doing the rational act of "asking for gas" and then bolting to the surface without some kind of signals. (Not conscious, but ways of acting). However, on a rec dive, I would follow them up. The likelyhood of them having a medical emergency or not being able to establish positive buoyancy on the surface are in my very personal mind far greater than me having a non-treatable hyperbaric event from an ascent from 15m on a rec dive. I have a slightly sketchy history with misplaced bubbles on shallow fast ascents, but hey... thats a bit of an itch. Lungs are fine. Ears can take a beating. I would rather follow, make sure my friend is ok, and fiks the rest in the pub/knit-cafe afterwards.

So... to do something about it. This should not be a surprise event.
Be a buddy. Be aware. Scan your environment, and pay attention to your fellow divers. Notice little quirks. Ask questions. If they prefer being behind you, is their light logically placed. Are they erratic? Nervous? Aches/Pains? Things that can be precursors for "events" under water. Be a thinking diver. Consider skill level. Consider the unspoken agreement. Do the handshake. Plan the plan. Plan what to do when the plan fails. Laugh at all the possible wayS THE plan could fail. And when you get up... laugh at the one that you didnt plan for to fail... that really did....
Control the narrative. Control where the lines go in your dives. Make it fair.
But ultimately... having being on the end of a fresh buddy loosing all control and sinking like a stone, to a place where he had neether gas, nor brain to be. He got a ride on the ImlaExpress. I almost gave up. I almost lost him. Had i let go, two fingres. I would not be here today.

so... before rambling to much
Excercise your basic awareness. Hvor er buddiene. Hvor er lyset dems? Kom de seg i vannet? Hadde vi noen avtale? Husker ikke. Poenget er... følg med på buddyen din, da får man ikke panikkbuddier fordi man har fiksa oproblemet for lenge siden.

 

[berndo]

You also run into another problem: Who am I to hold a diver down?

If they want to race up, should I really stop them?

You're supposed to wanna help your buddy and try to avoid them getting hurt. That's kind of the point of the buddy system.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Do you have a reference link for more information on this? I've never heard of the epiglottis seizing closed before.

Here, for example:

Physiology and Pathophysiology of Glottic Reflexes and Pulmonary Aspiration: From Neonates to Adults

Pulmonary aspiration is the consequence of abnormal entry of fluid, particulate material, or endogenous secretions into the airway. The two main types of aspiration scenarios include anterograde aspiration, which occurs during swallowing, and retrograde ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Angelo Farina]

Do you have a reference link for more information on this? I've never heard of the epiglottis seizing closed before.

And here for diving: Laryngospasm and Anxiety