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

[Duke Dive Medicine]

I've had one myself, so I thought I'd give you some insight. Mine occurred at 25m. I was carrying a pony, and my initial action (there was no thought it was an automated response) was to switch to my pony since it felt like an OOG - this didn't solve the problem and looking at both my spg showed 50% and 100% respectively. All the time I'm trying to breath and getting nothing.

I suppose all this took place over 10 perhaps 15secs. Instinctively I headed for the surface - I didn't think to inflate, I just kicked. We were in the Red sea so 50m+ Vis. I distinctly remember the speed my brain was working at, it was like reading 4 column of text on a page simultaneously. The surface seemed so far away and seemed to take forever. My log showed I covered 12m in around 30secs. At 10m the laryngospasm cleared and my exhale was so violent it caused a mask flood

My wife (my buddy) just saw me take off in her peripheral vision, initially thought maybe I'd seen something and followed me. when she reached me I was finishing a mask clear. she asked if I was okay, my response was yes and we continued the dive - albeit at 12-15m I was conscious to not surface quickly incase I had come up too fast. I gingerly swapped regs back and forth but had no issue. The reg in question once we got back was thoroughly inspected by a very trusted individual who was looking for a cause, but no fault found. We presumed that somehow I inhaled a bit of water which trigger the event. At this time I was approaching 500 incident free dives, and I've logged 700 dives since with no repeat

Had someone tried to intervene and restrain me or try to force another reg in I would have hit then, since my body was in survival mode and acting instinctively

Thank you for sharing this.

 

[MikeHoncho]

I’m not familiar with the finger into the glottic opening technique to open an airway. Fingers wouldn’t be very effective in getting to the vocal cords. I’m not aware of any situation that stimulating a gag reflex would overcome a laryngospasm. Jamming fingers onto someone’s mouth also sounds like a good way to injure the oropharynx or your finger.

I’m also not sure if laryngospasm can crate enough pressure in the lungs to cause barotrauma vs active breath holding.

I’m not saying your technique didn’t work, but I’m not sure if that was the cause of the ending of the laryngospasm either. My guess is that jamming fingers into someone’s mouth is more likely to cause harm than good. Perhaps @Duke Dive Medicine can offer some more insight.

I’ve done many digital intubations and do not see how a highly trained person could digitally manipulate an epiglottis under this situation. I have never been able to actually feel an epiglottis in a setting of the pt laying horizontal . I don’t recommend this as a technique.

 

[kinoons]

I’ve done many digital intubations and do not see how a highly trained person could digitally manipulate an epiglottis under this situation. I have never been able to actually feel an epiglottis in a setting of the pt laying horizontal . I don’t recommend this as a technique.

This has been my experience as well. I’d like to meet the guy with a hand and finger shaped like a miller 4 blade.

 

[gamon]

Who am I to hold a diver down?

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

They're in a panic and they're making bad choices that can easily kill them or permanently disable them.

That's not what they WANT and it's rather shocking you need this explained to you along with the responsibility you assume when you buddy with someone during a dive.

 

[JohnN]

A

That would mean never dive with new divers and never get any new dive buddies.
That's not how real life works for most people.

And another excellent reason to dive solo

 

[MidOH]

They're in a panic and they're making bad choices that can easily kill them or permanently disable them.

That's not what they WANT and it's rather shocking you need this explained to you along with the responsibility you assume when you buddy with someone during a dive.

Dont worry, Ill be sure to hold you down extra tight.

 

[MikeHoncho]

This has been my experience as well. I’d like to meet the guy with a hand and finger shaped like a miller 4 blade.

I’m a Miller man myself ( although dropped my very last year after 27 years. Mac’s for trauma though. The kids these days with their fandangled video scopes……

 

[MikeHoncho]

They're in a panic and they're making bad choices that can easily kill them or permanently disable them.

That's not what they WANT and it's rather shocking you need this explained to you along with the responsibility you assume when you buddy with someone during a dive.

Morals aside, do you think it would be successful or even effective if they inflate their BC? I’m thinking not.

 

[Blackcrusader]

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.

Yet the DM is your new instabuddy and there is no telling if the DM just got his cert a few days previously and only has 100 career dives. I've been paired up with such a new minted DM. In November last year I was paired up with a DM that on several dives I had to check his air as he was a gas hog because he did not have a wetsuit on and got cold. A few dives I called when he was at 40 bar and I still had a half tank. He is a fine diver, just needs to put on a wetsuit if he is cold.

 

[gamon]

Morals aside, do you think it would be successful or even effective if they inflate their BC? I’m thinking not.

I'm thinking that inflating the BCD would make a panicked ascent an even greater problem.