Wife is a nose breather any advice

[brunow]

Thanks again everyone, as DevonDive said she is a nose breather, so anytime she inhales she is sucking air through her nose. I should have gone into more detail in my first post. If she has water in her mask that is above her nose she is not able to inhale enough air to clear it which is really my main concern. We spoke with the pool instructor yesterday and she said that it would take practice to learn how to breathe. So we will be back in the pool this evening with fresh tanks to practice. The instructor did say that it was perfectly ok for my wife to pinch her nose closed and was able to perform all the pool skills. I am still trying to convince her to put her mask on and wear it around the house, but no such luck, Even though it does sound like it could help her train herself to breathe without her nose. I did notice that the cameras disappeared after I asked.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

My instructor suggested to a student.. get a movie you really want to watch. Set up your tank and regs.. don a mask and watch the movie breathing off the reg. The distraction of the movie helps you relax and there is no stress of water or position. When you can relax and do that.. then up the ante.

 

[DevonDiver]

My other advice.....don't make such a big deal of it. Whilst the problem is very real, her reaction to the water in her nose is caused by anxiety. Water in the nose is not a major thing and shouldn't cause fear and panic. Having the instructor and/or the dive buddy getting anxious just causes student fear to spiral out of control.

Be calm. It's a small problem...it doesn't hurt and it won't kill her. It's an 'annoyance' not an emergency.

I've seen lots of instructors fall into the trap of getting too 'fussy' when dealing with these sort of anxiety problems. This is especially true of the mask remove & replace. Instructors sub-consiously anticipate problems with this, especially when faced with a nervous student. Sub-consious or deliberate over-emphasis and/or timidity by the instructor only serves to validate the student's fears.

 

[Mr.X]

I am still trying to convince her to put her mask on and wear it around the house, but no such luck, Even though it does sound like it could help her train herself to breathe without her nose. I did notice that the cameras disappeared after I asked.

If it helps - this is a technique I've used with many, many emergent students who needed to make the transition from nose to wearing a mask and breathing through their mouth. It may sound silly, but it does help. The side benefit is especially useful when chopping a lot of onions. Please note - the transition is only a phase of the entire mask wear/breathing/clear/removal & replacement. Keep us apprised because some scuba students do need differentiated instructional approaches in scuba.

At the end of the day natural desire to learn scuba (and evolve to mouth breathing) was a key factor of overcoming this tendency to nose inhale. It's not easy for some and being patient and making the process pleasurable and rewarding is a VERY important, if not paramount in her education.

X

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'm solidly in Devon's camp with this issue. Patience and time. I have had at least 3 students that I've had to do work arounds with. Funny they can recover a reg and even remove and replace the BC yet still have mask issues. One even did a no mask swim and it was only after the mask was on and she had to clear it did the water in the nose become an issue. I've done numerous private sessions at no extra cost just working on mask comfort issues. It does add up in time spent but the results have in every case been well worth it. Pinching the nose for the first few times and then a 2 hour private during which we work on other confidence building skills works. A solid skin diving/snorkeling beginning helps as well. By the end of class they need to do a skin dive to recover and clear the mask and have the snorkel breathable as they surface. But it's amazing how a gear remove and replace or buddy breathing swim will build confidence. I've even seen that if you give them another task such as assembling something after showing them how to clear the mask will often have them just do it as they concentrate on the other thing. Did this with a group of spacecamp kids on a discover type session with the scuba training director for NASA.

Finally one thing that also helps is to, at first, when the ,mask is filled have them take an extra breath before trying to clear it. Get used to water on the face and then 1 breath, 2 breath, and then clear while counting to 3.

 

[Scott L]

Deleted...

 

[CamG]

Greetings brunow and first and foremost let your wife read most of the posts afore mentioned. As previously mentioned YOU CAN OVERCOME THIS WITH PRACTICE!
I would know because I was ONE of the WORST nose breathers my instructor ever had to train.
I could not handle any water on my nose at all. My brain just went crazy!
I got so upset that it derailed a entire pool session. I completed all the skills minus mask removal and no mask swim. I was determined to conquer my brain reflex.

I went home put my mask on and wore the thing constantly. If it fogged I knew I was breathing through my nose. I flooded it in the shower and took my shower everyday.
After a week of intense mask surface technique I went into a private pool session that I was determined to overcome it. It was not easy, I sputtered a little but I found that with practice and determination I could do it.

Actually I was more comfortable without the mask at all but I still blew air out my nose some. I have to concentrate even now not to blow air out my nose at times.
The key is to as others have said break it down into small steps and get comfortable.
It would be best to schedule a private pool session and if you attend stay away from the water or go to another area. LET HER CONQUER THIS ON HER OWN!
That is paramount in her diving future! I am not saying that you can not encourage her by all means do so. I found that it super charged my confidence and when OW came I sailed right through the skill with no issues at all.

I found that I feel much more relaxed in OW than int he pool. I have issues with chlorine, sensitivity to it actually.
DO NOT GIVE UP BUT BEAT THIS THING!
If she wants to talk to me please PM me and I will share my story with her at length.
TSandM has a great dive journal to read through as well.
If I would have given up I would have been miserable and missed out on one of the greatest changes in my life!

CamG Keep diving....Keep training....Keep learning!

 

[brunow]

Thanks again everyone, my wife asked me to post so she could get some helpful advice from all of you, she has been reading all of the responses. We got rained out Sunday so we are going to try and get to the pool on Thursday after the kids get home from school so she can practice breathing and the kids and I are going to work on bouyance control at the deep end of the pool. She said that her only fear right now is not knowing how she may react at depth if her mask were to get flooded or knocked off. She is really determined to get past this and wants me to thank everyone who has posted. We will be taking out written exam tomorrow night and doing our check out dives hopefully on October 9 and 10 if the weather cooperates.

 

[Scubafed]

I had this same problem during my basic open water course and after several near drowning experiences I knew that I either overcame the nose breathing or gave up learning to dive. As a last ditch effort I held my nose with my fingers while lying in the bed at night so that I had to breath through my mouth and when I did that for a few minutes I then let go of my nose and concentrated on continuing breathing with only my mouth. It worked for me. And when I haven't dove for a long while I'll still do that excersize the night before a dive. When you remove your mask in the water, hold your breath for a few seconds untill you get your mind in mouth breathing mode. Nobody has ever had a harder time with this than me and I tried every trick I could think of to get around this. There is no way!! You have to learn to mouth breathe. I hope some of the things on this topic that people have suggested help you. Good luck.

 

[LoonDiver]

Wow, great helpful posts in this thread! I am a new diver and also still have some trouble with this. Now I have new things to try! The OP's wife by now knows that she is not alone! This is a very common and normal problem. Motivation is definitely the key to overcoming it. My husband is thrilled that I decided to learn to dive, but I am NOT doing it because he wants me to. I'm doing it because I am excited to get down there in that wonderful other world! When I struggled with learning some of the new things/drills, I kept reminding myself why diving is going to be awesome!