Mask Clearing Anxiety

[caseyjayne]

I had a hard time with the original instruction on clearing my mask. It was

1. Tilt your head back
2. Hold the top of your mask
3. Blow out your nose

When I did those steps in that order I would always get water down my nose. What worked for me was to move step 3 to the top. Start blowing out of my nose slightly while my head was in a forward position and then transition my head more upright. Worked every time and now it is a more automatic unthinking process for me to clear my mask. Like a lot of people I will now purposely flood my mask and clear it if my defog has petered out.

I will try that thanks!

 

[Diving Dubai]

I can't give any better advice than already given by others on the techniques for clearing.

However I too suffered anxiety for mask clearing. My initial attempts in the pool during OW went fine, but the next day I just got flustered. I allowed this to take control of me, so much so that for my first 100 dives I would allow the mask to fog up so it was nearly opaque before clearing. In the end I had to man up to myself, like you I reached out here and to other experienced buddies. I found by talking that my anxieties were normal, learnt to relax and the problem went away.

I still don't like it, and would not enjoy having to do a mask off swim (he gulf waters are quite saline) , but I can do it with ease.

Try not to fret about it, take it slowly, give yourself mental or physical rewards every time you complete it, don't beat yourself up if you don't.

Most importantly don't let it control you as I once did (you'll soon wonder why you thought it was so difficult)

 

[Neilwood]

I can't give any better advice than already given by others on the techniques for clearing.

However I too suffered anxiety for mask clearing. My initial attempts in the pool during OW went fine, but the next day I just got flustered. I allowed this to take control of me, so much so that for my first 100 dives I would allow the mask to fog up so it was nearly opaque before clearing. In the end I had to man up to myself, like you I reached out here and to other experienced buddies. I found by talking that my anxieties were normal, learnt to relax and the problem went away.

I still don't like it, and would not enjoy having to do a mask off swim (he gulf waters are quite saline) , but I can do it with ease.

Try not to fret about it, take it slowly, give yourself mental or physical rewards every time you complete it, don't beat yourself up if you don't.

Most importantly don't let it control you as I once did (you'll soon wonder why you thought it was so difficult)

To the OP - this is so important - relax. Remember that, so long as you have a working reg and sufficient gas, virtually nothing else is an absolute emergency. Take a moment to pause, think calmly and then act. There is absolutely no need to rush this skill.

 

[caseyjayne]

I can't give any better advice than already given by others on the techniques for clearing.

However I too suffered anxiety for mask clearing. My initial attempts in the pool during OW went fine, but the next day I just got flustered. I allowed this to take control of me, so much so that for my first 100 dives I would allow the mask to fog up so it was nearly opaque before clearing. In the end I had to man up to myself, like you I reached out here and to other experienced buddies. I found by talking that my anxieties were normal, learnt to relax and the problem went away.

I still don't like it, and would not enjoy having to do a mask off swim (he gulf waters are quite saline) , but I can do it with ease.

Try not to fret about it, take it slowly, give yourself mental or physical rewards every time you complete it, don't beat yourself up if you don't.

Most importantly don't let it control you as I once did (you'll soon wonder why you thought it was so difficult)

Thank you, I have also mentally prepared myself by comparing this skill to when I felt most uncomfortable in my life....a little water in my nose and having to cough seems not so bad now. Hope it will all go well tomorrow

 

[FinnMom]

I think most people find this one of the bigger challenges in the OW dive skills. You just have to practice. Practice will make you less alarmed and less stressed, which in turn will improve performance, which will allow you to be less stressed, and so on so forth.

I still notice that even many experienced and advanced divers are unreasonably unhappy about having their mask off. It's unpleasant enough that people don't tend to stay in practice, but they should. A mask-related drills are vastly easier if you aren't really fussed about being w/o a mask.

Someday when you are already good at it, try the mask-off experience in a safe situation but with truely cold water. It's seriously not fun! But it's much easier if the first time you feel that shock is only a drill.

 

[USdiver1]

Relax, a mask need not be cleared with only one nasal blast. A common mistake is to push too hard on the top of your mask, thus making too large a break in the seal below, and as you exhale through your nose and force some water out, more water is let in because of the too large breach of the mask seal. Take it easy, take another breath, apply less pressure and repeat until you can do it.

I've been diving for nearly 40 years, and this next thing is something that I do religiously, as in EVERY DIVE at EVERY LOCALE. I will do a full mask flood and / or a mask removal and replace at the surface prior to decent. The reason is that I want to experience the cold water, salt water, contaminated water, etc., in a controlled situation, such as on the surface. It puts my body and mind at rest, and thus far in my diving career has prevented a panic at depth when something has gone wrong with a mask strap or other calamity has made me lose my mask. And yes, I have had my mask straps break, and another diver decend on me and knock my mask off, so unplanned things do happen.

 

[TMHeimer]

Yes, what they all said. Simply, practise airway control with both nose and mouth. On land, in a sink, etc.

 

[Capt.Tim]

Don't let this stop you. In my training like others said I was rushing it and in one exercise I sucked water up my nose and down my throat while on a 20ft deep platform. It strangled me so I had to go to the surface. That really got in my head! Know what I learned? Slow down. And even when I was strangled some i could still breath. But was it scary? You better believe it! I started to pinch my nose at first when my mask was flooded or off just so I could take a few breaths and not rush. This gave me a comfort level. Then I started to simply sit in the shallows with no mask on and breath from my reg. I can now go under without a mask and breath under water fine. I also noticed by doing this I simply created muscle memory and now my body just seems to know how to breath when I go under without a mask. I practice this every time I get in the water. Im finding my self now clearing my mask at 50' and months ago I would have been terrified to do that. Don't let this hold you back. But don't rush it. Practice at YOUR pace and you will get there.

 

[Rocketman3]

When my wife and I were doing our initial training she could not get this skill down. What worked was LOTS of practice. What we did at home was get in our hot tub put a 8lb weight on her lap, breathed through the snorkel and just kept doing it over and over. She finally got it down really good.

 

[dmaziuk]

If you're near a beach in QLD you could start with short underwater swims (just breathholding) & freedives in the sea with your eyes open: salt water usually doesn't sting nearly as bad as chlorinated pool water. Depends on salinity, though. Once you're used to having your eyes open under water you're half way there -- the other half is not getting water up your nose (which, again, doesn't suck as much when it's saline and not chlorine).

It's well worth getting used to because letting some water in and sloshing it around is how you defog your mask when the stuff you applied pre-dive fails to work.