Have you ever horribly choked 40+ft down?

[Shrew]

Hi,

I try to keep my posts to a minimum because I know most learning can come to reading, but I have thought of a nagging scenario that spooks me and I haven't found any threads that mention it. It's kind of a difficult one to isolate in a search.

The idea of somehow getting your reg. knocked out of your mouth while diving and severely choking spooks me. I can remember choking badly in the pool as a kid, but I was able to stand up or quickly get to the side of the pool. In severe instances I can recall the choking taking all energy and abilities to focus away from me for a matter of seconds.

What if this kind of choking happens down below? A matter of seconds choking on water at 40 or 60 feet could be a serious problem. What if in your midst of choking your reg floats off and continue caughing and choking, unable to sweap for your regulator?

Does anyone have an experience w/ this while diving? Has the idea spooked me more that what the reality of such an event is or is this (in your experience) a troubling experiencing?

My gf and I are new divers. We're doing a refresher course in a couple weeks and I think I'd like to try to purposely choke while in the pool so I can appreciate the experience and be better prepared if it ever happens.

I know as long as I keep my reg. in my mouth and remember our training for clearing while always consciously breathing (actively breathing, knowing that I may always get a breath of air so be prepared to not breath it down my throat) that I'll be fine, but there's always the unexpected.

Can you guys offer some stories or experiences to give me. I'd like to think that this is a situation that can be managed by being aware and prepared for the unexpected.

Thanks guys.
Andy

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Hi Andy,

Occasionally things like that occur. A regulator can 'breathe wet' for some reason, (rubber mouthpiece twists sideways a bit, ziptie breaks, someone in a gaggle accidentally kicks a fin across your face, etc.) and you inhale a bit of water along with a breath. It can set you to coughing or gagging.

It's important to remember that you can cough through your regulator, choke or gag a bit through it, or even vomit through it should you need to, and it won't hurt the regulator at all.

In each of these cases, tho', its important to leave the regulator in your mouth, so you can breath in normally as you recover.

Should a regulator be accidentally (or purposefully, by a panicked diver) knocked or torn from your mouth suddenly, its important that you have a secondary second stage immediately available. This is often accomplished by securing the secondary second stage at the base of your throat using a bit of bungee cord or surgical tubing. If it is held tightly enough, you can even drop your head and grab for it with your teeth so as to recover it without needing your hands (as they might be occupied with, say, an inflator/deflator for your BC/wing, or a diver in greater distress than you are.)

Regardless of whether you are recreational diving or technical diving, there is no excuse for having your secondary second stage stashed away in a pocket or clipped off somewhere that it requires two hands and ten seconds or more to get at. It should be immediately accessible, or the day when you become suddenly enmeshed in a drift net, and your mask and regulator are violently torn from your face while your arm is pinned against your side by the net, you won't be able to access that secondary second stage in a second or two. [yes, this actually happened to a friend of ours.]

Candidly, 'nagging scenarios' can be very helpful. One of the better techniques for thinking about and improving your diving ability is "visualization". It simply involves considering very slowly and carefully what might occur, and step by step how you would respond - and what you would need to respond with. Also known as "thinking the problem all the way through", this technique can also be done with your buddy to ensure that each of you will be able to respond in a coordinated fashion, with a minimal requirement for communications while the response is taking place.

Most situations you can imagine can indeed be 'managed by being aware - situational awareness - and being prepared for the unexpected'. By going over each of these scenarios in your own mind and with your buddy, when the day comes that something unexpected happens, you won't find yourself stunned and floundering. You'll have a plan in mind, and the wherewithal to carry it out. Thats what separates good divers from those who are constantly having 'issues'

Best of luck, and dive safe.

Doc

 

[scubasean]

We're doing a refresher course in a couple weeks and I think I'd like to try to purposely choke while in the pool so I can appreciate the experience and be better prepared if it ever happens.

As Doc said, I'd prepare by making the reg more available....Practice the remedy...sweeping for the reg, use the bungie,take your mask off and put it back on underwater, etc.....But, I would most certainly not practice choking in the pool...Aspirating water is not good, esp. if done intentionally...

Practicing something incredibly dangerous might actually result in the incident itself...even when the incident itself is rather unlikely to occur...

 

[nshon]

I had a bout of the sneezes once, about 5-6 of them at 25m. You'll be fine as long as you have the reg in your mouth, I think my buddy didn't even notice. Hyperventilating is another matter though.

 

[Shrew]

We learned the important safety measures in class, but i've started preparing for our trip to Roaton in 2.5 weeks and have been reading the boards to began vizualizing safety concerns during our learning dives. The vizualization of choking underwater disturbed me. I guess I hadn't really thought it out well enough before. Your posts focusing on the octopus really made me understand it's importance in a manner that made me "get it" (you know, something you already know, but still the lightbulb still goes on in your head and now you really "got it"). After reading your guys posts I'm able to think through the situation confidently and clearly.

Just part of the learning process. Thanks guys. It's what I needed. This thread has made me and my gf safer and more aware divers. Every little piece of the learning process helps.

Andy

 

[jonscubas]

I need to ask you why? Why would you want to practice choking underwater in a pool? If you do this it would seem that you are setting yourself up to fail psychologically. In a controlled environment like a pool, you can still die, in the ocean it's whole different scenario.

You will end up sticking your mind in a place you don't want to be, you would deliberately be making yourself stressed unnecessarily, and could place yourself or others with you in danger because of not being able to focus on the answer, instead of the problem.

I would think from the question you posed that you are just not comfortable in the water. I went through that, and I know many other have as well, and in my opinion you just need to spend more focused time practicing and trying to enjoy diving, not force yourself. Like I always tell anyone, "if you want to be a good at something you gotta practice it all the time". That's basically it.

No amount of asking anyone what they would do in that scenario would be beneficial from what I see, the more you hear different ways of how others would deal with it, the more your going to question it and yourself, "if you could do like they could or would".

If I were you, I would ask my certifying instructor, I think some one on one and practice is going to give you that confidence you need. Good luck.

 

[SeanQ]

I have had an dive once where a few hairs were stuck in mask seal. It kept flooding and I had to frequently clear it. Because my mind was occupied with the dive (this was one of my first dives), I didn't think to check why my mask was leaking. I was so focused on the dive that I did not notice how often I had to clear my mask.

Eventually I glanced upward and as a result some seawater poured into my nose. Murphey's Law dictates that this happened right as I was inhaling. I started to cough, trying to clear the water from my airway. By the time I stopped my mask had filled up with water again. I tried to clear it but instead coughed again, causing more water to go up my nose.

I could sense my stress level rising. I was not panicing yet, but knew that I wouldn't be able to deal with much more stress. The sudden realization that I was getting close to panic was enough to cause me to relax. I could still breathe, but I had to be careful to inhale through my mouth only. I knew I was starting to ascend, so I kicked down to keep myself horizontal. In doing so, all the water in my mask sloshed over the pane, and away from my nose.

Now I could breathe freely. Once I did that, I knew that my hood, my hair, something had to be distrupting the seal in my mask and that clearing it was only "treating the symptomes". I pulled the mask off, wiped the area around the seal clear of my hair and reset the mask.

Because I had stopped what I was doing, calmed down, and thought about the problem I was able avoid any futher incident. First thing the next day I went out and got a haircut.

 

[Shrew]

I need to ask you why? Why would you want to practice choking underwater in a pool? If you do this it would seem that you are setting yourself up to fail psychologically. In a controlled environment like a pool, you can still die, in the ocean it's whole different scenario.

You will end up sticking your mind in a place you don't want to be, you would deliberately be making yourself stressed unnecessarily, and could place yourself or others with you in danger because of not being able to focus on the answer, instead of the problem.

.

You are right. Mimicking this in the pool not a good idea. I guess I initially thought of it cuz I wanted to experience caughing/choking underwater in a controlled environment rather than for the first time while diving.

I don't think I'll focus on this much in the refresher course. I will take time getting aquainted w/ my back up reg though by grabbing for it repetively so I know it's there by second nature.

thanks buddy

 

[MontyPython]

Hi
Coughing or sneezing comes as quickly underwater as it does above water. You generally know that you want to sneeze a bit in advance but coughing is a reflex you can not stop. You’ll notice that when this happens, you’ll generally have coughed about 2-3 times before you even think about it. And that is enough to relax you as you then know you can do it.

Once when I coughed I out of habit put my hand in front of my mouth and accidentally pressed the purge button. Talk about inflating cheeks.

And sneezing, the only problem there is slight flooding of your mask and lots of snarlies.

In both cases I bite down just a tad harder on the DV mouthpiece as too not have it pop out of my mouth.

Loosing the second stage though, just remember to continually exhale a small stream of bubbles, this not only helps prevent Lung over expansion should you start ascending but also stops water from entering your mouth.

And as everybody else suggests, Stop – Think and Breath. And always know where your or your buddies Octo is.

 

[miketsp]

Be happy - your subconcious reactions are stronger than you think.
I remember on my basic course inhaling a lot of water due to a faulty exhaust valve on a 2nd stage. I was in about 4ft of water and I immediately stood up and spent the next 2 minutes in a choking spasm - and just like you I thought, "what if this was deeper?".
Well some years and a lot of dives later, this has happened to me a few times and surprise, after breathing in water at depth, there was no uncontrollable choking spasm. My survival instinct overrode the spasm and I was able to cough the inhaled water out through the replaced reg in a fairly controlled manner.

PS. If, like me, you leave your mask strap fairly loose, hold on to your mask while sneezing. I've blown mine off.