Panic Attack

[Dr Deco]

Hi llama:

With carbon dioxide, people generally report numbness in their face or hands and very often have quite a headache. You did not mention experiencing these.

I would not suspect carbon dioxide problems as the primary cause of your symptoms.

Dr Deco

 

[mdr231]

I had a similar experience on one of my checkout dives. It was the third dive and we were at about 30 feet on a platform doing mask clearing. The water was very cold and I was in a 7mm suit + hood, which I was unaccustomed to. But the previous dives went well and without any hitch. What I experienced was exactly what you described. A feeling that I couldn't get enough air and that the wetsuit was constricting my lungs. It was an irrational feeling that something was wrong and I had to get out of the water immediately. I came very close to bolting. But I tried to relax and took a minute's worth of deep, slow breaths while waving off my instructor to wait. The deep breathing made the feeling go away.
Later, I described it to my instructor, who said it was "psychological" and that it happens. I also thought it might have something to do with the decongestant I took before the dives (a pseudoephedrine-based pill like Sudafed)- like the caffeine theory above. They always make me anxious but make equalizing very easy. In fact, I was probably not getting enough oxygen, perhaps due to shallow rapid breathing. Anyway, I've been diving since then under the exact same set of conditions and I've been fine. I suspect you'll be fine, too. Good luck.

Michael

 

[ouachita]

It really sounds like a panic attack.

You have two choices:
a) Go see a shrink(which you say you don't need to do)
b) continue to dive but take it slow and easy, stay shallow, etc... until you can be reasonably certain it won't happen again.

I doubt you will hear what you want to hear on this BB.

 

[Dyno Bill]

I'v seen a number of people get bugged during a dive and not have another occurance for quite a while. I have myself had a similar situation and I wouldnt be surprised to hear that many others have had similar situations occur to them. I would imagine that it was a combination of things that happened to you most of which you didnt even notice. The bottom line was that you most probably hyperventillated causing a low level of oxygen in your blood stream and then its sort of a closed loop deal until you break the cycle. Thats what the surfacing did, its just my thoughts and I'm not a doc but I have read about it and I'm not sure what else to say. Dive a lot with a TRUSTED buddy and it will pass, trust me...LOL
Bill

 

[Llama256]

For all the POSITIVE input,

I guess that all the symptoms indicate I was hyperventilating, and that I should have regulated my breathing until my O2 levels stabilized.

Looking back, with 20/20 hindsight, I realize that I did have a very tiring schedule that weekend and I was pretty exhausted when I got home. I guess in my enthusiasm to make the most of my lessons and demonstrate my proficiency to the instructors, I kind of overlooked my physical state and unwisely got myself into this condition. Live and learn/knock on wood.

Now that I have my AOW cert, I'm certainly not going to allow so much time between dives again (how many 14 year hiatus's{hiatii?} can one man live through anyway?), but this has been a real eye-opener for me, for even with all the training and experience in the world, I feel anyone could experience the same kind of situation. I'll never look at a nervous neophyte the same way again.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
La llama es un quadrupedo,
que vive en rios grandes como el Amazona.
El Tiene dos ojos, una corazon, un frente y un pico para comer pie.
Los llamas, son mas grandes de las ranas.
Las llamas son muy peligroso, Y si tu miras de gente nadan, grito
-CUIDADO! LLAMAS!

 

[bgbill]

Llama,

Did you take any prescription or over the counter drugs prior to diving?

 

[VTWarrenG]

Llama256 once bubbled...
To recap.
I don't need to see a Psychiatrist (Really!)
I'm not out of shape for diving.
I don't need a stress test (I had a panic attack, not a heart attack)
I didn't get claustrophobia (It's a big ocean)
My equipment was all working just fine.
There was nothing about my situation that made me feel the least bit uneasy.

Hi Llama,

I'm a little uneasy with this recap. Here's my problem: if there really was nothing wrong with you, the situation, or your gear, then your panic attack wouldn't have happened.

I can understand why you are unwilling to accept that you might have some deep-seated anxiety issues to deal with -- for many people, it's very difficult to accept that that they might not be the mental analogue of Atlas -- but none of us are.

The problem, Llama, is that being underwater, vacuum-packed in layers of neoprene and nylon, and sucking cold, dry air from a mouthpiece is just not a normal state of affairs for a human being. There are few other activities that subject the brain to as alien an environment as scuba diving. Many people find that their instincts underwater are very different than above water -- and many times those instincts just seem random! It's almost as if your brain, in the absence of any idea what it should really do, has decided to do just about anything. Many people experience panic (often in swimming pools in their first few days of OW school) for no obvious reason. It's okay, it doesn't mean you're broken or mentally ill. If you choose to talk to a "mental health professional," make sure you see one who is also a diver.

This one panic attack may be your brain's version of an "adjustment" to the underwater world. It may not ever happen again. If not, great! Enjoy your dives. If it -ever- happens again, for any reason, under any conditions, I would seriously consider seeing someone about it.

Lastly, it certainly could be your equipment -- gear that doesn't fit, regs that don't breathe well, and masks that restrict vision are all often identified as the first step that triggers many CFs in diving.

- Warren

 

[jepuskar]

There is nothing wrong with going to get checked out. Your lack of experience, and the stress of fighting the current most certainly played a part in this.

I suffered from panic attacks about 2 years ago....before I even thought of becoming a diver.....all is better now. It is ok to go see a 'shrink' as they are called.....I see mine once every 3 months or so...it is just somebody to talk to about your life who is a third party.

Actually, I think more people need to go see a head doc.....don't say you don't have a problem. Something happened and it certainly seemed to start from your head.

Next time you might not be soo lucky....anything is possible and to rule out something is certainly dangerous to your health.

 

[twatto]

.... panic attack.

cognitive behavioural therapy.....

 

[darkrose]

This is my first post..I feel compelled to reply..

I had the exact same thing happen to me this past weekend on what would be considered a routine dive.

The weekend before my dive buddy and I went to a spring and tested out our new gear. This was the first time I had been back in the water for about a year and 3 months. We were down to about 55 or 60' (visiting the Ginnie vent) but spent most of our time in about 15' of water. No big deal. Everything worked well with some minor adjustments.

I do need to stress that I am not in the greatest of shape. Well, I should say my shape is a lot rounder than it used to be. I put on about 50 lbs between getting married and my wife having a kid...but I am OK, I just suck a little more air--I'm not as hydrodynamic as I used to be.

In my case, we were descending down an anchor line. I got to about 30 or 40' and just suddenly could not breathe. It was a very, very disheartening experience. I felt like someone was standing on my chest. My breathing was very shallow and I recognized that..but I could not control it. I knew something was wrong and aborted the dive.

Got to the surface and my buddy didn't even realize anything was wrong other than the fact that I grabbed him and pulled him up with me (he is a new-ish diver, so we won't hold that against him). Purged my regulator and everything seemed fine. I figured my wetsuit was too tight or something (it was a rental) so I unzipped it a bit and that seemed to help a lot. We were back down after I caught my breath and had a very enjoyable dive the rest of the time.

I have over 300 dives in all sorts of water conditions, temps, etc. There was no reason at ALL for this to happen, but it did. In fact, in all my diving, I've never had an experience to match it. I'm not claustrophobic or anything like that, and I've even dove the same site before..but for some reason I just "freaked out". I'm sure the excitment of being on a boat and getting into the open ocean again had something to do with it, and perhaps stress is part of it too.

I agree with everyone else--take it slow and don't expect to do some deep dives right off the bat.. make sure you do some shallow dives and work your way back into diving and you'll be fine.