Panic Attacks?

[mnj1233]

A panic event? I haven't heard it called that. After thousands of dives I have never panicked. Not even close. I have only had a couple of students panic and only one in open water. That one caught me by surprise. I maintained contact and allowed them to ascend safely but as I said eariler, if you are a person that suffers from panic attacks you have no business in the water.

I do see some merit in the term "Panic Event" only because I have experienced a racing heart beat once or twice at 100+ ft and found I personally react as a survivor,
imediately tell myself to focus, breath easy and relax. Others may not be able to control the feeling as I did. I DO NOT see corking as an option!!!! I will drown first. Attacks verses Events Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Maybe a difference.

 

[mnj1233]

Close to panic... I agree... stop, breathe, think, act is the way to go... and most experienced divers will do this almost instinctively. Newer divers may not do so as instinctively... but there is one other element to add for newer divers... that is - Look.

Look for help. The mere action of looking for help may cure the building panic. Look up, look down, look side to side and look behind. If you see others nearby it will give you a sense of calm. In addition, if you see them, you can attempt to signal them that you are having some sort of trouble. Wave them over to you... do something to get their attention. Bang your tank, shake a rattle... do something to alert them.

My best example is that one time I was diving around a boat dock cleaning a boat. The vis was about 2 feet. There was a fishing net snagged on one of the pilings. As Murphy would say... if anything can go wrong... Well Somehow The knob of my cylinder and my first stage got tangled up in that net. When I turned to try to see what I was caught on, the fin buckle on my fin got snagged as well. I was caught at top and bottom and unable to turn around to deal with the problem. I went through the normal processes... stop, breathe, think, act... and decided my best bet was to wiggle out of my BCD, spin around and cut myself out of the mess using my trusty knife. I took the aforementioned action when it dawned on me that my buddy was still somewhere under the pier. By this time I had surfaced, riding my BCD and cutting the last bits of net off as I went. When he finally came up and I told him all the excitement he had missed, he so kindly reminded me that if I would have banged my tank, he would have come and helped. From that point on, I have added the word LOOK to the sequence I teach my students... I think it's a pretty good one.

Ken

Agree that seeking help is important however I believe you first look within youself to stop and think rationally. If your still breathing your doing something right. I can see a diver frantically searching for a helper and increasing the stress level. Just focus on a rock get your head straight and if need be make a controlled ascent.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

How long has it been since he was last in the water? It's not uncommon to have some heavy duty anxiety issues the first time in the water after not diving for a while (it doesn't have to be a long while either). Where are his logged dives? Ohio's quarries tend to be dark and cold and that's a LOT different for some people who dive mostly warm water. Has he dove that quarry before? A new site can present quite a bit of anxiety. What was the dive plan? Was he pushing his envelope on a day when his mind wasn't in the game?

There are many contributing factors to that "panic attack" feeling and they will vary from person to person, day to day and dive site to dive site. I've had my share of anxiety issues, I can normally find the trigger pretty easily and I don't dive when things "just don't feel right." Sounds like your buddy was just having a bad day--it happens.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[DiveGolfSki]

By definition (as per Anxiety Disorders of America),

A Panic Attack is defined as the abrupt onset of an episode of intense fear or discomfort, which peaks in approximately 10 minutes, and includes at least four of the following symptoms:

• a feeling of imminent danger or doom;
• the need to escape;
• palpitations;
• sweating;
• trembling;
• shortness of breath or a smothering feeling;
• a feeling of choking;
• chest pain or discomfort;
• nausea or abdominal discomfort;
• dizziness or lightheadedness;
• a sense of things being unreal, depersonalization;
• a fear of losing control or "going crazy";
• a fear of dying;
• tingling sensations;
• chills or hot flushes.

There are three types of Panic Attacks:

1. Unexpected - the attack "comes out of the blue" without warning and for no discernable reason.
2. Situational - situations in which an individual always has an attack, for example, upon entering a tunnel.
3. Situationally Predisoposed - situations in which an individual is likely to have a Panic Attack, but does not always have one. An example of this would be an individual who sometimes has attacks while driving.

Is it common, probably. I agree with several contributors to this thread (e.g. Ber Rabbit has a good explanation) that a panic attack probably develops much earlier in a dive and believe it can be avoided (listening to entire works of Barry Manilow prior to a dive ) but only for "unexpected" types. Other types may require professional assistance.

 

[rickdds]

or it could be as simple as diving in Whitestone Quarry and not in the crystal clear waters of the caribbean!

 

[radinator]

Here's the story of my event/attack, which was on the surface after a dive.

After a dive in which I had felt anxious, we had a long surface swim to the shore. After kicking for 10 minutes, and not feeling we were getting any closer, an airplane flew over as it was sightseeing along the coast. I was breathing heavily trying to make progress, but as I always do with planes I looked up to look it over. Then I looked to the shore and back to the plane and had a strange thought (as I was still breathing heavily).

That airplane is closer than the shore.

That freakin' airplane is closer to me than the shore is!

The next few minutes my dive buddy spent 'talking me down'. We opened my jacket BC, unzipped the wetsuit a bit (the water was cold, but I was hot with exertion) and the rest of the swim went without incident.

I was embarrassed, and to be honest I couldn't even figure out why I had lost it. I was perfectly comfortable once I was on the shore in my unzipped wetsuit. I finally realized the problem several days later.

You see, I had recently been exercising a lot and had lost some weight. Therefore I had the wetsuit modified to make the belly fit a bit better. All was good there. But what should have also been done (and wasn't) was to expand the sholder room a bit. I had gained some upper body muscle and the suit was subsequently too tight around my chest. My anxiety was indicative of having a hard time breathing. As soon as I unzipped the suit it felt better, but the difference was so subtle that I didn't realize it at the time. I was just a bit uncomfortable during my most recent few dives.

I later took the suit in to be modified for the shoulders, and the guy running the shop took one look and said "I don't even have to measure it, it's about 4 inches too small for you."

I've since fixed the suit, and got away from the jacket BC to something much more open on the chest (and one that doesn't squeeze me when inflated). Never had a problem since.


So I would definately say to look for the cause of the attack. There's usually some reason they happen. Look to what originally got your buddy breathing heavily (or fighting for air). Perhaps working too hard and hyperventilating?

 

[STOGEY]

I think that they are probably more common than not, specially for those that are new to diving, but once you get more comfortable to the water they are less common. Even for those that are more experienced than some others I guess they can still happen to anyone.

Like anything else the quicker he/she gets back into the water and do a shallow dive at first the better off he/she will be.

I even had one. This one was with a diver I dove before but had a bad experience with. I dove again with this person and I got over it. I was also a little less experienced then I am now, so I thnk that that played a big part in it.

I had mine on the surface and once I submerged I used mind over matter , and the dive turned out pretty good.

 

[STOGEY]

You say that this person is experienced, I'd like to know what type of shape he/she is in. Specially if you had a long swim too and from the dive,he may have mistook panic for just being tired. Even though I'm in good shape, when I do do a long swim,before I submerge I'll take a few minutes to relax on the surface to get my heart rate and breathing back to normal. Then I go and have some real fun.

 

[Jim Ernst]

I find these answers fascinating. While I was going through my OW class, I talked to a number of instructors and divemasters. ALL of them said that virtually everyone will, at some time, have a panic event underwater. All of them had personal stories to tell. Some of those events occurred to people when they had a lot of experience under their belts.

i agree with this and what the instructors said 100% as i had a situation that happend to me were i was either paniced or very frustrated, i think panicked, shot from 57 feet straight to the surface, bad bad move, was a rookie at the time, anyway talked to instructor and also was told that he and many otheres like him have also had an isolated insident of panic, and that at one point most have or will have, and it is all in how you handel it, the one thing i did do right was to exhale all of the way up! oh my instructor by the way is a master scuba instructor

 

[cleung]

I saw a diver who was also experienced get a panic attack in Costa Rica. He was wearing a hood and actually got too hot in the water when he jumped in. Had to come back up on the boat to ditch some gear and calm down for awhile before getting back in the water.

Only time I really saw on like that. Of course there's always divers who abort dives in the Duane wreck dive in Key Largo when the current is too strong at the surface.