Procedure for vomiting

[freewillie]

Or puke in your octo. If your buddy doesn't appreciate getting a pukey octo they should manage their gas better.

 

[TMHeimer]

This question has been asked before. On those past threads and here, knowledgeable people all say just to puke into the reg. The reason being that if you take the reg out you may involuntarily inhale water immediately after you finish throwing up. I won't disagree. I have mimmicked taking it out to throw up, emptying my lungs with air in the process, then purging it and putting it back in the mouth. This, of course keeps the 2nd stage clean and undisturbed. BUT, this was only an experiment that I had thought through first. Thus, I don't advise doing this. I am not an expert, as I honestly can't recall when I last puked. Probably more than 20 years ago.

 

[DBailey]

I have violently vomitted underwater (attributed to bad air). It wasn't a "oooh, I'm gonna be sick...ok...here it comes". It was a sudden, multi-session, ab-hurting, full fledged projectile (ok, projectile once I reached the surface) vomitting. Oh, and I had a HUGE lunch.

I didn't feel anything until we were at depth. It hit. I kept the regulator in.

During the entire episode, the only thing on my mind was keeping the regulator in and making a safe ascent rate to the surface. Due to the severity of the vomitting, I don't think I could have handled any other tasks. I have to give props to my buddy that linked up and helped with the safe ascent to the surface.

Ok, my experience might have been at the extreme end of the spectrum, but why compound the situation by having the regulator out of your mouth?

 

[TMHeimer]

As I said, I wouldn't disagree with the expert advice and you are probably right. Especially if it comes on so sudden.

 

[billt4sf]

I would say the best thing is to stay out of the water on rough days. Have her dive only on the calmest days. If she thinks she might get sea sick, then it is probably best to stay out of the water.

Peter, this is about Emily. She can get seasick any time we dive -- or just any time. She has gotten seasick from going around in a parking garage! Given that its so common for her, it's surprising that she is still up for diving / boating at all.

She takes meds every time we dive - or even to drive long distances. If we're going on a long boat trip she'll use the behind-the-ear patch, otherwise she'll take Dramamine or the like.

- Bill

 

[peterbj7]

This has happened to me several times, a sudden urge to vomit with little or no warning. I always do it through my primary second stage, but then I transfer to my secondary while I attempt to clean out the primary. Not by purging, but by swishing it to and fro in the water so as to dislodge whatever was there. It doesn't always work, and sometimes the reg continues to breath wet as something has caught in the exhaust valve. In those cases either I persist or transfer to my secondary, and back on the surface take the front cover off the primary to complete the cleaning process.

My simple method for avoiding this in the first place is not to eat or drink anything in the couple of hours before diving. That means getting up early and having a very light breakfast before a morning's diving, and no lunch if I'll be diving in the afternoon.

 

[Oldbear]

When I was first starting out diving...I was a big-time puker. It took me six OW dives to complete my skills cause I kept getting sick. I tried every type of medicine and eating pattern, but to no avail. But my whole life I have had a very sensitive stomach. Eventually my body figured out that, "Hey...this is not so bad," and I stopped the vomiting except in really heavy surges.

Here is my advise:

1) Don't panic, while it is uncomfortable, there is no need to rush to the surface.
2) At first I would remove my regulator to vomit, not so now. Keeping the regulator in my mouth keeps me from involuntarily gulping sea water (while it has never happened to me it is a possiblity) and the air supply where I need it most while diving - in my mouth. As others have stated the vomit will pass thru the regulator.
3) After vomiting, switch to your alternate regulator.
4) Clean your primary regulator immediately; I do this right after the incident happened underwater unless I am taking pictures of the fish attracted to the "Chum"
5) Either keep diving with the alternate or switch back to the primary regulator. I use a long/short hose configuration so I switch back to my primary.
6) Continue the dive and have the fun you signed up for in the first place.
7) After the dive clean the regulator very well.

Tell your wife not to worry about it, it is a natural event that should not imprair diving at all. I know this instructor out of Atlanta (now the Philippines) who would stop off at the Waffle House each morning just before a dive...just so he could "Chum" the waters for his student.

Cheers,

~Oldbear~

 

[mmcdanie]

I also was taught, keep the reg in your mouth when excreting from your oral orifice. Side note, the one and only time I encountered vomit while diving was when returning to the stern of a dive boat. I was swimming along the port side when a fellow diver that was on deck, leaned over the side and puked all over me. Thanks Pal!

 

[nimoh]

I too was taught to keep the reg in my mouth. However, a few years ago I did a dive when I was experiencing sea sickness on the boat and ended up puking after the dive on a safety stop at 15'. When I felt the urge coming on, I just couldn't bring myself to keep my reg in, and pulled it out, puked and put it back in. It was no big deal, although you do have to remember to hit the purge button before taking a breath.

After that little episode I started doing my safety stops below the surge

 

[danvolker]

My wife often has seasickness and occasionally has to vomit during a dive. Are there any recommendations? Using the reg or with reg out? On the surface or just beneath the surface (when possible)? What to watch out for (laryngospasm?)

thanks,

Bill

Well, the most entertaining method of handling this on a boat, is for the diver to hold the nausea untill the last possible second, and then paint the opposite side of the boat( and divers) with Projectile Vomit. Fortunately I have always recognized the projectile candidates, and gotten into a safe position well before the excitement would commence.

I used to have trouble with seasickeness when it got worse than 5 to 7 foot seas ( South Florida wave periods make this veery different from 5 to 6 in NJ).

The accidental solution I found was nasal irrigation....I found that after irrigating every 3 hours or so on a marathon flight from Florida to Fiji, that the irrigating had changed the inflammation levels in my inner ear, and the 8 foot seas we experienced in in the long boat ride from Nadi to Beqa Lagoon Resort, had absolutely zero effect on me...while many others on the boat were very ill.
So from then on, I would irrigate a couple times per day prior to diving when the conditions might be dicey, or might be just fine... If I know I am going out in stupidly rough waves, then I will take Triptone an hour or two prior to diving.....Don't listen to any nonsense about it not being safe to use Triptone on a dive less than 80 feet. At tech depths, pharmacological issues could arise, but unless your wife is tech diving, it is just not a factor.

Vomiting during the dive.....keep the reg in, and be ready to purge the reg as needed. It is not hard---in fact, it is easier than vomiting on the boat....of course it brings the fish in, which is both cool, and then as you think about them and what they are feeding on, you kind of need to feed them again