Why do i get sick everytime I ascend?

[tazman7]

Hi everybody,

My girlfriend and I just got back from our cruise on the Carnival Valor. We stopped at the Grand Caymens, Isla Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel.

We went diving in Isla Roatan and on our first dive my stomach felt kinda funny when we were ascending. And once i got into the boat I almost felt seasick.. But I knew it wasnt from the boat because we only went out from shore approx 1 mile and I have been on boats my entire life so I thought this has to be from something else. Then on our second dive we were down approx 70 feet, on our way up we did our safety stop and about 15 feet from the surface i started throwing up like a madman. I threw up for approx 5 minutes straight...

The same thing happened the last time I went to Florida to dive. What could cause this?

Really made me upset because we had just bought new gear and had planned this vacation to dive at Roatan and Cozumel...we didnt end up diving Cozumel because I didnt want to drop another $200 to feel like crap again....

 

[Teamcasa]

Have you been diving long? Medications? How fast were you ascending?
Sometimes, particularly with rental gear, you ingest a small amount of seawater, this could be the issue. The other issue may have been bad air. Were you diving with tanks from the same shop?

Finally, see a doctor.

 

[Nismo]

My first guess would be inner ear. The pressure change when ascending, can really mess with you and could make you nauseous and vomit, and can get really bad. I've never had any problems before either, but on our last trip, I had a lot of balance issues immediately after diving that got better about an hour later. The fact that everything was initiated on the ascent would strongly point me to think inner ear, however there are other possibilities and the ascent could be purely coincidental, as it could be time instead. Could be bad air, but if no one else got any funny feelings, but one could predisposed. Toxins from the plastics, glues, etc in the manufacturing process.

 

[Nismo]

Go to your doctor and get a referal for an ear, nose, and throat specialist.

 

[tazman7]

No I only have 9 dives so far and this is the first time we have gone in a year and a half.

I used my own personal gear and its new so that shouldnt be a problem, nobody else got sick, just me.

im not quite sure how fast we were ascending, we were with a two master divers and instructors so im sure we were ok in that aspect, we were diving a big reef so our depths varied throughout the whole dive ranging from 70 at the deepest to around 35.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Have you ruled out bad air fills?

 

[tazman7]

No, since it happened at both places (Florida and Roatan) and nobody else got sick i didnt think much about it.

 

[tazman7]

Also i am a firefighter so i am sure I have sucked down my share of old air out of the bottles on our rigs...we dont get many fires..haha

But its always a possibility...

 

[knotical]

Sounds like it could be alternobaric vertigo - most common on ascent.
If so, try equalizing during ascent.
Scroll down at this URL.
Vertigo

 

[Ber Rabbit]

But I knew it wasnt from the boat because we only went out from shore approx 1 mile and I have been on boats my entire life so I thought this has to be from something else.

There is still a chance it's from the boat, nobody is completely immune to seasickness

Then on our second dive we were down approx 70 feet, on our way up we did our safety stop and about 15 feet from the surface i started throwing up like a madman. I threw up for approx 5 minutes straight...

The same thing happened the last time I went to Florida to dive. What could cause this?

When are you starting to feel sick? At roughly safety stop depth? What was the water doing when this happened? Any wave action at all? Current? Surge? Particles in the water column? Were you hanging onto an anchor line? Was it moving at all?

You CAN get motion sick underwater and it's going to be noticeable in the shallows where the water motion is more pronounced. I get seasick while swimming if my mask is not completely submerged, looking at the water/air interface as it moves makes me nauseous.
Ber :lilbunny: