Overcoming anxiety and Panic Attacks.

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gehadoski

Contributor
Messages
441
Reaction score
4
Location
Cairo, Egypt, Egypt
# of dives
500 - 999
Dear All,

I am not sure if I am posting this in the right place or not, but I really want to share my incident with you. May be this could be useful for someone and/or may be someone can give me an advice.
Around 4 years ago I was on a liveaboard for 3 days in the northern part of the Red Sea. We anchored at the Thomas reef at the Strait of Tiran North of Sharm El Sheikh. We were 7 Divers of different levels, 4 were beginners and 3 were advanced. I was one of the three That were advanced PADI divers. There is an a canyon on the Thomas reef and there are 2 arches in that canyon one on around 35 meters and another one on 72 meters. Its not a big arch, just a meter or 2 wide. Here what happened, the advanced divers wanted to go through arch at depth of 72 meters, they DM refused but they were so stubrn about it and they agreed with the DM that they make this dive on there own risk and they signed the papers regarding this. Honestly, I didn't go with them for 3 reasons, First, I know that it is very risky and its not a joke. Second, I Don't like deep dives. I prefer shallow and colorful dives. Third, My computer were broken and there were no spear one on boat. So, the plan was that we will enter the water together and on 35 meters we will split to 2 groups the 2 advanced divers go on there own till the depth they wanted and we will go through the arch on 35 meters. All I have is just my pressure gauge. So I agreed with DM that I will follow his lead. I know that this is something stupid to do. but I had no choice.
We did our buddy check and jumped in the water. The weather was great and vis was crystal clear. we started to descend and enter the canyon one after another. Everything were going fine. Then I felt that there is something wrong. First, we agreed with DM that he will give a certain sign, this sign means that the 2 advanced divers will be on there own and we will level here to go through the arch, he didn't give the sign. We were descending for a while, remember I was an advanced diver by then. I had around 90-100 dives under my belt. So I felt that we passed the 30 meters, but since I have no gauge I didn't know what depth we are. I gave the DM a sign to ask about the depth but he didn't reply. So, I felt kind of disoriented, I felt bit anxious but I was under control. Then felt the narcosis, by then I was for sure that this is out of plan, still don't know what depth we are at, I felt more anxious. Then I found we are passing the same arch that the advanced divers we passing. That's not all, While I was in the arch, I was very narced and can hardly control my mind, one of the divers infornt of me kick me on my face and took of my mask and regulator. I did all that I can focus on putting back my mask and clear it and put in the reg again in my mouth. Trust me, on 72m it needs a hell of effort to do that. while you are narced and anxious. I panicked and I felt that I can hardly breath, I felt so cold and They told me that I blacked out for around 3- 5 min. Since then and I get panic attacks when I see the blue or feel cold.

I really like diving so much, but since then when I get underwater and look at the blue or feel coldness of the water, I feel anxious and my mind start to trip me as if I am narced. Can you imagine that I feel that way when I dive on 20 meters. That's why I decided to go on a diving trip on the 1st of May may be to Dahab to overcome that feeling. Of course not by diving on 72 meters again, but my diving more to get more confidence with water. This time I want to be with DM 1 to 1. I will tell him/her my situation and hopefully this will help.

If anyone here can help me in this please don't hesitate.
 
I don't have a lot of help for you, but I hope someone does, because I am trying to help a woman who also had a frightening experience underwater and has been dealing with anxiety issues while diving ever since.

I will take issue with one statement in your story, though. You said you had to dive with no depth gauge "because I had no choice". You had a choice. You could have decided not to dive with less than a full set of required equipment. I would be more willing to dive without a pressure gauge than without a depth gauge (depending on site), because if I know my depth and time, I can more or less calculate my pressure. I can't deduce my depth from anything else, unless the site either has a hard bottom or is well known to me. I would not dive without a depth gauge.
 
Maybe some easier dives with clear water and a shallow bottom to get you back into the swing of things? Maybe even a shore entry dive where you don't jump in all at once.
 
Dear TsandM,

I totally agree with you, but I was immature by then and I was careless. Also, I trusted the divemaster who was guiding us. I agreed with him, that he will tell me the depth when I ask for it. He was totally aware that I have no depth gauge. He was telling me the first 20m just when I ask him. Actually, he was the one who convinced me to do that dive. I didn't know know he would do something like that to me. I am not saying that this is an excuse, I know that what I did was wrong. Trust me, I am still paying for that lesson till now.

---------- Post added April 23rd, 2014 at 06:16 PM ----------

Thats exactly What I am planning to do on my next trip.The one on the 1st of May
 
I really like diving so much, but since then when I get underwater and look at the blue or feel coldness of the water, I feel anxious and my mind start to trip me as if I am narced. Can you imagine that I feel that way when I dive on 20 meters. That's why I decided to go on a diving trip on the 1st of May may be to Dahab to overcome that feeling. Of course not by diving on 72 meters again, but my diving more to get more confidence with water. This time I want to be with DM 1 to 1. I will tell him/her my situation and hopefully this will help.

If anyone here can help me in this please don't hesitate.

OK, let me see if I can offer some advice. I'm currently working with a former student (I suspect it's the same person Lynne's referring to, since we're both scheduling dives with her) who is going through similar issues. Hers stem from a dive she had no business being on, and some poor choices that ultimately caused her to panic. So I think there may be some parallels.

First off, let's start by looking at what panic is ... it's your brain's natural response to being faced with a problem you don't feel you have the ability to resolve. It's what some refer to as the "fight or flight" reflex, and we all have it to some degree. It's hard-wired into who we are ... but the wiring's a little bit different for each of us, which is what makes it such a difficult problem to prescribe a remedy for.

That said, there are some things you can do ... and your upcoming trip can be more or less successful depending on how you go about it.

First thing you need to be careful about is not putting yourself into a situation where you feel you aren't in complete control. By all means hire a DM or instructor who can work with you. Establish some criteria for depth and conditions that are acceptable ... keep them conservative at first, and as you achieve success (and ONLY with success) expand the parameters of depth and conditions that are acceptable. Anything outside those conditions results in an immediate termination of the dive. Last thing you want to do is experience that same feeling of loss of control again ... each experience will only reinforce the strength of it on subsequent dives. Take it slow ... keep your priorities straight ... you're not there to challenge your demons, you're there to make them more cooperative. Always remember that those feelings aren't necessarily bad ... they're there to keep you alive, after all ... but that you need to be able to consciously control them. That comes with conditioning your brain to feel that you're in charge and able to handle the conditions of the dive.

Secondly, don't get down there and get lost inside yourself ... what I'm saying is that we all have a tendency to one degree or another to internalize, and scuba diving makes it very easy to focus on what's going on inside your head to the exclusion of what's going on around you. Don't allow that to happen ... concentrate on why you're going down in the first place, to see the critters. I once had a diver who couldn't make a safety stop to save her life ... until the day she focused on a jellyfish mid-water and forgot what she wasn't able to do. Before she knew it, she'd successfully done her first safety stop and realized that not only was it completely within her ability, but it wasn't particularly difficult. She'd been talking herself out of it all that time because she was focusing on her failures instead of her successes. So don't obsess about the possibility of failure ... that tends to become a self-fulfilling reality. Take your mind outside of your body, and concentrate on all the wonderful reasons why you're down there. "Talk" to your buddy ... using signs, body language, or even occasional touches ... engaging another person always helps overcome the anxiety that might come with exposure to some condition or event that reminds you of past bad experiences. So be aware of what's going on with your buddy and your surroundings, and you'll have less mental bandwidth to talk yourself into failure.

Finally, debrief every dive with your buddy after it's over. Once again, this is not only going to help both of you understand what was going on during the dive, but it's going to help you re-establish that sense of control that brings with it confidence in your ability to succeed and have fun. And that's really what you're aiming for ... the problem you describe boils down to a loss of confidence ... and that's what you're trying to regain.

Best of luck ... stay positive, in a great way that's really the key to resolving the issue ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
gehadoski,

First of all, you said, "I Don't like deep dives. I prefer shallow and colorful dives... on 35 meters we will split to 2 groups." A depth of 35 metres (115 ft.) is hardly a shallow dive, if that's what you like to do.

Then you say that you (apparently) went down to 72 metres (236 ft), and then you "blacked out for around 3- 5 min" ? You blacked out at 72m, are you kidding?

What kind of air and what size tank(s) did you have? How long do you think you were down for? You must've been bent like a pretzel when you surfaced.

In any case, if you are feeling anxiety, I would take a few weeks off to try to put this well in the past, and then start all over again by limiting myself to real shallow dives (e.g., 10 - 15 metres) and never go without a depth gauge again.
 
Dear All,
I really like diving so much, but since then when I get underwater and look at the blue or feel coldness of the water, I feel anxious and my mind start to trip me as if I am narced. Can you imagine that I feel that way when I dive on 20 meters. That's why I decided to go on a diving trip on the 1st of May may be to Dahab to overcome that feeling. Of course not by diving on 72 meters again, but my diving more to get more confidence with water. This time I want to be with DM 1 to 1. I will tell him/her my situation and hopefully this will help.

If anyone here can help me in this please don't hesitate.

How about diving in a pool first?

- Bill
 
I once had a diver who couldn't make a safety stop to save her life ... until the day she focused on a jellyfish mid-water and forgot what she wasn't able to do. Before she knew it, she'd successfully done her first safety stop and realized that not only was it completely within her ability, but it wasn't particularly difficult. She'd been talking herself out of it all that time because she was focusing on her failures instead of her successes.

I remember that dive, and the jellyfish on call . . . http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/116601-dive-almost-wasnt.html

Funny, I was giving the lady the same advice last night -- get out of your own head, however you can do it. I suggested she ask herself, when she feels the anxiety start to mount, "What is the worst thing that can happen?". And then go through the list of coping strategies she has for each of the things she comes up with. If nothing else, that should get her out of the limbic system and into the cerebral cortex.
 
I really like diving so much, but since then when I get underwater and look at the blue or feel coldness of the water, I feel anxious and my mind start to trip me as if I am narced. Can you imagine that I feel that way when I dive on 20 meters. That's why I decided to go on a diving trip on the 1st of May may be to Dahab to overcome that feeling. Of course not by diving on 72 meters again, but my diving more to get more confidence with water. This time I want to be with DM 1 to 1. I will tell him/her my situation and hopefully this will help.

If you do dives where you try to "overcome" the feelings by experiencing them, you're just going to reinforce them and experience them more.

You need to do real easy dives where you don't have any anxiety at all. If you have to get back into the pool in order to dive without anxiety then that is where you should start.

Then build on the platform of having anxiety-free dives and expanding the amount you can do without experiencing anxiety. Go at your own pace and do not let anyone else or even yourself push you into situations where you start building up that anxiety again. The more you experience anxiety while diving the more anxiety that you'll experience in the future.

If you try to "face your fears" it won't get any better, and you'll wind up quitting diving, or having a panic-induced accident.
 
First of all, I am glad you made it out ! Very serious & tough situation you were in !
The panicky feeling will still be there under your skin somewhere....I agree with doing easy shallow interesting dives with lots to see to keep you from thinking inwardly too much. Also, dive Often....I know when that feeling starts , my heart starts to beat like a disco drum, I feel the warmth from the blood rush. I then concentrate on the fact that I am ok , I focus on the surrounding objects , i communicate with my buddy to let him know that i am battling a bit, I might have to ascend 2-3 meters ...and then i am fine to carry on diving ! So try to avoid the 'blue mid water dives ', dive shallow interesting dives and i am sure your confidence will grow as a diver. Work on growing a capable buddy as well. Enjoy .
 
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