Cold water breathing problem

I had over 50 extremely successful, problem free warm water dives logged as of a few years ago when I attempted my first cold water boat dive in Canada. No one briefed us on cold water diving specifically. We were properly suited up for the temp. When I hit the water I immediately felt that I was having trouble breathing. Thought my suit might be too tight. Unzipped a bit, relaxed and tried to catch my breath. Finally I felt I was ok and we descended to 90+ft. Suddenly I felt I could not breathe again. I motioned to my buddy and we slowly ascended. I was very upset and did not attempt another dive there. Then I was told that it is your body's natural response to catch your breath and not exhale completely when you hit cold water. Since then I have done dives in warm Mexican water just fine. No problems, like usual. A few months ago I attempted a shore dive in Sydney, Australia where the water was chilly but not near as cold as Canada. I remembered the advice I was given after my first cold water fiasco so I felt I was prepared to make sure I was breathing properly. Sure enough as soon as I entered the water I started having trouble breathing again. I consciously made sure I was exhaling completely and trying to relax myself. I felt like I was going to pass out or throw up. And this was before I was even completely in the water! I had to get out of the water and did not dive. Immediately I got a migraine. I am very worried that I have lost my "mojo". I hate to make anyone wait so I know I rush myself when I should not. I have been thinking of going back to the pool or a local lake where I can take all the time I need to get myself underwater and breathing like I should. Has anyone else had something like this happen? Any advice or suggestions? I own my own equipment and we have it serviced annually. My husband is rescue certified and is always my buddy. Other than these 2 incidents every dive has been great! Even cenotes, whale sharks, sea lions, currents and big waves. What the heck is the matter with me and how can I fix it?

The bulk of your insulation (and concomitant buoyancy issues), the extra weight you need to keep you down, and the possible tightness of your suit (especially if it was a drysuit) around your neck will all increase your stress. Immersing your face in cold water also cause an adrenal response, elevating your heart rate and increasing your discomfort and air consumption (really - fill the sink with very cold water and immerse only that part of your face that is not covered by a hood and see how you feel). Finally, not all regs work well in cold water - were you using a cold water reg?

Solution 1: Use a cold water reg;
Solution 2: Keep at it - the more you dive in cold water, the more normal it becomes, the less your adrenal response, the better your air consumption and your diving experience.

Aside: I had the opposite experience - I went from Canadian diving to West Palm diving - my air consumption and buoyancy control rocked!

Keep at it!

PS - there is nothing wrong with you. You are a normal human diving in adverse conditions.

Cold water diving is a different experience to the nice warm dips and it may take a bit of getting used to.

My first thought - as you mentioned getting a headache at one point - is that your hood may not be providing you adequate thermal protection. An ice-cream headache can bring on a very uncomfortable sensation or even a panic. Also, are you sure you are adequately suited? Being cold can get you to breath heavy.

Diving in cold is physically demanding and you can become fatigued fairly quickly.

There is the psychological aspect as well. The additional stresses brought on by having to use gloved hands, using a new drysuit or a darker murkier environment (if you're used to the well-lit high viz tropical dives) can contribute to heavier breathing. Try to relax, breath slowly and deeply - I know this is the case for all dives but in a more demanding environment, it becomes very important.

I remember doing my Open Water dives in the waters off British Columbia many years ago and the combination of cold and stress made it heavy work for me but I persevered after the cert and eventually started enjoying it.

So take it easy, dress adequately and don't feel discouraged. It's still early days.

Additional comment: you were likely becoming stressed at all the new threats you were perceiving (all of which were real). The difference between stress and panic is that uncontrolled stress becomes panic. You clearly did not panic (otherwise we would be reading about you in the diving incidents forum), rather, you managed to master your stress.

Practice. And keep it shallow until you get used to the extra everything in cold water.

This has happened to me before, and I agree, stress is the biggest factor. Practice makes perfect... Just keep at it and make sure you stay within yor limitations.

I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. I went up to Canada two years ago to dive in January; water temperatures were about 43 degrees, or even colder on the surface. The first dive, I jumped into the water, and began pulling myself to the bow along the granny line. Halfway there, I was completely freaked -- I felt like I couldn't breathe, I spat out my reg and it wasn't any better, put it back in, and considered aborting the dive. Then I said to myself, "You idiot, you're on the SURFACE, hanging onto a rope that's attached to the BOAT -- you are perfectly safe, calm yourself down!" So I sat there and tried to slow my breathing, and by the time I got to the anchor line, I felt much better. I had no idea what had happened to me.

Second dive -- SAME thing, except this time, I wasn't as frightened, because it wasn't a surprise. My husband had the same symptoms. I have come to the conclusion that sudden immersion in very cold water can produce this. It had nothing to do with exposure protection, because we were wearing our usual dry suits and usual undergarments. It had to do with the cold.

Our shore dives in water that cold are gradual immersion, often putting the face in to prebreathe regs and such, and I've never had those symptoms from such dives.

I got certified in a wetsuit in the winter here in the PNW and I still remember my first dive. I felt as if someone put my head in a vice due to the cold water and also had a headache afterwards.

The only problem I had during my certification dives was the total mask removal and mask clear. My nose froze up and it took a minute before I could bring myself to exhale to clear my mask.

Cold water just takes a bit of practice to get used to.

it's an unnatural environment
it takes practice
nothing"wrong"with you for sure!!!
just the cold,is all!!!!

mpetryk:

Solution 1: Use a cold water reg;
Solution 2: Keep at it - the more you dive in cold water, the more normal it becomes, the less your adrenal response, the better your air consumption and your diving experience.

Click to expand...

Sydney doesn't require cold water regulator so it would not have been the regs there - and I thought cold water regs were to stop freeflowing not for ease of breathing? But I could be wrong about that.

I used to get the same sensation swimming off the West Coast of Ireland in winter (I don't know how I did this now, but I was a kid and thus immune from the cold). And this days if I have to take my mask off in cold water (10C<) I also feel similar. It will pass after a bit so basically what I do is just try to consciously slow my breathing and relax.