xapury82
New
I experienced a panic attack during my last dive and ended up with a "precautionary" five-hour visit to the hyperbaric chamber. I am a newbie diver and on previous dives I'd been focused mostly on practicing my neutral buoyancy and surfacing appropriately, etc. almost too focused on those things to be come panicked. On this particular day the dive plan was for me to lead-going where I was comfortable and all was going well. Near the end of the dive though I determined I didn't want to lead the ascent and I recall a gutteral grumbling (I WAS diving with my husband). From reading the SCUBA boards I'm thinking this was enough to disrupt my CO2/O2 exchange... at any rate we safely surfaced with me in full-blown hyperventilation, boy would I have rather been face first in a brown paper bag than where I ended up. I passed out somewhere from the point of surfacing to the shore, had shallow to no breathing, CPR, the whole nine yards. Now I'm getting my psychi geared up to "get back in the saddle." Panick postings on SCUBA Board have helped as well as this article [http://www.scubadiving.com/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=4255&pop=1&page=1] - copy/paste.
That said, the post I found here bears repeating -- from Bob -NW Grateful Diver, 9/08/04 and has helped me alot - thank you Bob.
"I suspect your problem is a combination of self-induced stress and CO2 buildup. When you start to stress out, your breathing pattern changes ... as you noticed. Breathing rapidly ... even though perhaps deeply ... does not allow a sufficient exchange of oxygen for CO2 in your lungs, and the CO2 slowly builds up. Since it's the CO2 that triggers your breathing reflex, this building up causes you to feel like you're not getting enough air."
Bob refers to a reply telling the diver "keep practicing your skills and keep your dive profiles shallower." "If you should experience it again, signal your buddy that you need to stop for a bit, then just hover (or grab onto something to stabilize yourself if you really need to) and concentrate on breathing deeply and slowly ... allowing a good exchange of O2 for CO2. After about 10 seconds or so the 'out of breath' feeling should start to dissipate."
I think this is the best answer to my questions and with this in mind, I WILL DIVE AGAIN.
That said, the post I found here bears repeating -- from Bob -NW Grateful Diver, 9/08/04 and has helped me alot - thank you Bob.
"I suspect your problem is a combination of self-induced stress and CO2 buildup. When you start to stress out, your breathing pattern changes ... as you noticed. Breathing rapidly ... even though perhaps deeply ... does not allow a sufficient exchange of oxygen for CO2 in your lungs, and the CO2 slowly builds up. Since it's the CO2 that triggers your breathing reflex, this building up causes you to feel like you're not getting enough air."
Bob refers to a reply telling the diver "keep practicing your skills and keep your dive profiles shallower." "If you should experience it again, signal your buddy that you need to stop for a bit, then just hover (or grab onto something to stabilize yourself if you really need to) and concentrate on breathing deeply and slowly ... allowing a good exchange of O2 for CO2. After about 10 seconds or so the 'out of breath' feeling should start to dissipate."
I think this is the best answer to my questions and with this in mind, I WILL DIVE AGAIN.