Panic attacks - Why and what to do

[astralmind]

A bit of background:

My wife and I started diving about 2 years ago. Yesterday was dive #110, with 80 of them being in warm tropical climates and the remainder in local Ontario/Qc cold waters.

This was also our 4th drysuit dive (love that thing!) and our 3rd dive with doubles tanks (LP95s, on air) all this with our new regs (HOG D2).

It was a cold but calm day, I had a slight headache before the dive started but nothing I would consider incapacitating.

We dove the Kingshorn (90' depth) from the shore in what was an uneventful dive up until mid point where I started to feel the panic settle in. I've been thinking about that since yesterday and it really puzzles/scares me.

While I have had moment where I was less comfortable on a dive, I never panicked or truly got scared. I dove much worst conditions before (the visibility was outstanding, best I've had and little to no current) and even though the gear was fairly new, I felt confident with it, albeit with a much less ideal buoyancy. I usually feel very comfortable underwater, in my element so to speak.

For some reasons, when we got out of the wreck (all was fine until that point) I started having difficulty breathing. Things started to degenerate rapidly. My throat felt extremely dry, I felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest and my heart rate went through the roof. Natural reflex kicked in and I started to breath harder and faster, knowing it was the worst thing to do. I started feeling dizzy, my mind raced and I could literally feel myself loosing it. It lasted for a good 2-3 minutes before I got scared of myself enough to signal to my buddy I was not doing well (to be honest at that point my thoughts were to bail out and surface which is absolutely irrational). It was my last resort move before doing something stupid - it's hard to explain but I could tell that I was on the verge of not being able to manage the situation and stay safe. We ended the dive, which meant swimming back to the shore and a short deco for an extra 20-25 minutes underwater. Ironically, the minute my buddy understood I wanted to end the dive, my heart rate went down and I immediately started to get back to my senses. In fact, the remaining 20 minutes or so were just fine, except of me thinking about what had just happened in a very perplexed, confused state.

I'm glad this all took place on a rather easy dive, at 90' in calm waters as we are hoping to pursue our classes and head in a more tech diving direction. That random event does raise some questions as to whether or not I should though. I absolutely recognize that having such a reaction in a much more challenging dive could be fatal.

Besides calling off the dive when not feeling a 100% top notch and being a bit more careful on the hydration, pre dive, I'm trying to figure out what went wrong.

Have you experienced something similar, any thoughts from the veterans out there ?

I'll be diving this same wreck next week and must say I have some apprehension. In fact, for the first time, I'm feeling a bit reluctant to get back on a dive.

 

[tbone1004]

Disclaimer, never had that happen, but have been around plenty that have, and have felt the apprehension before.

First things first, you have to get back on the horse otherwise you never well. You just have to go back.... It might suck, but you have to have a good dive out there the next time otherwise game over.

Second thing is human contact, both physical and eye contact can relieve most of those symptoms. You said it yourself, as soon as your buddy acknowledged it you felt almost instantly better. Knowing you aren't alone, knowing someone is watching out for you and won't let it get out of control is one of the first things. Even if it is just you getting your buddies attention and giving him the shaking hand "I'm feeling a bit wonky" sign, and him acknowledging it can be enough to snap you back to reality.

Third, you have to find your happy place to bring you back to what is going on. That is different for everyone, but you have to find it otherwise it can eat you alive.

Fourth and final, you have to be physically prepared for this. You said yourself you probably weren't hydrated enough, the #1 thing that should be required on all drysuits is a P-valve of some sort, diving without one is just dangerous. If you have one, there is no reason you shouldn't be fully hydrated before the dive. If you dive doubles, Deep Sea Supply makes an awesome hydration pack that sits in the groove between your doubles and filled with gatorade can make a huge difference in long working dives, especially when cold. You should also not be diving on an empty stomach, but the hydration is most critical.

 

[chillyinCanada]

How often have you been to 90' before? Merely a suggestion, in that I've no idea why you'd have a panic attack under the conditions you describe but maybe you had a dark narc? On another end of the spectrum, an elephant sitting on your chest is a symptom of heart attack as is major anxiety, so when you say you felt better immediately when your buddy acknowledged the end of dive and was right with you . . .did you truly feel 100% better? Maybe you should see the doctor?

 

[RJP]

I'm trying to figure out what went wrong.

Let me see if I've got this straight:
- Relatively few cold-water dives overall, compared to total diving experience
- Fourth dive in a dry suit
- Third dive with doubles
- On a deep dive
- With brand new regs
- And a buddy that didn't notice - for three minutes - that you were in full-on panic

Gee... I can't imagine why you'd have some level of discomfort.

:d

At least you didn't have a camera with you as well. (Wait... you didn't have a camera with you as well, right?)

Task loading + narcosis will understandably get you wound up. As you've pointed out, good thing this happened on a benign dive. And you also experienced the fact that proper buddy contact will held alleviate the issue. If you were my student I would have counselled you to get in a lot more drysuit dives before adding doubles on top of that. I can't imagine diving doubles without being completely comfortable and adept at drysuit diving.

Also - where was your buddy when you were spending three minutes in full-on panic? The fact that you had to SIGNAL your buddy in order for them to be aware of the situation certainly did nothing to help the situation. How much longer would you have been left to your panic attack if you hadn't signaled her? Was she similarly task-loaded, in cold water, with a new drysuit, new doubles, new regs, and an inattentive buddy? If you HAD bolted to the surface... would she have even noticed?

I think you can log this dive as both a "Discover Task Loading" adventure dive as well as a "Buddy System Refesher" dive. I would seriously consider leaving the doubles in the basement until you're a more experienced cold-water, drysuit diver.

Out of curiosity, did you receive any formal training for diving with a drysuit? For diving with doubles?

PS - While your profile lists AOW as you highest certification, you mentioned doing some "short deco" in your post. What's that about?

---------- Post added November 10th, 2014 at 10:20 AM ----------

How often have you been to 90' before? Merely a suggestion, in that I've no idea why you'd have a panic attack under the conditions you describe but maybe you had a dark narc? On another end of the spectrum, an elephant sitting on your chest is a symptom of heart attack as is major anxiety, so when you say you felt better immediately when your buddy acknowledged the end of dive and was right with you . . .did you truly feel 100% better? Maybe you should see the doctor?

Heart attacks don't spontaneously resolve with buddy contact.

 

[chillyinCanada]

No one wouldn't think so . . .

 

[tbone1004]

actually a really valid point, I assumed you'd be on EANx32 since you mentioned decompression, but it could have been a dark narc if you were on air....

 

[RJP]

actually a really valid point, I assumed you'd be on EANx32 since you mentioned decompression, but it could have been a dark narc if you were on air....

And EANx32 would have made a difference... how?

 

[Steve_C]

actually a really valid point, I assumed you'd be on EANx32 since you mentioned decompression, but it could have been a dark narc if you were on air....

No reason it could not have been a dark narc at 90 ft even with nitrox. I always dive nitrox. At about 90 ft I always feel a need to focus a bit more. You take all the factors mentioned by RJP and then add a dose of narc and it could tip the scales.

I also have a total of 4 dry suit dives including instruction. Did ok but no way would I dive them in a challenging environment or add doubles without a lot more practice.

PS: See RJP's post came in while I was writing mine.

 

[tbone1004]

EAD is 70ft or so with a PN2 of 2.5, which is very low for someone to get narc'd that bad.

Air with a PN2 of 2.9 is that much worse, but I've never seen a dark narc with a PN2 that low. You start feeling the effects, sure, but with those symptoms it sounds more like the situation got rocky and it was panic setting in, not narcosis. Could be wrong, but I would be very surprised to see a narc that bad with that low of a PN2.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Sounds to me like a case of "too much too soon" leading to a buildup of CO2 ... the symptoms described sound exactly like something I experienced in my earlier years when I had just enough dives to think I had it all figured out. It would explain the difficulty breathing ... that classic "I can't get enough air" feeling.

If it happens again don't let your instincts take over ... follow what you said you knew to do, and slow your breathing down, giving your lungs a chance to get rid of some of the CO2 in your body. It'll go counter to what you feel like you should do for about 10 seconds ... then you'll start to feel better.

The panic was most likely a result of not understanding what was going on ... panic is our body's natural response to being faced with a problem we don't know how to resolve, after all. And for goodness sakes, don't wait minutes before letting your buddy know what's going on ... that only ever magnifies the problem, sometimes beyond your ability to deal with it. The way to handle problems is to resolve them as soon as you become aware of them. And it's always best to signal your buddy right away, stop, assess the situation, and take action ... the sooner the better.

If it happens again, get your buddy's attention as soon as possible. Slow down or stop completely and focus on relaxing ... then concentrate on taking slow, deep breaths and flush the excess CO2 out of your system. That should take about a half-minute until the problem goes away or becomes completely manageable. Then signal your buddy that it's time to end the dive ... because you still don't know what brought it on, and it's best not to hang around down there and risk having it happen again.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)