My wife and I are in process of PADI certification, me 68 she 58. After our first dives we did not feel so good. Fuzzy heads and me feeling sea sick for a day. Diving friends say "Oh, everyone gets that after a dive, get used to it"! This seems at odds with inetrnet articles telling me how wonderful I will feel onec we have dived. Can someone tell us if our friends are correct please
Physical reaction to diving
- Thread starter jackdenz
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You certainly should NOT feel dizzy, sea-sick, tired, or fuzzy-headed. Something simply ain't right. Go get a physical.
Are you prone to sea sickness? Were these dives from a boat or even in surging water with swaying seaweed? Dive training does not equate to motion sickness immunity.
Tired? Well diving especially to new divers is tiring, handling that gear, prolonged immersion and the work of swimming can take lot out of you until you learn the dance. If the exercises had you going up and down a lot then the effects on blood gasses can leave you profoundly tired.
All of this goes away with experience and doing what's needed to manage motion sickness. Then it's a wonderful experience. Learning to dive is nothing like diving.
All that being said, if this does not align with your experiences I agree that a visit to a dive savvy physician is in order. DAN can help you find such a practitioner.
Pete
Tired? Well diving especially to new divers is tiring, handling that gear, prolonged immersion and the work of swimming can take lot out of you until you learn the dance. If the exercises had you going up and down a lot then the effects on blood gasses can leave you profoundly tired.
All of this goes away with experience and doing what's needed to manage motion sickness. Then it's a wonderful experience. Learning to dive is nothing like diving.
All that being said, if this does not align with your experiences I agree that a visit to a dive savvy physician is in order. DAN can help you find such a practitioner.
Pete
Feeling sea sick for a day? That means several hours after you are done diving? In addition to the above good questions you might want to make sure you have tanks of fresh clean air. A long shot but something to check.
I have had what you describe only a couple of times and in each case I was coming off a bug or fighting a low grade bug so I went in without 100%.
A 67.8 year old diver.
I have had what you describe only a couple of times and in each case I was coming off a bug or fighting a low grade bug so I went in without 100%.
A 67.8 year old diver.
Clean air. That would be my first real concern.
Second, what are the temps of the water you're diving in for these checkouts? I found I'm significantly more tired after diving in cold water than in warm water. I suspect in Malaysia that's not a real concern but cold is a relative thing. Perhaps add more exposure protection.
That said, if your wetsuit(s) are too tight, especially around the neck, you can get similar symptoms, in my experience.
And finally, seasickness can wear you out. My last dive was two weekends ago. I spent the entire 2-3 hour boat road back to the dock sick. I was only physically sick a couple of times during that period but I felt miserable the whole time. It took a couple hours and nap in my car to relieve my symptoms. I'm 41 and in reasonable shape. If you've just started diving and are generally not living an "active" lifestyle it's most likely that you've just overexerted yourselves and is compounding some mild motion sickness.
Again, none of this should be overlooked and you should consult a physician. Also, consider investing in a CO (Carbon Monoxide) monitor and learn how to test your tanks for clean air, just in case.
Second, what are the temps of the water you're diving in for these checkouts? I found I'm significantly more tired after diving in cold water than in warm water. I suspect in Malaysia that's not a real concern but cold is a relative thing. Perhaps add more exposure protection.
That said, if your wetsuit(s) are too tight, especially around the neck, you can get similar symptoms, in my experience.
And finally, seasickness can wear you out. My last dive was two weekends ago. I spent the entire 2-3 hour boat road back to the dock sick. I was only physically sick a couple of times during that period but I felt miserable the whole time. It took a couple hours and nap in my car to relieve my symptoms. I'm 41 and in reasonable shape. If you've just started diving and are generally not living an "active" lifestyle it's most likely that you've just overexerted yourselves and is compounding some mild motion sickness.
Again, none of this should be overlooked and you should consult a physician. Also, consider investing in a CO (Carbon Monoxide) monitor and learn how to test your tanks for clean air, just in case.
Don't overlook dehydration. You make not feel thirsty, but if you're not peeing (and peeing clear) before you get in the water, just like any physical activity, you're already behind the curve. Hydrate before, during and after dives.
That is definitely not a normal reaction to diving.
Without being there and observing all that you had to do, how you did it, the conditions and how you reacted to those conditions, it is impossible for me to say exactly what may have caused your reaction. I will venture a couple of guesses though. As others have said, the training dives may have just worn you out. You may have been breathing hard enough to cause you symptoms, a form of hyperventilating. You may have been stressed by the training or the conditions. Your body may have been fighting a minor infection, and the diving was just enough to make it worse. Conditions in or around the water may have caused you to get sea sick.
How did you instructor react to your not feeling well after the dives? Have you talked to you instructor about you symptoms?
Definitely need to keep a very close eye this type of reaction. You may want to talk to a health care professional. Have you checked the DAN website for information?
Without being there and observing all that you had to do, how you did it, the conditions and how you reacted to those conditions, it is impossible for me to say exactly what may have caused your reaction. I will venture a couple of guesses though. As others have said, the training dives may have just worn you out. You may have been breathing hard enough to cause you symptoms, a form of hyperventilating. You may have been stressed by the training or the conditions. Your body may have been fighting a minor infection, and the diving was just enough to make it worse. Conditions in or around the water may have caused you to get sea sick.
How did you instructor react to your not feeling well after the dives? Have you talked to you instructor about you symptoms?
Definitely need to keep a very close eye this type of reaction. You may want to talk to a health care professional. Have you checked the DAN website for information?
I was very tired after some of my first few dives, but I think it was a combination of tension and moving heavy gear.
If you were still nauseated and dizzy a day or more after diving, I wonder if you really didn't equalize your ears well. But since both of you felt ill, bad gas is a possibility.
Most of us feel good after diving, or we wouldn't keep doing it.
If you were still nauseated and dizzy a day or more after diving, I wonder if you really didn't equalize your ears well. But since both of you felt ill, bad gas is a possibility.
Most of us feel good after diving, or we wouldn't keep doing it.
Many thanks to all of you for your well considered replies. You have convinced me that it was not normal and that we should look forward to our continued training and first open water dives.
We are both fit and active and had full medicals as required by PADi and DAN (as we were over 45).
This was our very first "dive" albeit to a maximum of 10 ft in a pool.
being quite fit we were not tired, just woozy and fuzzy headed.
Yes, I am prone to see sickness and will needd to take pills for this as our second open water dive will be boat bound for 10 days in Raja Ampat which is off the coast of Papua New Guinae.
Can anyone recomend a good sea sickness treatment please?
Someone mentioned heavy breathing whcih I did a lot of trying to adjust my bouyancy. Kept "rotating" in the water as if one side was more bouuant than the other.
Air was OK as our instructor used same supplier (local dive pool shop) and it was just like breathing at the surface with no malodours.
There may have been an underlying problem such as mild flue which we were not aware of and since my post I have attended an ENT specialist to check for and remove ear wax as my one ear did not clear properly.
We will also pay attention to the hydration issue that was mentioned as I do tend to NOT drink lots of water.
So thanks again guys, I will let you know progress once we complete our closed water session next Monday
We are both fit and active and had full medicals as required by PADi and DAN (as we were over 45).
This was our very first "dive" albeit to a maximum of 10 ft in a pool.
being quite fit we were not tired, just woozy and fuzzy headed.
Yes, I am prone to see sickness and will needd to take pills for this as our second open water dive will be boat bound for 10 days in Raja Ampat which is off the coast of Papua New Guinae.
Can anyone recomend a good sea sickness treatment please?
Someone mentioned heavy breathing whcih I did a lot of trying to adjust my bouyancy. Kept "rotating" in the water as if one side was more bouuant than the other.
Air was OK as our instructor used same supplier (local dive pool shop) and it was just like breathing at the surface with no malodours.
There may have been an underlying problem such as mild flue which we were not aware of and since my post I have attended an ENT specialist to check for and remove ear wax as my one ear did not clear properly.
We will also pay attention to the hydration issue that was mentioned as I do tend to NOT drink lots of water.
So thanks again guys, I will let you know progress once we complete our closed water session next Monday
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