I am AOW certified and have logged about 60 dives. A few months ago I was descending on my first dive of the day . Just as I got to the bottom at about 70 feet, my mouth got extremely dry. I tried to swallow and couldn't. I felt like I was choking that is when things started moving really fast. I pulled the reg from my mouth and headed for the surface . Feeling like I was not moving fast I inflated my BC. I think I screamed all the way. I am fully aware I did everything wrong.
Since then I have made several dives that i was very nervous during. One i needed to abort on the surface because i could not slow down my breathing.
Cancelled a trip today because I was up all night with anxiety.
Has anyone else had something scare you and been able to work through it?
What once felt peaceful and comfortable now feels very different.
During my OW cert dives I got really bad dry mouth and had a similar reaction though not as extreme. Halfway through my descent it was so bad i couldn't swallow and my tongue felt like it was sticking to the roof of my mouth. The DI had gone down already with another student. I paused mid column for a few mins trying to work it out, then signaled to him something wrong, and slowly ascended. He came up to see what happened. I went back down and it bothered me most of the dive but slowing my breathing and relaxing helped. When we got back he asked me if I drank the night before, if I ate breakfast, etc. Of course I had not done any of those things right. I drank the night before, ate no breakfast, and drank no water before the dive. The next dive I changed all those things and ate some fruit before the dive and it was much better. There are several post on SB about dealing with dry mouth. For me the simplest worked. Be rested, eat something, fruit is a good choice as that tends to stimulate salivating (citus, pineapple, etc). Drink water. Not in one big go, but steadily for a few hours before the dives. My mouth still gets dry. Like
@MrBigfins suggested letting a small amount of water in your mouth swishing and spitting it out helps, I do it every dive. I have also read other suggestions that I can see helping from, a candy in the cheek, mouthwashes for dry mouth, even sipping caprisun underwater, but have not tried them myself.
I can understand that panicky feeling when you cant swallow, and you are underwater and it starts feeling like you cant breath. To me dealing with the basics before you get in the water is the first step hydration, hydration, hydration. The rest is mostly mental and relaxation, at least for me it is.
