Panic Episode This Weekend

[chillyinCanada]

I've had dark narc even when wasn't nervous about anything though does seem if I have one, it may be on a day where I am more tired than on another day. The OP's symptoms of dark narc abated at 60'. Other than the pain, sounds like standard dark narc to me.

 

[tracydr]

We're talking about good ol' nitrogen narcosis, yes, but in this case it's characterized by feelings of anxiety, doom & gloom, and/or a sense of imminent disaster, rather than the stereotypical description of narcosis as producing feelings of euphoria or intoxication. This is according to the accounts I've read - I've not experienced dark narc myself, and as far as I can recall had no idea the phenomenon even existed until many years after my initial training. One might suspect that this is one of those things that tends to get elided in the average OW training so as not to freak out the new diver...

I've experienced this twice, both on dives around 130 feet. Its creepy enough that I will no longer dive that deep until I get trimix trained.

 

[JesperS]

To the op, thank you for sharing your story, glad you made it to the surface in a safe and collected manner.

 

[Dive the Ice]

Thanks! I am also glad.

 

[neilcp]

I experienced a panic attack once, but with out any pains... Was at about 130 feet and suddenly i felt as if I was not going to be able to get enough air. And I had thoughts of how I would need to do a saftey and/or deco stop before reaching the surface, and how that would mean even longer withot proper air... The feeling I had was that I wanted to be able to open my mouth and gasp some air - I had a regulator in my mouth.
I signaled to my buddies (there were two others on that dive) that I wanted to abort, but in a bit after moving up a little, i felt OK and we continued the dive.

The problem is that now i freakout before getting into the water, and even IN the water I get this panic feeling at times.... I guess I am thinking about that lack of air feeling, and it has made me lose confidence in my diving. I am OK if I dive shallow (about 30 - 40 feet),I guess cause it is shallow enough to shoot up if there is a peoblem, without too much of a stop.

 

[supergaijin]

The problem is that now i freakout before getting into the water, and even IN the water I get this panic feeling at times.... I guess I am thinking about that lack of air feeling, and it has made me lose confidence in my diving. I am OK if I dive shallow (about 30 - 40 feet),I guess cause it is shallow enough to shoot up if there is a peoblem, without too much of a stop.

Everyone has personal limits for diving and those limits change over time. Your experience at depth is actually a good one IMO- too many divers descend to depth blissfully unaware... and those are some of the most dangerous divers that I have ever encountered.