Cold induced near-panic!

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:)
A thick wetsuit is better than a shell Drysuit with thin/ wrong undergarments. I can speak from experience :)
Who the heck - in their right mind, that is - would dive a shell suit with thin undergarments in cold water?

I don't even own a wetsuit. My local water temps are from about 3C to about 15C, and a drysuit is perfect for those conditions. I get a mite sweaty before splashing if the air is above 20C and the sun is shining, though...
 
This sounds like a reaction the body has when exposed to cold water. As an ice rescue instructor, I teach what is known as the 1, 10, 1 rule. After immersion in cold water there is immediate deep gasps followed by deep rapid breathing, this could take 1-3 minutes to subside. Then you only have about 10 minutes of purposeful movement for self rescue before extremities become too cold and stiff, then up to 1 hour before unconsciousness results from severe hypothermia. It sounds like you had the initial stages similar to an immersion in cold water then as you rose above the thermocline you warmed enough to stop the effect. Just my thoughts.
I believe this is exactly what happened because my mind was clear no confusion or obvious reason to begin to panic and once I ascended it completely went away.
 
Why do you think the cold played a role? I'm not saying it wouldn't, but there's a lot going on in the way you describe it.

R..
Both times it happened my mind was clear and I was not in a situation that I feel would have caused me to panic, and both times ascending about 10-15 feet made it go away almost immediately.
 
I believe this is exactly what happened because my mind was clear no confusion or obvious reason to begin to panic and once I ascended it completely went away.

Our one lake has a spring in it... Surface gets to 66°. Within 6 inches of thermocline the temperature falls to 34°. Dropped below it in a 3mm wetsuit once. Once. The cold water shock is a real condition. Even in milder forms it's still remarkable.

In a catastrophic flooded drysuit this can be lethal. Similar to falling through the ice. (Or just a typical spring Saturday for a Canadian child)

Here's a little more about it.
National Center for Cold Water Safety-Cold Shock

Cameron
 
Hitting a thermocline can be a tad shocking. One summer we were doing the Lowrance (210'), surface ocean temp, 88 degrees. The week before it had been that temp all the way to the bottom. So this dive I just dive a shorty wet suit, laughing at all my buddies melting in the summer heat on the boat in full suits. Well, get to 150' on the decent and temp goes from 88 to 55 in an instant!! I had to physically control my breathing, it freaking hurt.

Nice thing, on the way up if felt like stepping in a hot tub.
 
Our one lake has a spring in it... Surface gets to 66°. Within 6 inches of thermocline the temperature falls to 34°. Dropped below it in a 3mm wetsuit once. Once. The cold water shock is a real condition. Even in milder forms it's still remarkable.

In a catastrophic flooded drysuit this can be lethal. Similar to falling through the ice. (Or just a typical spring Saturday for a Canadian child)

Here's a little more about it.
National Center for Cold Water Safety-Cold Shock

Cameron
This article states exactly what I was feeling! Like I said earlier I am lucky that I ascended and got out of that situation. Great Article!
 
Similar to falling through the ice. (Or just a typical spring Saturday for a Canadian child)
:rofl3:

Or Scandinavian...
 
Yeah, thermocline is rough. I was shore diving to about 80 feet in the ocean one August without the bottoms to my 7 mil farmer john. Surface water temp. was above 60 (which is about when I don't use the bottoms--one less thing to rinse). Bad move................
The coldest I dived was on the Deep Course late May--33F was the coldest of the 4 dives (but, Air temp. was like in the 60s and sunny, unlike in your case). I was the only non-pro, non- drysuit on board. I took a bit of ribbing-- especially from Greg, the DM who was on the OW course when I took it and who assisted me in training. The shoe was on the other foot when his drysuit had a major flooding, as he described it climbing up toward his heart.
The instructor asked what I would like to do -- go to 130 feet or look at the propeller. I said that the 130 feet would be neat, but let's go with the shortest time allowable for me to meet course requirements. Talk about a LONG 3 minute safety stop.
On another of the dives I had to inflate my sausage at 120' (sometimes not that easy on land....)...................then follow it up reeling it in to the safety stop. Not an easy task.
 

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