Bittersweet Trip to Coz . . . Question

[Reidster]

Returned from Cozumel late last Wednesday (early Thursday after some plane issues) after four days of diving and nine dives.
It was a bittersweet trip. I completed my Advanced Open Water but unfortunately my wife, who was NOT doing AOW, was unable to dive.

On her first dive, she experienced some water "intermittenly spurting" into her regulator and was unable to continue the dive after a couple of minutes as panic set in.
We checked the reg and appeared to be ok - no cracks, etc. After taking the next day completely off, she tried again on the third day, but was unable to descend and stay at any depth. Her reg was ok this time, but just had that panic feeling set in after a few minutes. She has 75+ dives, including 3 trips to Coz, but just couldn't do it. These two situations happened on dives in which I was NOT doing AOW dive skills. It was also with a dive master we've dove with before and truly enjoy being with and are very fond of - he was great and tried to work with her.

She's a tough cookie . . . completed an Ironman last September, but just couldn't get comfortable to descend and get through that initial feeling of being underwater.

Question: Have any of you or your buddies experienced anything like this, and if so, what did you do to overcome it?

I took our regs in to our LDS to have a post-trip cleaning and to inspect them. (We had a complete overhaul done prior to our trip to Roatan in April with no issues). I explained to them what happened and they suggested and my wife recognizes herself, that the best thing to do is get in the pool and get that confidence back.

Thanks for any input or suggestions you can provide!

 

[Benawa]

Sorry to hear that Reidster.
I have inspected regs after divers reporting the same squirt of water issue you describe. Most times it was a small tear in the mouth piece itself.
That panicky feeling? Hard to say. One thing for sure is to just not over think it and do easier dives with her so she can get good dives under her belt a fain.
I suppose when in Coz the pressure is on to get good dives in before the flight home.
Good luck
Ben

 

[Dave Dillehay]

This is what I would suggest. ON a return to diving, get her a refresher course in a salt water pool where she can get used to the breathing underwater as long as she wants and feels comfortable with the weights. Then employ a private DM to accompany her on her first open water dive. That should not cost more than $50.

But only do this if she really wants to dive. The worst possible situation is where the wife has a fear that just cannot be overcome and dives only to please her spouse.

Indeed, the most extreme example of this was some years ago when a lady in a group if 6 had over 200 logged dives but was terrified each dive. After hearing my DMs complain about the problem I just couldn't believe it so I took them out the next day. It was true, she clung to me like a 200 lb ramora for the whole 65 minute dive and I have never been so tired in my entire life. I later talked to her privately to find that she only dove because of pressure from her husband who was not sympathetic to her fears. I then had a heart to heart talk with him and I believe he gave up on forcing her to dive, at least for that trip.

On the other hand I have found that some serious hand holding from a concerned dive professional can overcome almost any irrational fear.

Good Luck



Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers


PS If she has a side draft exhaust regulator, water can build up if she keeps her head cantered to one side. ON one deep dive against current made my wife keep her side draft reg ( Oceanic Omega) point up and a big build up of water was the inevitable result... it was a pretty scary for her and I had to use all my DM skills to clam her down.

 

[ggunn]

Returned from Cozumel late last Wednesday (early Thursday after some plane issues) after four days of diving and nine dives.
It was a bittersweet trip. I completed my Advanced Open Water but unfortunately my wife, who was NOT doing AOW, was unable to dive.

On her first dive, she experienced some water "intermittenly spurting" into her regulator and was unable to continue the dive after a couple of minutes as panic set in.
We checked the reg and appeared to be ok - no cracks, etc. After taking the next day completely off, she tried again on the third day, but was unable to descend and stay at any depth. Her reg was ok this time, but just had that panic feeling set in after a few minutes. She has 75+ dives, including 3 trips to Coz, but just couldn't do it. These two situations happened on dives in which I was NOT doing AOW dive skills. It was also with a dive master we've dove with before and truly enjoy being with and are very fond of - he was great and tried to work with her.

[...]

Thanks for any input or suggestions you can provide!

Hindsight, of course, but did it occur to either of you to switch her to her octo?

 

[cruiser]

Then employ a private DM to accompany her on her first open water dive. That should not cost more than $50......The worst possible situation is where the wife has a fear that just cannot be overcome and dives only to please her spouse.

+1.

So true.

 

[Reidster]

Yes she did try to switch to her alternate . . . that probably increased the anxiety. As she said afterwards, she needs to go back and take a refresher course with mask removal, switching regs, etc. the whole basic skills set. In fact when when we were in Roatan in April, she had some mask issues, and went into the pool there and practiced clearing and removing with a friend we were with. We'll get through this. Thanks.

 

[Mike]

I'm probably not understanding the problem correctly? Was this violently forcing water and making her choke or was it just some water in her mouth?

If it's the latter, my opinion is there are deeper problems here, unless I'm missing it and this was some sort of violent, catastrophic instant choking malfunction, your wife should be experienced enough to simply have switched regs underwater, that's what her 2nd reg is for. Without her having that confidence and calmness, I'd say it's time for her to start back at zero and develop the basic skills sets for diving. What's going to happen to her when something beyond such a benign incident occurs? Again, this may have been more violent a malfunction then I am understanding.


*edited - you posted while I was typing, sounds like you figured it out!

 

[Quero]

I realize that you were on vacation and that as such she *should* have been relaxing and having a good time, but did she have anything else on her mind? Worries?

I once had a family of three--mom, dad, and young adult son--doing some dives here, folks who were comfortable in the water and generally calm. However, they had received news the evening before one daytrip that the daughter (who was not along on the trip) had been instructed to have medical tests for cancer, and the mom just couldn't get it together for the dive. She tried--got geared up, got into the water--but she had to abort the dive, and she was unable to do any dives at all afterwards.

I think it's possible for stress levels to be at a point that a person can cope pretty well in "normal" circumstances, like eating or walking down the street, but that any additional stressor, even a small one like a leaky reg, is able to send them over the edge to a place where they can no longer cope and simply have to retreat in order to pull themselves together.

 

[firstdive2005]

Dude sorry to read about your wifes' troubled dives. Hopefully she didn't rest the whole holiday on diving.
I really think you are posting in the wrong area on this board, you should put this event in the Basic Scuba Discussion forum. This is not a tourism question.
If you format the situation with her previous dive profiles of her dive history, her dives per month/year, frequency of practice in pools, last course these types of information will help give good advice. I think you already know however, go get some skill practice in. That is the simple solution likely, familiarity. If extensive time is between dives all divers should get in the pool to reacquaint themselves with their gear. I am very familiar with my gear and dive often. I also go to the pool between the ocean dives. I do not ever want to experience anxiety like that. So thank you for posting her issue I hope she will feel comfortable again in the water. I hope readers will feel the same and keep in practice. be well, kevin

 

[sharky60]

Let here know she's not alone, it happens to many people, there was a similar post on here a couple years ago and I was suprised by the amount of people that said they had experienced some sort of panic attack while diving.

I have experienced minor panic attacks while diving, actually it is a condition where you breath too shallow and start to hyperventilate (sp?) uncontrolled, there is a name for it, but it escapes me at the moment. If you don't keep your head, it can be a very scary situation, your first reaction is to jet to the surface, because you "can't breath", when in fact, you ARE breathing, just very fast!!!

I'm with Dave, hire a private instructor for a dive or two, (or day or two), until she feels comfortable again.

Possibly some pool time in mean time if that is at all possible. Just a dive in shallow water in a totally controlled situaiton like that could do wonders.