Bloating and feeling uncomfortable after diving

[Alex Dailey]

Intro to scuba has been going better, getting used to all the gear and whatnot...but I've noticed a somewhat disturbing occurance at the end of each class. I tend to burp a lot (probably about five times during a two hour class) with the regulator in my mouth, which I think is due to swallowing air too much. The main difficulty I'm noticing is that I get home at night, hang up my gear to dry and then pretty much fall asleep right away...but then wake up throughout the night feeling bloated and sort of uncomfortable. I've also been waking up with a sinus headache (probably due to the mask squeezing my face is my guess). I've talked with another individual who scuba dives, and his reccomendation was to take sinus reliever, which has helped, but I am at a loss for what to do with the bloating. Any suggestions?

 

[captndale]

It sounds as though you are swallowing air during your diving. Pay attention to what you are doing so that you can identify your actions that are causing you to do so. Discuss this with your instructor. Swallowing air in the swimming pool may cause some discomfort but doing so on a deeper open water dive may have much greater consequences when you return to the surface.

 

[rstofer]

Swallowing air is the problem. You need to stop doing it!

You really should not feel mask squeeze. You may have your straps too tight. The water will try to push the mask against your face as you descend and you will blow into the mask to relieve the squeeze (equalize). At all times the mask should be in LIGHT contact with your face. Just enough to prevent leaks.

Richard

 

[Nitrox624]

Agreed, sounds like you are swallowing air. Since you said that you have sinus issues also you might have drainage in the back of your throat causing you to swallow while diving.

 

[DBailey]

Intro to scuba has been going better, getting used to all the gear and whatnot...but I've noticed a somewhat disturbing occurance at the end of each class. I tend to burp a lot (probably about five times during a two hour class) with the regulator in my mouth, which I think is due to swallowing air too much. The main difficulty I'm noticing is that I get home at night, hang up my gear to dry and then pretty much fall asleep right away...but then wake up throughout the night feeling bloated and sort of uncomfortable. I've also been waking up with a sinus headache (probably due to the mask squeezing my face is my guess). I've talked with another individual who scuba dives, and his reccomendation was to take sinus reliever, which has helped, but I am at a loss for what to do with the bloating. Any suggestions?

Burping and bloated feeling sound like swallowing air. As long as you can burp the air out, it shouldn't cause any major problems. Either way, swallowing air is not a good habit to get into. Do you have equalization issues? I see a few students that swallow air when they try to forcibly clear their ears.

For the falling asleep right away, are you staying well hydrated? Do some research on proper hydration and you'll see that in your normal life you are probably dehydrated. I seemed to have more energy after dives when I started monitoring what I was drinking, how much and when. Also, work on your ascents. Come up as slow as possible. When I slowed my ascents even below 30 feet per minute, I felt better after the dives.

For the sinus pressure, I go back to are you have equalization issues? If you are forcing the equalization, this could lead to it as well. Also, are you breathing normally? Fast and excited breaths can lead to this same issue. Also, go back to your ascents, come up slowly.

Regarding the mask tightness, try to become more comfortable in the water. I can take one finger and without much effort slide my mask strap up and down the back of my head. Do you have to pull/stretch your mask strap to get it on your head? I would guess that it is too tight. You need the strap tight enough to keep the mask from freely moving around on your face. You do not need a tight strap to help seal the mask to your face. After a dive do you have a line where the mask was or do you have a 'dent' where the mask was?

 

[Alex Dailey]

Burping and bloated feeling sound like swallowing air. As long as you can burp the air out, it shouldn't cause any major problems. Either way, swallowing air is not a good habit to get into. Do you have equalization issues? I see a few students that swallow air when they try to forcibly clear their ears.

For the falling asleep right away, are you staying well hydrated? Do some research on proper hydration and you'll see that in your normal life you are probably dehydrated. I seemed to have more energy after dives when I started monitoring what I was drinking, how much and when. Also, work on your ascents. Come up as slow as possible. When I slowed my ascents even below 30 feet per minute, I felt better after the dives.

For the sinus pressure, I go back to are you have equalization issues? If you are forcing the equalization, this could lead to it as well. Also, are you breathing normally? Fast and excited breaths can lead to this same issue. Also, go back to your ascents, come up slowly.

Regarding the mask tightness, try to become more comfortable in the water. I can take one finger and without much effort slide my mask strap up and down the back of my head. Do you have to pull/stretch your mask strap to get it on your head? I would guess that it is too tight. You need the strap tight enough to keep the mask from freely moving around on your face. You do not need a tight strap to help seal the mask to your face. After a dive do you have a line where the mask was or do you have a 'dent' where the mask was?

I have slight equalization issues, they are getting better the more comfortable I get with the gear and descent (I descend a bit slower than the rest of the group). Generally with clearing my ears I exhale through my nose, or yawn slightly/stretch my neck and that will usually clear them. I do burp air out underwater, but the problem is the air I retain after getting out of the pool.

I'm pretty sure I am swallowing air, and hopefully on Monday night I can talk to the instructor to find out how to avoid this, as many have told me it's not a good habit to obtain. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of information on how NOT to swallow air, just that you shouldn't. Am I over complicating things and it's just as simple as don't swallow while breathing in?

I'm pretty sure my breathing comes into play as well. I tend to take shallow quicker breaths while on scuba or snorkel, but have concentrated on this and felt I did much better during the last class, after which I still had the same issue of bloating. I seem to bite down on the regulator a lot but am not sure if this has any impact.

I'll check on my hydration level, I've been trying to stay better hydrated and up my potassium intake to alleviate the charlie horses I've been getting in my calves while swimming with fins (working out leg muscles and repeated pool sessions have also helped). I'm pretty sure that I'm still dehydrated though, especially since I'm always so thirsty after diving. In regards to the mask lines, I usually have a couple dents on my face, or some faint lines...I'll try loosening it a bit and see if that helps out.

Thanks to everyone!

 

[DoctorBubbles]

I went diving 2 months ago for the first time. After a week of daily diving I started to burp more often too. I didnt pay much attention to it, but I am still burping now. I may be aswallowing air too, as it gets worse when I breathe through my mouth. I tried all sorts of pills because I could never make myself burp before (unless I drink a Coke or something), and now its so easy and at times involuntary. I tried De-Gas, antacids and various other similar products to no avail. A doctor told me that it could be something herniated and a mate reckons he knows someone who had the same thing but it was due to a stomach ulcer. Its all a bit baffling

 

[FloridaRanger]

Try to address the behavior instead of taking all sorts of medicines afterward to try to compensate for it, imho.

 

[Water Monkey]

It sounds like mild stress to me.
Both swallowing air and being tired after diving are indicators of just being a little stressed out, ether consciously or unconsciously.
As you get more comfortable in the water these symptoms will most likely subside.
I think the best thing you can do at this point is to not focus on it, and focus on just having fun diving instead.
I always have games to play like underwater Frisbee in my classes. It helps relieve some of the tension.

 

[Hotpuppy]

Don't worry about being slower to descend. Being slow to descend and slow to ascend is a good thing in Scuba. The only prize for being the fastest one to the surface is a visit to the recompression chamber.....

It takes time to get to where you relax and can enjoy scuba. I think it was my 4th real open water dive before I actually started to forget I was doing scuba and think about where I was at. I remember thinking during my pool session that I was out of my mind and that this sucked. I stuck with it and it did get easier. When we did our first checkout dive it was 50 degree air and 53 degree water. I knew I was out of my mind then but I stuck with it.