Sandie7
Registered
Hello everyone, I am new here, and also very new to diving - actually I'm probably not even "new" yet.
I went for my first dive (a diving baptism) a few days ago, and everything went wrong.
I began having trouble breathing right before I got in the water - I couldn't breath "fully" and felt extremely uncomfortable. I honestly didn't realize I was getting so nervous during the hours we were waiting.
Then my instructor told me to float, then to get my face in the water, mask and regulator on, and simply breathe. I felt a little better, but still couldn't breathe fully, with the regulator or without it. Then we started the dive, differently from the others, almost 1 meter at a time. I tried to concentrate on breathing, on relaxing. I guess I was about 5 minutes under water, maybe more, when I failed to grab the regulator and got water inside my mouth.
I know this sounds completely ridiculous to everyone here, but I didn't know what to do. My instructor tried to put the regulator back in my mouth and I refused. I simply moved to the surface as fast as could, with my instructor pushing air into my mouth. My lungs seem to be exploding. I just knew that the air I needed was at the surface and that was all I cared for.
After this, I couldn't complete the dive - I felt so sick and nauseated, it took me hours to feel a little better. I couldn't stop shivering. And the feeling of losing control so suddenly, the panic, the failure, was devastating. I am still feeling this way, and that's why I am asking for help here.
Later, I understood what had happened - apart from the anxiety. I had no idea how the regulator worked, and to me, when I "lost" it, it couldn't work anymore - it had water inside - if I tried to breathe through it again, I would breathe water. Sounds crazy, I am sure, but under water, in panic and desperately wanting to breathe, there would be no point in explaining that to me ...
My husband says it was a failure in the small briefing session we all (me and 2 others) had, with explanations about the equipment and general rules ...
I am going to try again this Sunday. My instructor is a nice man, and seemed very upset with what happened. He invited me to a new baptism, but this time starting from the beach. I know I have to go - I want to, I want to conquer this fear. But ... I seem to be more scared now than before.
Thank you in advance for anything that you can say about this ...
I went for my first dive (a diving baptism) a few days ago, and everything went wrong.
I began having trouble breathing right before I got in the water - I couldn't breath "fully" and felt extremely uncomfortable. I honestly didn't realize I was getting so nervous during the hours we were waiting.
Then my instructor told me to float, then to get my face in the water, mask and regulator on, and simply breathe. I felt a little better, but still couldn't breathe fully, with the regulator or without it. Then we started the dive, differently from the others, almost 1 meter at a time. I tried to concentrate on breathing, on relaxing. I guess I was about 5 minutes under water, maybe more, when I failed to grab the regulator and got water inside my mouth.
I know this sounds completely ridiculous to everyone here, but I didn't know what to do. My instructor tried to put the regulator back in my mouth and I refused. I simply moved to the surface as fast as could, with my instructor pushing air into my mouth. My lungs seem to be exploding. I just knew that the air I needed was at the surface and that was all I cared for.
After this, I couldn't complete the dive - I felt so sick and nauseated, it took me hours to feel a little better. I couldn't stop shivering. And the feeling of losing control so suddenly, the panic, the failure, was devastating. I am still feeling this way, and that's why I am asking for help here.
Later, I understood what had happened - apart from the anxiety. I had no idea how the regulator worked, and to me, when I "lost" it, it couldn't work anymore - it had water inside - if I tried to breathe through it again, I would breathe water. Sounds crazy, I am sure, but under water, in panic and desperately wanting to breathe, there would be no point in explaining that to me ...
My husband says it was a failure in the small briefing session we all (me and 2 others) had, with explanations about the equipment and general rules ...
I am going to try again this Sunday. My instructor is a nice man, and seemed very upset with what happened. He invited me to a new baptism, but this time starting from the beach. I know I have to go - I want to, I want to conquer this fear. But ... I seem to be more scared now than before.
Thank you in advance for anything that you can say about this ...