dive induced vomiting

[DepartureDiver]

I had a friend approach me with a situation I have never heard of or encountered before, so I thought I would throw it out on this forum. The situation is a recreational diver starts vomiting during the ascent portion of her dive. It does not happen on the bottom phase, but only during the ascent ... and it happens every dive. She will keep this up and even get the dry heaves after surfacing and she does not feel well enough to ever do a second dive. I thought about her swallowing salt water or the weightless environment causing the problem somehow ... but her situation seems a little extreme for simply swallowing some salt water. Hopefully there is a medical explanation so this can be addressed. Any thoughts or ideas especially from you medical folks?

 

[Mako Mark]

underwater vomiting (in my Experience) usually occurs during the ascent phase, or just before the descent phase.

I attribute it to gas expansion.

In the case of your friend if it happens every dive, she should stop eating at Taco Bell for breakfast, you might want to check out the salt water swallowing theory too, check the reg mouthpiece and díaphragm for leaks etc.

 

[simbrooks]

I have once or twice when i felt sick on the surface, but vomited (only a little) at depth just after i had gotten there. Sometimes i have gotten pretty close in surge. Maybe gas and a little water entered the stomach during the dive and churned things up a bit as Mark says during the ascent when the air in the stomach is expanding and being expelled - hence the fairly common burping post dive.

 

[DepartureDiver]

I'll double check, but no belching due to swallowing air as I recall since I asked that question ... and again, only starting during the ascent (could be coincidence since it took a certain amount of time to "get ill") and then she continues to stay sick.

 

[simbrooks]

That wasnt quite what i was saying, your stomach is another air volume of air, just like sinuses etc, except it automatically equalises, and that sometimes comes out as a belch as the expanding air escapes. Due to the air moving around in there, possibly something not so great to eat before the dive etc, that might irritate the stomach and make you vomit.

 

[MSilvia]

It seems to me that if you had air/gas in the stomach, it would expand/depressurize during ascent, which would basicly turn a person into a big aerosol can of vomit. Maybe she swallows gas while breathing from a reg?

 

[Web Monkey]

It seems to me that if you had air/gas in the stomach, it would expand/depressurize during ascent, which would basicly turn a person into a big aerosol can of vomit.

Hey! I was all set to eat dinner. Now I can't get the picture out of my head!

Terry

 

[akscubainst]

My wife has this problem in a drysuit and hood and limited visability She almost never dives here at home because it's guaranteed that she will end up throwing up. When she's in warm water and loses the drysuit and hood she's fine.

We've decided that it is probably more the vis and vertigo than anything else. She did have a little nasuea in Bonaire last year when she got in the surge and the whiteout of the beach sand. Once she swam out deeper into the clear water she was fine.

She averages about 15 dives per vacation without any problems but put her in bad vis and she's heaving.

She's also become a big believe in proplugs just to eliminate water in her ears and the potential for vertigo there.

We'd love to have a fix for it.

Dave

 

[GoBlue!]

I had this problem one day on Looe Key, and never again. There was a bit of surge, but no more than I had experienced multiple times before. Interestingly, I felt totally fine on the dive & only once I hit the surface did I get a wave of nausea & then several bouts of vomiting leading to a frenzy of yellow-tailed snapper activity.

I had eaten more that morning than usual, and I think combined with just the right amount of surge, I tossed my cookies. In addition to air expansion on ascent, surge is more prominent near the surface, obviously, and I think that likely contributes.

Jim

 

[knotical]

I have a friend who chums at the end of every first dive of a trip. She was told her problem is alternobaric vertigo. As I understand it, this vertigo always happens while the ambient pressure is decreasing (e.g. on ascent), and can be triggered by a difference in pressure in the two middle ears.
She plans to do a lot of swallowing, yawning, jaw thrusts, and the like on her next ascent.