Diver anxiety

[Kevin Blaylock]

On a recent dive, i had a mild panic attack at 70 ft in a quarry. My buddies and i were maybe 5 minutes into our second dive of the day, and i just had an overwhelming feeling that i needed to be on the surface. I signalled to my buddy that i was ascending, and proceeded to make a controlled ascent (it took 2 and half minutes) but blew my safety stop. I am a relatively new diver (about 60 dives). After being on the surface for a few minutes we decided to try a shallower depth and proceeded to have a nice second half of the dive at about 30 ft.
That wall of text leads me to my question. Ever since that event i feel myself getting anxious at just the thought of doing a deeper dive. Has anyone ever dealt with this before and if so how did you get your "sea legs" back?

 

[tbone1004]

Did you have a headache when you came up in the base of your neck? Sometimes a wetsuit that is too tight can cause retention of CO2 which can lead to a "dark narc" and that feeling you are talking about.

Were you in Mystery Lake? It's also possible that the conditions in the bottom of that quarry could have put blinders on you and caused the anxiety to build.

What you really need to figure out is WHY you felt like that. You are attributing it to depth, and it could well have been, but it likely is something else that you are just attributing to depth.

Best course of action to get your sea legs back is to get with a more experienced buddy if at all possible that can help you build the experience to head down to that depth.

 

[Kevin Blaylock]

It was at mystery lake. And if you have ever dove there, you know the lights go out at about 40 ft. So loss of vision may have been a factor, also colder and i had my hood on (which i usually dont wear). I do remember feeling tired, and started to wonder if i even had the energy to get to the surface if i needed to. As far as pain or adverse effects, no. No pain or anything (which i attribute to being early in the dive).

 

[tbone1004]

It was at mystery lake. And if you have ever dove there, you know the lights go out at about 40 ft. So loss of vision may have been a factor, also colder and i had my hood on (which i usually dont wear). I do remember feeling tired, and started to wonder if i even had the energy to get to the surface if i needed to. As far as pain or adverse effects, no. No pain or anything (which i attribute to being early in the dive).

The hood is probably part of it and I was one of the first ones to dive that quarry many years ago, before the aerators. You should have seen it then...

I suspect a lot of it may have been physiological with the temperature and hood. I'd get a few dives in the shallows and maybe go over to FLSP where you can do the 40-60ft drop and come back if you start to feel woogity. It's a lot better of a training location for stuff like that.
Not sure in NC where you are, but the PDRA quarries may also be a good choice

 

[Kevin Blaylock]

The hood is probably part of it and I was one of the first ones to dive that quarry many years ago, before the aerators. You should have seen it then...

I suspect a lot of it may have been physiological with the temperature and hood. I'd get a few dives in the shallows and maybe go over to FLSP where you can do the 40-60ft drop and come back if you start to feel woogity. It's a lot better of a training location for stuff like that.
Not sure in NC where you are, but the PDRA quarries may also be a good choice

Im coastal believe it or not, so the pdra quarries are a bit of a drive away. Flsp is good for training, and i have done a few dives there since, but real shallow (35 ft maybe). But its been too cold for my southern blood right now to get out too much.

 

[tbone1004]

Im coastal believe it or not, so the pdra quarries are a bit of a drive away. Flsp is good for training, and i have done a few dives there since, but real shallow (35 ft maybe). But its been too cold for my southern blood right now to get out too much.

I'm suspecting you were blinded by the cold/hood that was started by the lack of visibility and are tying it to the depth. You need to get somewhere where you have better bearings to go deep to remove that association and get more diving in those conditions in the shallows.

 

[Kevin Blaylock]

I'm suspecting you were blinded by the cold/hood that was started by the lack of visibility and are tying it to the depth. You need to get somewhere where you have better bearings to go deep to remove that association and get more diving in those conditions in the shallows.

Thank you for the advise. Im hoping to get some dives in on some of the shallower wrecks when the weather clears up enough for the inshore vis to be managable. Also taking a trip in a few weeks to central florida to do some spring diving in a few weeks with my lds. Im hoping this will knock off some of the cobwebs

 

[TMHeimer]

You didn't actually mention any lack of visibility at depth-- was it bad? Was that perhaps a factor? Poor viz can cause concern, particularly when the bottom is not in sight. I can feel a little funny descending to a 20' shore dive if the viz is say 3' or less. On almost all of my deep dives I pulled myself down the anchor line, so I could always see THAT.
Shallow dives in "brighter" conditions may well be the answer if this is the case.
I have never had any problems with depth and have dived as deep as 130', yet when swimming (not scuba) I get the heebee jeebees when in water over my head. Everybody's got a thing I guess.

 

[tbone1004]

@TMHeimer think of this quarry as a pit. It has a small roughly 30ft "brim", but then drops down quite deep and is a pretty much straight dropoff. It's a weird place to dive.

 

[TMHeimer]

@TMHeimer think of this quarry as a pit. It has a small roughly 30ft "brim", but then drops down quite deep and is a pretty much straight dropoff. It's a weird place to dive.

View attachment 639816

Thanks. I can see that being a little spooky. Not really my cup of tea.