Does scuba diving ever freak you out?

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

Haven't you had that experience in the OR? When everything looks like it's going to you-know-where in a handbasket, and you have to keep telling yourself to be methodical and organized and it will all sort out?

Usually, my reptile brain is screaming incoherently, and my forebrain is working its way through available options. Luckily, I've had enough training that the forebrain usually wins.

Yes, when things went bad in the OR I would allow myself a brief interlude to flip out, then go into a "now what" mode... but they were clearly sequential. In this case, I vividly felt like I was two people at once, like the old "devil on one shoulder, angel on the other" scenario. You can't breath said the devil, oh yes you can, said the angel.

Incidentally, when struggling in the OR, I would sometimes think of the family in the waiting room who sat reading magazines and assuming everything was fine and I knew what I was doing... I once asked an airline pilot if that happened to him, that is, were there times when the passengers sat calmly eating peanuts, assuming all was in order, while he sat sweating out what to do next. He just smiled and said he would never admit it even if that happened.

 

[TeddyDiver]

You literally never know what will happen.

YUP! Especially with equipment, and trips you know. This year alone have spent some 7000e for diving and never know what I'll buy next time.. (except I allready ordered a compressor and I'm building a dive boat) And it gets really dangerous if wife founds out how much it all is going cost

 

[Cacia]

yea, pilots amaze me. At you docs start out with some problem protoplasm usually, and one at a time. The thought of having 300 lives in your hands at a time is just overwhelming to me.

I get scared pretty often. Little doses of fear probably are good in the long run because once you work through it, you are less likely to panic. Unless you die dosing yourself. Important to check in with reality regularly. That is my best advice---check in with reality. The Walters of the world.

 

[divereh]

solo diver course from rrdi, divers are all walks of life, from freaks all the way around to freaks again. spin the wheel take your chance

 

[mikerault]

I don't know, after nearly surfacing a nuclear sub into the bottom of a deep water tanker nothing much else scares me now...you heard the screw going overhead through the hull...wooosh....wooosh...woosh...

 

[dumpsterDiver]

The first time I felt uncomfortable in the water was this morning. I had purchased a new BC, a glide plus, and was anxious to try it out before going to Aruba next month. I went to our local quarry using a 5 mil wetsuit and, since we planned a short dive and to stay above the thermocline, no hood and no gloves. The air temp was only 41, water temp above the thermocline in the mid-sixties. As I descended, I went down a little too rapidly and I quickly penetrated into water in the mid-forties--- and that water flooded my wetsuit like ice.

Like stepping into a cold shower, I started to hyperventilate faster than my reg would deliver it and felt, for a brief moment, a surge of panic even though I knew I was in no trouble and could surface easily, and even be on shore in two minutes. Moreover, my buddy was an instructor and sensed that my breathing seemed off and pulled me up into warmer water, asking if I was OK. I forced myself to breathe more slowly, said i was OK and headed off. It took several more minutes before my anxiety faded and I finished the dive uneventfully.

Lesson learned...be aware of the environment you are diving in and how it might affect you. I underestimated the impact of the cold, even though I have been in the quarry many times before in similar conditions. I need to get a dry suit...

What I found interesting though, was that there were two people in my head, one freezing and fighting for air and another yelling at the first, saying "calm down you baby, it will pass, just don't hyperventilate yourself into passing out". Has anyone else had this experience, namely feeling in trouble and simultaneously reassuring yourself you are not in trouble?

... Aren't you the guy who said something like: "training is over-rated" or something like that, I don't really recall?

 

[Bill51]

yea, pilots amaze me. At you docs start out with some problem protoplasm usually, and one at a time. The thought of having 300 lives in your hands at a time is just overwhelming to me.

I get scared pretty often. Little doses of fear probably are good in the long run because once you work through it, you are less likely to panic. Unless you die dosing yourself. Important to check in with reality regularly. That is my best advice---check in with reality. The Walters of the world.

I completely agree that people can condition themselves to adrenaline rushes and better control the fight or flight reactions it can cause. If I’ve been stuck in the office for 6 weeks I feel a little more anxious when faced with physical challenges than I do if I’ve been pushing myself more regularly – even if the challenges are in completely unrelated activities. A day of rock climbing or flying through bad weather will help prepare me for a potentially stressful deep night dive.

 

[WarrenZ]

I can give you this little peice of advice when you run into a problem stop and solve the problem. Panicking is like worrying about something it dosent do a d***** thing to stop it from happening just be as prepared as possible for the things that can and will happen.

When something goes wrong fix it. It is the 30 seconds of oh sh** that kills people. If you stop, take a deep breath, and think you can solve almost all of the problems you will happen across both above and below the surface.

 

[shakeybrainsurgeon]

... Aren't you the guy who said something like: "training is over-rated" or something like that, I don't really recall?

No, training can't be over-rated. The question I posed in another thread was whether PADI's 4 OW dives for certification is sufficient to be a safe diver. The "outcome data" suggests that the number of accidents and deaths that could have been prevented by more training is not high. Others, however, pointed out that the statistics can be misleading and it is often not possible to tell why a diver got into trouble.

Thus, it's possible that more training is needed, but what training? I raised the rhetorical question: is there a mechanism whereby certifying agencies can take DAN accident/mortality data and analyze what could be done better in the training process to reduce the danger further. In medicine, state law requires constant "peer review" of complications and deaths so that trends and flaws in current health delivery can be corrected. For example, if deaths are due to sudden, uncontrolled ascents, should a fifth dive practicing ascent skills be added? Should the PPB dives be incorporated into the OW format?

Moreover, reading the threads, it's clear that OW certification makes no one a "good" diver, regardless of whether they are safe. Witness the number of divers, me included, who have up to 50 dives and still struggle with buoyancy and trim issues. Of course, practice is essential too, but as in any skill sport, practice + instruction is better.

In my case, I pay instructors to dive with me whenever possible and ask advice and tips from them. Such "postgraduate education" may not be mandatory to be safe, but is essential to be good, especially for those klutzes like me who aren't underwater savants.