Handling anxious feelings ... What worked best for you?

[DevonDiver]

Not sure what the diving medical contra-indications might be for using valium on scuba. That's a question best posed on the Diving Medicine forum, before you try it.

Personally, I believe that scuba confidence stems from two sources:

1) Experience. Good or bad / Little or extensive - you gain (or lose) confidence as you dive more. Most people gain confidence - but that can stem from one of two situations. False confidence is gained from extensive diving, without experiencing a problem that tests your skills. Such false confidence can easily lead divers into setting over-ambitious personal limits for their diving. Realistic confidence is gained from repetitive practice, overcoming problems and proving your skills when called upon.

2) Training. The most valuable and realistic confidence that you possess stems from effective training and an inherent self-belief that you have the skills, knowledge and procedures necessary to cope with whatever problems you might encounter. This can be aided by diving within the limits of your training and experience, by continually practicing and refining your skills and by setting your own personal limits that reflect your comfort zone. Such personal limits should reflect the conditions, depth and activity of a given dive.

Dive more... practice and refine skills continually... and don't succumb to over-confidence.

Anxiety is just your ego reminding you that you have more to learn

 

[InkyUndine]

Wow - thanks again to everyone for such helpful input! Ya know, I've been thinking that if so many others who have gone before me have managed to get numerous dives under their belt and come back alive and happy, SURELY I can do the same. I know several divers personally, and can attest that they are no more or less intelligent and confident than I, so I'm trying to bear that in mind.

The OW dives are quickly coming up (this weekend), and I've been reserving the right to either go through with them - or not, depending on my comfort level at the time. My instructor is well aware of this and has been nothing but encouraging and agreeable to allowing me go at my own pace. (He says the important thing is not for me to "hurry up and become certified", but that I DO it at some point, when I'm ready.) However, after taking the written exam last night and passing it, I feel even more confident. I missed a couple of questions because I was just flat-out tired and misread the question - stupid mistakes on my part; also didn't follow through with an answer for a question re the RDP, but I still felt good about all of the information that I have been able to retain thus far! We were sized for gear (will be wearing wetsuits), and practiced attaching the tank to the BC. Just doing those few things made my confidence soar! I now feel that I WILL go through with the OW dives this weekend. I really, really want to - and am no longer feeling such a sense of trepidation, but am excited and eager to move forward. My therapist had suggested that I look into the possibility of taking half a Xanax to help quell my fears, but I really do NOT want to do that, and do not plan to. (I don't even HAVE any meds like that, and even obtaining them at this point would be a PITA.)

You know that saying about how being armed with a little bit of information can be dangerous? I feel like I've been armed with a ton of facts, and I know I'm in good hands with the instructor and divemaster, so I'm going to stop fretting and start channeling the anxiety into something productive, just as you've all suggested.

 

[TSandM]

Have you had some time in the pool? You shouldn't be going to open water without some time in confined, and confined means pool-like conditions -- warm, calm and clear.

 

[InkyUndine]

Not yet (well, aside from the Discover class), but the pool is our focus for the next 8 hours that we spend training together (over 2 nights) before the OW.

 

[spoolin01]

I would say that is absolutely horrible, horrible advice... if not for the fact that this is "New to Diving" forum and we're supposed to be kind and cuddly. So instead, I'll simply say that the OP might want to keep task loading to a minimum until they are a bit more comfortable in the water.

I didn't see that the OP was totally new, I thought he had a lingering issue with anxiety. I wouldn't advise jumping into your hobby mid-check-out dives, but I'd also wager that distraction would help more nervous divers than worrying about task loading. The divers I see on charters don't look particularly loaded with tasks, even the anxious ones.

 

[TjRjn]

Thanks for this question.
After having got my open water 7 years ago and with only a few dives under my belt when I hit the water again a few weeks a go for the first time I felt quite panicky and claustrophobic - but then I always have.
Not being particularly technically minded I think it's the setting up of the equipment that does it. I'm always worried if I've done this or that correctly.
I've just started to buy my own gear so I'm always familiar with it, not just relying on whatever I'm given on the boat. Ideally I'd love to find a buddy who I know and can rely on but that's not looking too promising yet.
It's good to know that I'm not the only one that feels nervous and like the people on this board advise, I'll just keep going and hopefully one day the nervousness will disappear.

 

[InkyUndine]

Last night I completed all of the skills in the first confined session and felt terrific after doing so! That's not to say that I didn't have a couple of incidents where I inhaled water instead of air- but I figured out what I did wrong and corrected it. Live and learn, right? My disappointment came from the fact that my husband had a panicked moment after doing the swim and tread test, then couldn't get his mask to stop leaking, and just became frustrated and decided to sit out the rest of the class. This, of course, put him behind and our schedule is such that he now won't be able to do the OW dives with me this weekend. He's still encouraging me to keep going, although I'm a bit disheartened because I've temporarily lost my dive buddy. I can say, though, that after he left the pool - when it became clear that HIS anxiety was getting the best of him - I was able to stop worrying about him and just focus on myself. Maybe that sounds (and maybe it IS) selfish, but fretting over your partner's comfort and safety when you aren't 100% sure of your own is NOT a good feeling. At any rate, he will likely do some more strengthening work before embarking back on the coursework - and will possibly conduct the remainder of his training privately with the instructor. I still plan to forge ahead as scheduled.

(Now, if I could only get this darn trapped water out of my ear! Is this a problem for anyone else? The Swim-Ear drops aren't helping much ...)

 

[TjRjn]

(Now, if I could only get this darn trapped water out of my ear! Is this a problem for anyone else? The Swim-Ear drops aren't helping much ...)

I have trouble with my left ear - always have, not just with diving. I think the ear canal is narrower in my left.
Last couple of dives I've ended with pain in my ear. The first time I went to the specialists and he gave me drops and tablets. He says it was fine but it still felt like it was aching. Anyway I did another 2 dives a couple of weeks later. First dive was ok, the second one I got a terrible pain in my ear. 2 weeks on if feels ok but still not 100% no matter how many times I try to clear it, I think it is just something I will have to learn to live with.

 

[InkyUndine]

Yeah, I suspect that my right ear canal is significantly narrower than my left. I actually felt water trapped in my ear after doing my tread/float early on in yesterday's class, and it just never cleared. This morning I feel like I can hear out of half my head, and the other half is muffled. The last time this happened, it was a couple of days before I felt normal again. I'm asking myself WHY I want to keep pressing on ... temporarily lost my dive buddy, water in my head/can't hear properly, feeling a bit anxious at the thought of the OW ... and then I think about how amazingly COOL it felt to tool around the bottom of the pool breathing freely. And there's the answer to that question.

 

[LowDrag]

I have kind of a funny answer to this situation. My first OW class in January was a disaster and I had to return last month. Needless to say I was a it nervous/anxious to get back in the water. So, my son, my wife and I were joking about things to break the tension before getting back in when I came up with a good tension buster. Ever see the movie Bad Boys 2 with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence? The one where they were going thru the stress training and would rub their ears and say "ooosaw" (spelling???). We were joking about that before getting in and got a good laugh out it. When we got in the water I thought it was gonna be nice for the viz but as soon as we got out about 30' into the water it turned very murky with a dead algae bloom. This added to my being anxious but I pressed on because I was determined I was going to complete my cert this time. We dropped down a piling to keep close to each other and do our skills. It was definitely not easy to see each other and I got a bit nervous. My wife was two feet away from me and I looked at her and rubbed my ears thru my hood and mentally started chanting ooosaw. You could see her and our DiveCon crack up laughing which went a long way to breaking my tension. Keep this in mind when you do your OW, hopefully it will break any tension you might be feeling to. One other thing, if your location is murky when you get in don't let it throw you. I honestly feel that I am more comfortable in the water after having completed my OW in such murky settings. I did a lake dive on the 14th and had zero issues with being in that water with only +/- 5' of viz. Good luck in your OW, I hope your husband gets back in the saddle and has a good time with it. I know I felt a ton better after getting my card.