Spiegel Grove??

[casemanager]

Yesterday, on my first dive of the Spiegel Grove, I felt scared for the first time in my diving experience. We went to 91 feet and were going along the side of the starboard, after about 10 minutes, I got Narked. Instead of swimming or grabbing something, I paniced. I couldnt get attention of any of the divers about 5 feet below me and my buddy was no where to be seen. I had taken the patch for motion and wonder if that played a role in me experiencing vertigo big time. I inflated my BC and rose too fast. I tired to stop at 20' for about 1.30 minutes but felt that i needed to surface. When I surfaced, I got back to the boat and started to experince severe chest pain, was put on 02 and they rushed to the port where EMS transported me super fast to the hospital. I then spent the next 5 hours in the chamber. The er doc recommeded that I never dive again because of experiencing panic attack, I dont know what to do but I never want to feel that scary feeling of being on a boat and not knowing if your going to make it to the hospital.

 

[Markdone]

WOW - thanks for sharing this with everyone. Glad you're ok. Talk with some professionals about your next step.

Mark

 

[Bill Schindler]

I'm real sorry to hear of your experience. However, OMG, you are lucky that you didn't end up with very severe injuries if you went from 90' to 20' with an inflated BC. I'm glad that you're OK.

Please give us more information regarding your experience level, water conditions (e.g., current, vis,), have you ever dove with this particular buddy, etc.. Anything that you can share can help others to avoid a similar problem.

 

[Eidolon]

First off, I'm glad you were ok in spite of what happened. I'd suggest working with an instructor on the deep diving specialty to help you understand and hopefully deal a bit more rationally with the effects of narcosis. If not that, at least dive with a DM guide if you plan to go below 60'-80' or so until you're more comfortable with deep dives and diving in general. My first deep dive with current I got a little freaked out too but since then it's been easier. Everyone gets narced, it's how you deal with it that matters.


That or stay above 60'.

 

[casemanager]

I was taking my advanced wreck dive using nitrox when this occured. The current was not bad but visibility was 10-12. Ironically, I have dived 105 before using air in Hawaii about 1 month ago and had no problems. The buddy that i had was taking the course as well and i didnt know him well, this guy thinks hes going to be a dm in the first 3 months. Ive been diving for 6 years and have logged about 25 dives but I mostly did in the Carribean. What scared me was that there were 3 DMS around us and nonone saw me rise. I've never felt so umcomfortable or scared in my life.

 

[Henryville]

Assuming you were on 32%, an END of 73 feet sounds shallow for a narc due to nitrogen. How hard were you working? That wreck can have some pretty strong currents. I'd be willing to posit that you experienced a hypercapnia-induced panic. That is essentially getting narced on C02. Not the euphoric narc of nitrogen but a nastier, panic-inducing experience.

In any case, glad you came through it relatively intact, and I agree with those above advising you should understand whether/how you were injured, whether this presents an absoute contraindication for diving, what the issues are, and make an informed and medically supportable decision about where to go from here.

With your experience (especially measured in dives per year) I would also say, slow down, get some experience in different conditions but stick to shallower dives until you build comfort and skills.

With the dive you were doing, you were in essence saying "I'm an experienced diver and I can handle myself." Was there an instructor on this dive? You only mention a DM. Notwithstanding their responsibility, you also learned who you need to rely on underwater - yourself. You have to approach diving in general and advanced (deep, etc.) diving in particular with an attitude of personal responsibility backed by gradually accumulated experience.

You already know this, but you are lucky you avoided more serious injury. If you continue with diving, slow down, enjoy the shallower stuff, and build your skills/confidence and self-relaince before moving on to more complicated and less forgiving environments/dives.

 

[2Tours N Iraq`]

There is another forum that discusses solo diving. Even though I dive with a buddy, I treat every dive as a solo dive because unless it is with my twin brother, I have zero confidence in a buddy to save my butt in an emergency. After serving in the infantry in combat it takes a great deal of training to gain complete trust in your battle buddy (in this situation, Dive Buddy) to be able to rely on them in an emergency. My advice is to gain comfort in the water. You can either let fear cripple you and keep you from diving again or you can kick fear in the rump and continue diving. The only true mistake is the one you don't learn from.

 

[av8er23]

Once you surfaced, boarded the boat and got on O2. How long did you have to wait until the rest of the divers surfaced? What dive operation were you with?

 

[TropicalDiver]

A lot of diving is mental and how you react to stressors. In this case, it seems that CO2 build-up might have occurred, leading to panic in your case. I've had two situations in which I've had similar body reactions (CO2 buildup and the symptoms of hyperventilation etc), but did not shoot to surface. Sometimes, your body tells you things that are untrue and you've got to simply THINK through it instead of instinctively reacting - not easy, but possible. Researching the treatments used for panic attacks might help - such as telling yourself that your equipment works and you're NOT gonna die, no matter what what your body seems to be telling you - your body is just trying to "fool you" into thinking that, might help. The brain is a powerful, but tricky thing - on one hand when that little neuron connection forms - even once - its hard to "unlearn" the reaction - but is it possible to think through it. Also, know the triggers that this dive gave you that led to the reaction - because if those triggers are present again (water temp, feeling out of breath, etc.) you might have another reaction - just be ready for it and ready to think through it rather than reacting.

Of course, this is information of what has worked for me based on personal experience only and what works for me might not be appropriate for you. Good luck and I hope you do get to continue enjoying diving.

Also, I'm NOT a medical professional - whatever injury you had should be taken seriously - if you shouldn't dive based on the injury you sustained, you should follow that recommendation absokutely. More dives under your belt and a higher level of comfort underwater doing different dives would also be a good thing to do before doing another advanced dive like the Spiegel Grove - it can get nasty there sometimes due to current and such on that wreck.

 

[sharky60]

I also am glad you are Ok, depite the lack of observation by the DM's involved. Someone really dropped the ball here. This is a sport where you can seriously get hurt or worse if people you depend on aren't doing their jobs.

I have occationally in my 24+ years of diving had panic attacks for no apparent reason. Just out of the blue started hyperventalating. Fortunately, I've been able to keep my wits about myself, realize what is happening and clam myself down or had my dive buddy or DM help me focus on them so I could clam down and not have to surface.

You may have some closter-phobic issues that you don't realize that may have brought it on, not necessarily getting narced. You may have been narced, but at 90'? I don't know.

AT 90' you are starting to get to a depth where you can physically feel the water's pressure on your body, subconscously this can also be a factor in feeling closter-phobic and could cause a panic attack.

I think the ER doctor over reacted by telling you to never dive again, if it was only due to the panic attack and not injury motivated. 25 dives in 6 years are really not that many, I would suggest MANY more dives in shallow water to determine if this is a real issue or an isolated case. Dive with a dive buddy that you feel comfortable letting know that you've had this problem and have them stick close and help monitor your progress. Also do shallow dives in low vis, with higher currents than you would normally dive in and ALWAYS dive with someone with more experience in diving than you and in the dive site you are on, a poor dive buddy or DM can get you killed just a quick as your own inexperience.

This goes back to something I have been on a soapbox about for a long time. The certification agencies just push and promote people to get more and more cards without actually getting experience diving. There are a lot of folks out there that I've dove with that have DM cards and even Instructor certs, that I would not consider "experienced" divers by any means.

All in all if you take you time, dive safe and dive smart you should be able to enjoy diving for many years to come. Besides deep diving is over rated anyway, most of the cool stuff is at shallower depths where you can see their colors and enjoy them for longer periods of time.