neonstingray
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Trying Scuba Again After a Not-So-Great Experience
- Thread starter redcat255
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Tried playing around with this in the tub... I can obviously breathe, but I get a burning sensation in my nose which is quite bothersome after about two or three seconds that seems to get worse every instant. I presume that means I'm taking water in through my nose? Or is that just what you mean by "I hate the feeling of getting water up my nose"? Seems like it would be pretty rough to endure that for 60 seconds while doing the "Breathe through regulator without mask" drill. Am I doing something wrong, or is that just the unpleasant sensation to get used to?
greenliger
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My 2 PSI. I have lots of not so great experiences but I still keep at it. Just passed rescue.
ScubaSteve1962
Contributor
I had anxiety problems when it came to the mask removal. I had to make myself relax. How are you able to snorkel, but not dive? aren't you breathing through your mouth then?
Wineaux
Contributor
I was just certified in March and I totally had the same anxiety. In my discover scuba class I had that "I gotta get outta here" anxiety when I first went under in the pool. For some reason I sat down and it just wasn't a good, natural position. I stood up and when the instructor gave me that "oh great a panicky diver" look and asked what was wrong I explained it was just my natural reaction to feel like I needed to come up after a moment under water. Had ever even snorkeled. Luckily a couple other people there concurred with me and we all moved on. One of the instructors just knelt with me for a moment and did the breathe in, breathe out motions and I was fine. Rocked my pool sessions including an unexpected out of air situation.
Fast forward to the open water dives. I hadn't slept well the night before (three people in a cheap motel) and never eat well first thing in the morning. I was so anxious on that swim out and waiting for the instructor to get the buoy float anchored before we went down. I seriously almost quit and swam back ashore thinking "eff it. I can sit on the beach and snorkel in Belize". This type of anxiety was a completely new feeling for me. I usually fear nothing. I pulled it together though realizing that part of the problem was not liking how the hood felt and that my anxiety was feeding on itself. Once my head was under water the anxiety faded away. It was like you mentioned about getting your brain occupied with something else. As soon as I was focusing on other stuff, *poof*, the anxiety was gone.
I experienced the anxiety the first few times I dived after my classes. Same thing though, as soon as my head was under water I was fine. It has only been a few months, but that week diving in Belize, diving a couple times a day for a week did WONDERS for my confidence. I finally felt like a diver after that. I try to geta dive in once month in Monterey as well. I still think I am a bit of a spaz as most of my dives are with people who are so much more experienced than me but I know I'm getting better and I no longer feel that tight grip of anxiety.
Good luck in your classes. Most of your anxiety is in your head and you can overcome it. I think the Discover dive you did was not handled well and once you do some diving you'll see that and understand your anxiety after it is totally understandable. By then you will have the training and skills to take better care of yourself. Have a great time in Australia!
Fast forward to the open water dives. I hadn't slept well the night before (three people in a cheap motel) and never eat well first thing in the morning. I was so anxious on that swim out and waiting for the instructor to get the buoy float anchored before we went down. I seriously almost quit and swam back ashore thinking "eff it. I can sit on the beach and snorkel in Belize". This type of anxiety was a completely new feeling for me. I usually fear nothing. I pulled it together though realizing that part of the problem was not liking how the hood felt and that my anxiety was feeding on itself. Once my head was under water the anxiety faded away. It was like you mentioned about getting your brain occupied with something else. As soon as I was focusing on other stuff, *poof*, the anxiety was gone.
I experienced the anxiety the first few times I dived after my classes. Same thing though, as soon as my head was under water I was fine. It has only been a few months, but that week diving in Belize, diving a couple times a day for a week did WONDERS for my confidence. I finally felt like a diver after that. I try to geta dive in once month in Monterey as well. I still think I am a bit of a spaz as most of my dives are with people who are so much more experienced than me but I know I'm getting better and I no longer feel that tight grip of anxiety.
Good luck in your classes. Most of your anxiety is in your head and you can overcome it. I think the Discover dive you did was not handled well and once you do some diving you'll see that and understand your anxiety after it is totally understandable. By then you will have the training and skills to take better care of yourself. Have a great time in Australia!
dfx
Contributor
Well, theoretically it is possible to breathe through your mouth without getting any water up your nose (assuming your nostrils are pointed downwards). In practice, I haven't been able to do so and I always get a little water up my nose. But the trick is not to snort up the water through your nose. Ignore it and make a conscious effort to keep breathing through your mouth only. It seems like an unnatural thing to do, but everyone can do it. You can practice it in the dry too: just hold your finger under your nose (wet finger works best) and breathe through your mouth. With a bit of concentration you won't feel any air coming in or out of your nose. If you can do that in the dry, then you can do it in the water too.
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Sounds like you're breathing slightly through the nose. You shouldn't feel anything like this.
Don't worry, this is something you can learn. I didn't think I would ever stop snorting water up my nose and I was able to do it. You can, too!
mayur
Registered
I have my OWD in monterey this weekend. I did panic a couple times in the pool with the mask removal, and the out of air at the depth. I went and did 2 more make up sessions earlier in the week to spend an hour each at max depth. Hoping to stay calm and get thru it this weekend. My instructor told me the same thing, stay calm and breathe a few times before you do any skill. Its at my pace and not at the instructors pace. If they rush, show them the hand to stop and 1 finger for 1 min. If he/she doesnt listen, show them the middle finger
Wineaux
Contributor
I have my OWD in monterey this weekend. I did panic a couple times in the pool with the mask removal, and the out of air at the depth. I went and did 2 more make up sessions earlier in the week to spend an hour each at max depth. Hoping to stay calm and get thru it this weekend. My instructor told me the same thing, stay calm and breathe a few times before you do any skill. Its at my pace and not at the instructors pace. If they rush, show them the hand to stop and 1 finger for 1 min. If he/she doesnt listen, show them the middle finger
Yes, definitely take a couple breaths and visualize the skill you are about to do. While you will probably not be able to see the bottom and it feels like you are so far out from the beach, remember you're only in about 20ish feet of water. Get a good night's sleep, eat something mild but hearty for breakfast (Oatmeal. I hated it before I started diving. I have since started eating the instant flavored kind and actually like it now!) and bring something to keep yourself warm as you set up and between the dives. Good luck!
Wineaux's point about anxiety feeding on itself is key. A person can literally get "worried sick" by anticipating difficulties. This is why focusing on something else works. New scuba students are very, very task loaded, so if you can get your mind on some task underwater, there's less scope for you to be worrying yourself sick and letting your anxiety overwhelm you.
I think another really important point is that you'll be doing a private class in Australia, redcat. That's a very wise choice for anxious students, and I personally work with many anxious students every year because I only offer private instruction. Your instructor will proceed at your pace rather than you having to keep up with a group, as happened to you during your first experience in St. Thomas. Notice how much better it went for you in the Discover Scuba class at home once you had an instructor work with you one on one for a few minutes. You will find that most of the skills in your Open Water course are really quite simple and they will not take much time for you to master, so if you spend longer at the very initial stages where you put your face in the water and learn to breathe and work through the mask flood/clear drills over and over, the rest will most likely go quite smoothly since you've got yourself over the hump by that time.
In my experience, anxious students have two major issues--one is convincing their land-mammal brain stems that it's okay to be underwater breathing, and the second is getting used to having a little water tickling the end of their noses. Mostly this is psychological, so the remedy has to focus on that and not so much on actual physical skills before the physical skills can be mastered. Often simple cognition can help an anxious student keep control. For the problem of worrying about water going up the nose, I show students with the help of some visual aids that water will not get up their noses and drown them unless they breathe in through their noses. Take a deep basin or pail of water (I do it in the pool actually) and insert an ordinary clear glass upside down into the pail. What happens to the space in the glass? Does any water get into the glass? What happens to the air/water interface at the opening of the glass? The water will only enter the glass if the glass is tipped to allow the air inside to escape; the interface shows a slight bowing due to the water pressure, but does not spontaneously rupture. Tipping the glass to allow the air escape and the water to replace it in the glass is akin to breathing in through the nose and allowing water to enter; as long as the nose is blocked by the soft palate in the back of the throat, water will not actually enter the nostrils beyond the actual opening (and everybody knows how to do this since our soft palates are closed most of the time we're talking and are only open when we're making "n" "m" or "ng" sounds-say the word "close" and notice how no air goes out the nose). But there WILL be a little water from time to time in the nose pocket of the mask, and unless your mask's purge valve is in the nose pocket, you'll just have to learn to ignore the little tickle.
The main thing is convincing yourself that you have all the control in regards to water going up your nose--in a normal diving posture (body horizontal, facing mostly downwards or cocked at a 45° angle forward/down) it will only go there if you snort it even if you feel the sensation of water at the opening of the nostrils. There is one caveat with this--during the mask flood/clear exercises, we teach student to lift their chins, which has the effect of getting the water out of the mask lenses and in contact with the mask skirt where it can be forced out. If you are doing this exercise while kneeling (many instructors do it in this position, though I do not), there's a risk you can tip your head back far enough to allow water to drain up the nose, just like tipping the inverted glass will allow water to enter it. Don't tip your head back too far--just far enough to get the water out of the lens part of the mask and against your face instead.
What I do for anxious students to get them used to breathing underwater is to have them stand in the shallow end of the pool in water up to their waist, wearing scuba gear and mask/snorkel, but not fins. They put the reg in their mouths, bend at the waist and just stand there breathing as long as it takes for their heart rate to slow and for them to feel confident that the regulator WILL deliver air to them. Eventually they get bored with this exercise and signal me that it's time to go on to the next thing, which for my students is lying down on the stomach in the shallow end and just breathing until they get bored again, and then we move on to regulator purging. I have found that taking whatever time these initial steps require makes getting through the actual scuba skills much, much quicker since we don't have to be battling rising anxiety the whole time.
Best of luck to you! I'm confident that you'll overcome your anxiety and do just fine!
I think another really important point is that you'll be doing a private class in Australia, redcat. That's a very wise choice for anxious students, and I personally work with many anxious students every year because I only offer private instruction. Your instructor will proceed at your pace rather than you having to keep up with a group, as happened to you during your first experience in St. Thomas. Notice how much better it went for you in the Discover Scuba class at home once you had an instructor work with you one on one for a few minutes. You will find that most of the skills in your Open Water course are really quite simple and they will not take much time for you to master, so if you spend longer at the very initial stages where you put your face in the water and learn to breathe and work through the mask flood/clear drills over and over, the rest will most likely go quite smoothly since you've got yourself over the hump by that time.
In my experience, anxious students have two major issues--one is convincing their land-mammal brain stems that it's okay to be underwater breathing, and the second is getting used to having a little water tickling the end of their noses. Mostly this is psychological, so the remedy has to focus on that and not so much on actual physical skills before the physical skills can be mastered. Often simple cognition can help an anxious student keep control. For the problem of worrying about water going up the nose, I show students with the help of some visual aids that water will not get up their noses and drown them unless they breathe in through their noses. Take a deep basin or pail of water (I do it in the pool actually) and insert an ordinary clear glass upside down into the pail. What happens to the space in the glass? Does any water get into the glass? What happens to the air/water interface at the opening of the glass? The water will only enter the glass if the glass is tipped to allow the air inside to escape; the interface shows a slight bowing due to the water pressure, but does not spontaneously rupture. Tipping the glass to allow the air escape and the water to replace it in the glass is akin to breathing in through the nose and allowing water to enter; as long as the nose is blocked by the soft palate in the back of the throat, water will not actually enter the nostrils beyond the actual opening (and everybody knows how to do this since our soft palates are closed most of the time we're talking and are only open when we're making "n" "m" or "ng" sounds-say the word "close" and notice how no air goes out the nose). But there WILL be a little water from time to time in the nose pocket of the mask, and unless your mask's purge valve is in the nose pocket, you'll just have to learn to ignore the little tickle.
The main thing is convincing yourself that you have all the control in regards to water going up your nose--in a normal diving posture (body horizontal, facing mostly downwards or cocked at a 45° angle forward/down) it will only go there if you snort it even if you feel the sensation of water at the opening of the nostrils. There is one caveat with this--during the mask flood/clear exercises, we teach student to lift their chins, which has the effect of getting the water out of the mask lenses and in contact with the mask skirt where it can be forced out. If you are doing this exercise while kneeling (many instructors do it in this position, though I do not), there's a risk you can tip your head back far enough to allow water to drain up the nose, just like tipping the inverted glass will allow water to enter it. Don't tip your head back too far--just far enough to get the water out of the lens part of the mask and against your face instead.
What I do for anxious students to get them used to breathing underwater is to have them stand in the shallow end of the pool in water up to their waist, wearing scuba gear and mask/snorkel, but not fins. They put the reg in their mouths, bend at the waist and just stand there breathing as long as it takes for their heart rate to slow and for them to feel confident that the regulator WILL deliver air to them. Eventually they get bored with this exercise and signal me that it's time to go on to the next thing, which for my students is lying down on the stomach in the shallow end and just breathing until they get bored again, and then we move on to regulator purging. I have found that taking whatever time these initial steps require makes getting through the actual scuba skills much, much quicker since we don't have to be battling rising anxiety the whole time.
Best of luck to you! I'm confident that you'll overcome your anxiety and do just fine!
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