Well, that was a new one...

[TSandM]

It's hard to know exactly what happened from the description. If you found it took effort to inhale, and you were having stridor (the noise that's mentioned) then you may well have had some laryngospasm. It's an involuntary response to liquid in the airway, and it's the body's attempt to protect you from aspirating water. Unfortunately, some people have very sensitive airways and can go into major laryngospasm easily. Severe laryngospasm is a true medical emergency. Sometimes you can overcome it with positive pressure ventilation (and you might be able to create a little bit of this if you block your reg's exhaust ports as best you can, and purge it lightly). Defeating laryngospasm is one of the very good reasons for rescue breaths when you get a non-breathing buddy to the surface.

What's not very consistent with laryngospasm is the description that you were breathing rapidly and uncontrollably, because in the face of laryngospasm, you'd be unlikely to be moving much air.

There is no way to overcome laryngospasm voluntarily, but if it is due to an irritant in the airway, it is usually a brief response (unless the irritant is severe, as with smoke inhalation or inhalation of toxic chemicals). Controlling panic when you are underwater and can't move any air has to have been a difficult thing, and I'm impressed that you did so well with it. I'm not sure I would!

 

[Diver0001]

---

---

A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

I would like to avoid this thread getting hijacked into a pro/anti DIR debate. A recent post has been deleted and I would appreciate it if we could remain on topic.

There are lots of other threads for a pro/anti DIR debate. Please post in one of those.

---

 

[BigDiver1]

Thank you for the information. Glad to know this was worth posting.

I think this is probably what happened to me. Yes, I was not moving very much air, and I think the fast and hard breathing was a panic or semi-panic response to not being able to get air. I remember that the regulators (mine and my buddy's) were both delivering air, but when I drew a breath from it, I could not get any into my lungs. So I would inhale, get nothing but a mouthful of air, exhale that, inhale, get nothing but a mouthful of air, exhale, etc.. I was not actually breathing, but trying to breath would have been a better description. During this process, I kept thinking to myself that panic would kill me...remain calm. I am honestly surprised at how calm I was able to remain, although I wish I could have gotten this under control sooner.

As I noted in my previous post, the whole incident lasted 2 mins and 20 seconds according to my downloaded dive profile from my computer. I was probably not in danger of passing out from lack of oxygen.

I can't say enough positive things about training and sharing experiences. After this happened, I contacted my cave instructor to talk with him about it and he reminded me that we discussed what might happen if water ever got into the airway...it would be like trying to breathe through a straw. He did not call it Laryngospasm, but he described it to a tee.

It's awsome to have this forum and your (everyone's) feedback is invaluable.

I talked with my dive buddy about this, spoke with my cave instructor and was still concerned that I might not have responded correctly. After the responses I got from this post, I realize it was probably not controllable, and I may have done the most that I could. I finished the dive, and will be back there again this weekend...a little wiser and probably a little more cautious, but not loving diving any less.

 

[shoredivr]

BigDiver1, that was very informative. I hope I would have the presence of mind to be able to do the same.