What’s the most serious condition a diver can experience underwater?
DCS (bends), narcosis…?
It’s probably Diver panic, for that simply reason that when a diver starts to panic he/she looses all rational thoughts. In most cases the irrational thinking renders the diver giving self-help nearly impossible. The diver is not able to ‘think there way out of a problem’; below is an example:
You’re diving a famous wreck in local waters, the depth of the wreck reaches 40m and also the visibility is about 10m. The pre-dive excitement and anticipation are high while you go into the water, once you and your buddy reach the wreck you are overwhelmed by its size… Both of you spend the next couple of minutes swimming around the wreck until suddenly you look around and can’t call at your buddy. Then your dive computer starts to beep as you run out of bottom time, you understand your far from the ascent line; so you make a made swim for it. Inside your haste to get at the ascent line, you don’t see the mass of fishing line and it gets entangled around one of your feet/fins. The greater you struggle the greater you receive entangled, without any one to help, you begin to panic. No bottom time, limited air supply (at this depth on a single tank)…
It’s not hard to say, but not so easy to practice; BUT if you stop for one few seconds attempt to calm yourself before you hit the panic stage. You are able to consider your predicament more logically… Relax and slow your breathing (to conserve your air and reduce CO2 build-up), which can make you feel more relaxed and fewer stressed. Look down identify the issue, maybe removing your fin can make it simpler to untangle! For those who have a knife or EMT shear (that are highly recommended), take them out and start cutting.
Even though you exceed your bottom time by a few minutes, your diving computer will still prompt you in regards to what to do (safety stop, ceiling etc); and obviously within this type of situation it would be better to stop diving for a 24hr period if your no decompression limits are been exceeded.
A simple trip to break the circle of panic in a diver is to get them to perform a very simple job for themselves. This shows them that they are in charge, and help clam and lower the amount of panic.
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