Vertigo and diving

[hilrosepaul]

Hi all,

I am an OD trainee, and have had some'wobblers' in the water. Looking back over them (time and again - I want to learn from EVERY diving experience); I experienced a sense of dizziness and loss of control, very similar to vertigo above the surface.

Could I be suffering from vertigo in the water?

If so, could anyone recommend methods, etc for dealing with it?

Cheers

Paul

[Ron Evans]

Are your ears healthy?

Ron

[hilrosepaul]

Yes my ears are fine - no problems clearing them, etc.

[Ron Evans]

Have your doctor look in them to check for perforations.

Ron

[Badders (Dave)]

Hi
At what sort of depth are the problems happening at?

Badders

[Mike Halligan]

Paul,

Trust Ron. His advice sounds suspiciously accurate to me, though I've forgotten the reference for it.

FOUND IT! "Sport Diving" p 32; "Diving Emergency Handbook" pp 23/24.

Regards,

[hilrosepaul]

Very Shallow - usually during the descent

[Badders (Dave)]

It seems that quite a few people complain about vertigo symptoms during diving, one cause is as mentioned by Ron and another cause I have heard about is triggered by cold water entering the outer ear and the symptoms subside when the water warms up.
Either way it is essential that you see your doctor to get yourself checked out just in case of causing a more long term problem.

Best of luck
Badders

[Bigreddiver1]

So if you only get dizzy on a first dive in cold water and your fine on your second dive does this still count as Vertigo, while on holiday I never suffered from any dizzy spells its only since diving back here in the UK but has been every first dive in cold water, i will get my ears checked out but worrying that this could be my diving brought to a halt.:confused:
If you are diagnosed with Vertigo can you still dive, i really would be very greatful for any advice on this topic.

[Matt-75]

I had a dive in Malta go sort of like that. I was considerably deeper than you, and put it down to being narced, and also due to me being unhappy with a 15m depth progression (over night). I hit 25m (above the Rozi) and i didnt feel good, no spinning or dizzyness, but drunken like (narced??), some weird visual effects that are hard to explain involving fish swimming in patterns while synchronous. I suspected narcosis, and signalled not ok to my buddys, who wanted me to go deeper and sit down on the boat, but for me to have done that at that stage would have been bad (think incident pit), so i carried on signalling not ok, and eventually carried out an ascent to 9m to force things, since hand signals seemed to be useless (i might as well have punched them both, it would have had more effect). Queue 7 min deco stop with an underweighted buddy, not fun, but the symptoms subsided around 15m.

I've had my ears checked thoroughly since and eyes too, and no problems were detected. So i think a mixture of narcosis and not being 100% up for that dive.

I also worked out that i prefer to swim near the bottom and dislike mid water swimming. So its possible it is something similar to vertigo, but it only affects me when i can a) see the bottom, and b) its quite deep. 20m dives im ok on now, as long as i orient myself to being 2-3m from the bottom.

If you do have vertigo, dont look down! ;) Try and stay close to the bottom (if possible), avoid mid water swims over deep areas, avoid wall dives. Or just stay in the shallows, ie 10m or less. Theirs no rule book that says you have to dive deep, and diving can be thoroughly enjoyable in the 0-20m range. :)

[Ron Evans]

So if you only get dizzy on a first dive in cold water and your fine on your second dive does this still count as Vertigo, while on holiday I never suffered from any dizzy spells its only since diving back here in the UK but has been every first dive in cold water, i will get my ears checked out but worrying that this could be my diving brought to a halt.:confused:
If you are diagnosed with Vertigo can you still dive, i really would be very greatful for any advice on this topic.

'Vertigo' is a symptom. It is not a diagnosis. It is just the medical word for dizziness.

Ron

[Bigreddiver1]

many thanks for that Mat, will take everything on board that you have mentioned ( my first dive was a wall dive) going to doctors today to also checked over.

[Matt-75]

I'd get your doctor to give you a decent medical. Might as well be thorough in the checkup, do the blood pressure, cholestorol, o2 saturation in blood, etc. At least then you can rule all of those out, and if anything dodgy shows up, you can deal with it sooner rather than later. Which means less complications later.

( my first dive was a wall dive)

I can just about do those now, but it takes practice to get to that point. Instead of looking down, look at your depth gauge. With practice you should be able to push past the symptoms if they are more of a psychological problem, than physical one. Just need to focus while you do the dive, on something specific, mine was a chimney in a rock, and the knowledge that i could ascend if i wanted, and i had received the training to deal with this, and had good friends with me, so i was safe. The key is relaxation. :)

[BeagleBoss]

I am a BSAC Advanced Diver with some 350 dives all over the world. I suffer from slight vertigo. I can tell you that I have an extensive medical every year (compay policy) and have not medical conditions that contribute to my "wobbly" feelings. It is strictly attributed to slight vertigo. It does not happen every time but when I get the feeling I stop, wait for about up to 30 seconds until things are "righted" then I carry on. It does help if I have something to orient my vision on, i.e the shot line, the bottom, the wreck, etc. I have noticed that when I take motion sickness pills, for seasickness on rough boat dive days, that I absolutely do not get vertigo (or seasick for that matter!). I am in no way suggesting you should take seasickness pills to combat the vertigo. What I am suggesting is that you take your time on each time, give yourself something to help orient your brain, and gather lots of experience. You do not necessarily have to give up diving.

Cheers,
Rob