Saltwater Breathing Difficulty

[Nzfresh]

So I'm fresh into free diving, only a half dozen trips that I have been on and having issues with inhaling salt it seems.

At the beginning of each dive my breathing is great, as time goes on, especially noticeable after ~45min breathing gets a bit labored, chest discomfort with deeper breathes, I'm coughing up a bit of foamy mucus and waning way before my mates (even those who are also as fresh as me) in terms of energy. It doesn't feel threatening or dangerous but certainly affects how much I can do and my enjoyment.

The extra effort required to breath persists ~6hrs after the dive.

There is no affect that I can tell on my sinuses or ability to EQ

I looked this up and found 'saltwater aspiration syndrome', symptoms sound roughly similar to my own, should also say I am a latent asthmatic, that is, haven't used an inhaler in years but if I go for a hard fast run abruptly in cold air I get a slight wheeze afterwards.

Has anyone else experienced this?
Anyone freediving with asthma?
Is there anything I can do/ does this change with time?

Any advice or stories would be a great help

cheers.

 

[SubCurrent]

So I'm fresh into free diving, only a half dozen trips that I have been on and having issues with inhaling salt it seems.

At the beginning of each dive my breathing is great, as time goes on, especially noticeable after ~45min breathing gets a bit labored, chest discomfort with deeper breathes, I'm coughing up a bit of foamy mucus and waning way before my mates (even those who are also as fresh as me) in terms of energy. It doesn't feel threatening or dangerous but certainly affects how much I can do and my enjoyment.

The extra effort required to breath persists ~6hrs after the dive.

There is no affect that I can tell on my sinuses or ability to EQ

I looked this up and found 'saltwater aspiration syndrome', symptoms sound roughly similar to my own, should also say I am a latent asthmatic, that is, haven't used an inhaler in years but if I go for a hard fast run abruptly in cold air I get a slight wheeze afterwards.

Has anyone else experienced this?
Anyone freediving with asthma?
Is there anything I can do/ does this change with time?

Any advice or stories would be a great help

cheers.

Hi Nzfresh,

I'm not sure about the inhaling salt (water I assume), but I had two similar issues which I was able to solve. One was getting salt water in my mouth and the other one was getting dehydration out on the water for 3-4 hrs. [emoji43]

Since I shore dive with friends and the area it's almost always choppy in the water. I used to get salt water in my mouth all the time. So I looked for lightest semi-dry aka dry with purge I could find and put my plain J snorkel on the shelf. My buddy borrowed it for a Keys trip, otherwise I'd snap a pic of it. Anyway, that snorkel really helped me to relax and little to no water came in unless I happened to breathe in at just the right time when the snorkel top was submerged by a wave. That brings me to my next fix: staying hydrated.

As I said, I stay in the water for 3 to 4 hours in a day straight so I needed a way to stay hydrated but not have to worry about carrying water bottles that would float away easily. The extra bulk was not fun either, having to lug them in my float. I remembered a friend of mine had some kind of backpack water system he used when hiking. I didn't know the technical name so I started searching Google for an answer. After a lot of searching collapsible water bottles, I decided to try a Camelback. It was not cheap at $35 but the best investment I ever made. It came in a small backpack I could wear in the water if I wanted to!

Here's a pic of water backpack and water bag at the bottom of my post and what the water goes in. You can easily find them on Amazon.

All my freedive buddies hit me up for clean, filtered water. I've got plenty to spare at almost 100 oz for them, myself and for the long walk back to our entry point. Just never ever blow into the water spout, just gently bite the soft rubber piece that goes in your mouth and suck. Always suck, never blow. [emoji16]

Only one obvious side effect is that extra water has to go somewhere. When I say, "I need some space" , I mean it!! Some buddies had to learn the hard way. [emoji23]

Hope this helps!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

[Nzfresh]

Hey thanks for the response SubCurrent,

Yea I have noticed a few times I got quite dehydrated without realising on a longer mission, I've taken to attaching a big water bottle to the float and just dragging that around, maybe in future I'll get something easier but it does for now. I'll look into the price of camel backs here - seems like a great way to do it.

Although the effects I'm getting aren't quite dehydration and I do still get this when I'm drinking frequently.

Maybe getting a purge snorkel would do it. I have a plain J snorkel and do get a fair bit of water in the mouth, surely that would minimise whatever's going on in the lungs.

Cheers for the tips