Shallow water blackout

[A.Naish]

I have never had a black out not in any situation, until today. So today we were doing a debrie dive, and after diving for about an hour, i blacked out at the surface. DIDN'T see it coming, but my buddies were quick enough to get me into the dive platform. I wasn't going very deep, just about 5m in a lagoon and i was not hyperventilating and i have a ringing sound in my right ear ever since, AND i had difficulty walking (i couldn't balance my self) after the recovery for a few minutes. Anybody has an idea what just happened?
(The water was VERY murky)

 

[MarcinB]

Did you use packing during that dive session?

 

[Nathan Vinski]

Sounds like an inner ear barotrauma. Sometimes a reverse block can cause the small or large window to rupture causing balance problems and ringing. When it initially happens you'll most likely get hit by extreme vertigo which could potentially lead to fainting which for all intensive purposes is a blackout.

Go get your ears checked by a dive doctor and don't be surprised if it results in 3+ months off from diving..

 

[A.Naish]

I think so too. My right ear is still not back to normal, and im experiencing hearing loss in that ear . Will be seeing my ENT soon

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[Nathan Vinski]

I think so too. My right ear is still not back to normal, and im experiencing hearing loss in that ear . Will be seeing my ENT soon

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Don't worry too much about it.. on my first open water dive m after my AIDA2 course my middle ear filled with blood and I ruptured my small window from a hood squeeze. Luckily it was during the winter and I had no problem taking 3 months off. My hearing came back about 90% (damaged hair cells) but I was cleared to dive and haven't had any equalisation issues since.

 

[A.Naish]

Did you use packing during that dive session?

Nop. Just a few minutes of slow and regular deep breaths.

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[MarcinB]

Just a few minutes of slow and regular deep breaths.

That sounds like a heavy hyperventilation to me. This was likely the cause of an unexpected black out.

 

[hteas]

An alternative reason is a blood pressure blackout. In the initial phase of a breathhold your blood pressure can rise as high as 300/200, as reported in an old DAN freediving workshop. It stays higher than normal because of the dive reflex. Your blood is primarily in your torso and head at this point. When you reach the surface and breathe out the blood can flow rather dramatically to your arms and legs. This can lead to short term loss of pressureto your head. I have had it happen, and I saw it happen during a world record attempt in 2002 that I was a safety diver for.

 

[sammyhope]

I have never had a black out not in any situation, until today. So today we were doing a debrie dive, and after diving for about an hour, i blacked out at the surface. DIDN'T see it coming, but my buddies were quick enough to get me into the dive platform. I wasn't going very deep, just about 5m in a lagoon and i was not hyperventilating and i have a ringing sound in my right ear ever since, AND i had difficulty walking (i couldn't balance my self) after the recovery for a few minutes. Anybody has an idea what just happened?
(The water was VERY murky)

Hello Naish,
So sorry to hear about your experience. I had a very similar one ear wise. 3 months ringing/hearing loss hasn’t changed. 2 ENTs later just steroids. Has your ear improved at all? Hope all is well

 

[kresenel]

Hello Naish,
So sorry to hear about your experience. I had a very similar one ear wise. 3 months ringing/hearing loss hasn’t changed. 2 ENTs later just steroids. Has your ear improved at all? Hope all is well.

Thank you very much for the help.