Hi all! First of all, I'd like to start off by stating that this forum is absolutely fantastic, and that there is a wealth of information to be found on here. I've been spending a lot of time the last few days just browsing through the archives, and am amazed by how knowledgeable people on this board are.
Now that I'm done sucking up to you all (kidding, kidding), I'd like to present "my case", my raison d'être - or why I joined this board. The start of the story probably sounds very familiar to you all, as it has been a source of discussion in the past: I learned SCUBA diving a while ago while on a trip abroad, completing a PADI Open Water course. Loved it, felt great throughout the course, got completely addicted. Wanting to continue to dive, I enquired on joining a diving club, and was told I'd have to get a medical check-up, including lung function tests. That's where the tragedy-bit kicks in: I was informed after the lung function tests that I have a mild case of asthma.
I think the first phrases that came to mind upon hearing that were "eh?", and "now what?". That second phrase was easily answered: I'm not allowed to dive any more. Seeing as I'm in my early thirties, my physician informed me that the chances of me "growing out of it" were, ahem, fairly slim. He basically gave me a life-time ban from scuba diving. My asthma is not bad enough to require medications either, so it's not as if taking the lung tests again while on meds would improve matters - my MD simply told me to give up on the whole diving-idea, and to join a football-team or something. The polite version of what went through my mind is "oh, now that's a bit of a bummer", the unpolished version of that thought is not suitable for children and the faint-hearted, and shall remain unprinted. Suffice to say that I'm slightly frustrated by the whole ordeal, especially as I had no idea beforehand that anything was wrong with me. I go to the gym three times a week, I run twice a week, and never had an "attack". I might feel a bit tight in the chest after having gone for a run, but I always thought that that had more to do with the fact that I'm not one for jogging (I prefer short and high speed runs over marathons at snail's pace), and being slightly out of breath after having exercised didn't sound all that unusual to me. The tightness always resolved within a minute or so after having stopped running, so I never thought of it as being asthma. Guess I was wrong.
Anyway, I'm starting to ramble here. Having been banned from scuba diving, I decided that spending the rest of my life swimming breast stroke in the pool didn't sound like much of an option: I want to go diving in bays again. I read up on freediving, and thought I'd found a decent solution that would prevent my fins, mask and weight belt from being thrown on e-bay: after all, here was an opportunity to go diving without a scuba unit. I immediately started training in the pool, and in a nearby lake.
And now, finally, we get to the question-part of this post. As it turns out, I am *the* most worthless freediver in the history of freediving (which, I have been informed, is no short history). I can hold my breath laying face down in the water for about 1m40s. I've been able to hold it for that long for about 2 months, and there's no signs of me improving whatsoever. Once I go under, things get even worse: I can just about swim a length of 30 meters under water with fins, and then I've absolutely exhausted my oxygen supply. The lung tests showed that I have lung volume that is about 1.5 liter less than it should be for a man my height and age, I'm guessing that that's the reason for my lackluster performance. So, simply put: is there a reason to assume that I'll get better at this freediving thing, even despite the fact that I haven't shown any improvement over the past 2 months? Do asthma and a small lung volume automatically mean that I'll be stuck on this plateau of a length of 30 meters forever, not being able to dive any deeper than 3-4 meters because I know I'll run out of air if I go any deeper? Are there any stories out there, no matter how few, of people being absolutely horrible at freediving at first, and improving to the point where they can make a calm, recreational dive after training? In short, should I reconsider putting my diving equipment up on e-bay after all?
Thanks in advance for your answers - this whole asthma thing is frustrating and is absolutely doing my head in.
Now that I'm done sucking up to you all (kidding, kidding), I'd like to present "my case", my raison d'être - or why I joined this board. The start of the story probably sounds very familiar to you all, as it has been a source of discussion in the past: I learned SCUBA diving a while ago while on a trip abroad, completing a PADI Open Water course. Loved it, felt great throughout the course, got completely addicted. Wanting to continue to dive, I enquired on joining a diving club, and was told I'd have to get a medical check-up, including lung function tests. That's where the tragedy-bit kicks in: I was informed after the lung function tests that I have a mild case of asthma.
I think the first phrases that came to mind upon hearing that were "eh?", and "now what?". That second phrase was easily answered: I'm not allowed to dive any more. Seeing as I'm in my early thirties, my physician informed me that the chances of me "growing out of it" were, ahem, fairly slim. He basically gave me a life-time ban from scuba diving. My asthma is not bad enough to require medications either, so it's not as if taking the lung tests again while on meds would improve matters - my MD simply told me to give up on the whole diving-idea, and to join a football-team or something. The polite version of what went through my mind is "oh, now that's a bit of a bummer", the unpolished version of that thought is not suitable for children and the faint-hearted, and shall remain unprinted. Suffice to say that I'm slightly frustrated by the whole ordeal, especially as I had no idea beforehand that anything was wrong with me. I go to the gym three times a week, I run twice a week, and never had an "attack". I might feel a bit tight in the chest after having gone for a run, but I always thought that that had more to do with the fact that I'm not one for jogging (I prefer short and high speed runs over marathons at snail's pace), and being slightly out of breath after having exercised didn't sound all that unusual to me. The tightness always resolved within a minute or so after having stopped running, so I never thought of it as being asthma. Guess I was wrong.
Anyway, I'm starting to ramble here. Having been banned from scuba diving, I decided that spending the rest of my life swimming breast stroke in the pool didn't sound like much of an option: I want to go diving in bays again. I read up on freediving, and thought I'd found a decent solution that would prevent my fins, mask and weight belt from being thrown on e-bay: after all, here was an opportunity to go diving without a scuba unit. I immediately started training in the pool, and in a nearby lake.
And now, finally, we get to the question-part of this post. As it turns out, I am *the* most worthless freediver in the history of freediving (which, I have been informed, is no short history). I can hold my breath laying face down in the water for about 1m40s. I've been able to hold it for that long for about 2 months, and there's no signs of me improving whatsoever. Once I go under, things get even worse: I can just about swim a length of 30 meters under water with fins, and then I've absolutely exhausted my oxygen supply. The lung tests showed that I have lung volume that is about 1.5 liter less than it should be for a man my height and age, I'm guessing that that's the reason for my lackluster performance. So, simply put: is there a reason to assume that I'll get better at this freediving thing, even despite the fact that I haven't shown any improvement over the past 2 months? Do asthma and a small lung volume automatically mean that I'll be stuck on this plateau of a length of 30 meters forever, not being able to dive any deeper than 3-4 meters because I know I'll run out of air if I go any deeper? Are there any stories out there, no matter how few, of people being absolutely horrible at freediving at first, and improving to the point where they can make a calm, recreational dive after training? In short, should I reconsider putting my diving equipment up on e-bay after all?
Thanks in advance for your answers - this whole asthma thing is frustrating and is absolutely doing my head in.
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