Squeezed for a second time - seeking advice on recovery period

[Bertico78]

Hi everyone.


I’ve been reading many great posts in this forum for months addressing any and all of the queries that I’ve come with. This is my very first post here

A little background on myself. At 35, I consider myself a fair beginner as I’ve been snorkeling/freediving here in the Cayman Islands for 5-6 years but only during the past several months have I given this a conscious effort. During that period I’ve gone from 70ft. max depth to 153 ft. (FIM) and educated myself tremendously on most aspects of this sport.


I had a mild squeeze 4 weeks ago while diving FIM to 153 ft. – I believe this happened as I stupidly looked down at depth to find the bottom plate during the freefall. On the swim back to shore I tasted blood in my saliva. I spat into my hand and sure enough, a few small bright specks. So I understand the best thing to do was to take time off freediving and I took a full week off. No diaphragm stretches, no negatives in the pool, etc. The following weekend I had a short session down to 65 ft. and felt no problems. I resumed a light and summarized practice of diaphragm stretches (4 holds, three times per week) and had a few shallow dives in between.



Last week I resumed full-strength diaphragm stretches (6 holds, 3X week).
Two weeks ago I gradually worked myself back to a depth of 90 ft. for short hangs (prior to the squeeze I used to do 3-minute free-immersion dives to that depth and remain at the bottom for up to 1.5 min.) Spit test came back negative. So I was feeling pretty confident.


Now, yesterday I visited that same spot and did a couple of things differently. After a couple of shallow warm-up hangs, I removed my fins and pulled myself down to 91 ft. without any problems. Next I attempted a no-fins breaststroke to the bottom and succeeded, though I experienced my first samba upon surfacing. I should have called it quits after that but made one last FIM dive to the bottom and it felt hard. My body wanted to ‘abort’ the dive on the descent but I overrode the impulse and completed the dive and finished the session.


An hour or two after, I felt the same itchy feeling at the base of my lungs and managed to hock up a tiny amount of blood. So I was squeezed again. I am pretty baffled and discouraged as I’m not sure why this happened again. I’m in need of advice – should I take a longer period off from freediving?? What’s the best way to go about resuming my training?


I'm concerned about the possible scarring of the trachea/bronchi which may make it more likely for this form of barotrauma to repeat itself. Even though it seems/feels very slight I don't want this being an impediment to future freediving development. I want to keep going with this.


Thanks in advance for any input and insights – I hope I was clear and concise. Please ask if any clarification is needed.


Humberto

 

[Bertico78]

Anyone?? As of now I'm (very reluctantly) suspending all free diving-related activities for two weeks, hoping to give my lungs/trachea/bronchi enough recovery time.

Seems more sensible than the one-week-off period taken the first time. I have to presume this second squeeze occurred due to forcing a last dive after a mini-samba, which may mean I was hypoxic and likely not sufficiently relaxed. Again, I would be extremely grateful for any input, perspectives, or advice on how to best recover and resume safely.

 

[baiyoke]

Dude, you need not only bother with recovery periods... you need to change the way you are diving, forcing stuff, and reapetedly getting squeezed... I'd kind of hoped you would realize that yourself, given the fact that you've had two squeezes and a samba in a month... So I won't go into details, but rather just tell you to sit down and look at the big picture for a moment... What you need is patience and a gradual progression... How you achieve that is something you have to work out...

Best of luck.

 

[baiyoke]

Well one detail though: I'm no expert, but I think it's more likely you pushed it doing CNF, and got squeezed on that dive... But since I don't know your technique in general, or exactly what happened and the dive after that, can't say for sure... But take it easy with everything involving big or strong or akward movements... And don't dive after a samba... And TAKE IT SLOW AND EASY from now on...

 

[cdavis]

Sqeeze is nasty, can be subtle and may take much longer to recover than you are giving it. People differ, but I've had to sit out, no apnea, for a month or more, then start back real slow, much slower than you. Siting out when you feel great is more than a little hard. Progessing very slowly can be almost as hard as sitting out.

Squeeze can be cumulative as well. For me, each time I got squeezed, it took longer to recover. Once I thought I might not be able to dive again, that REALLY got my attention. Took some advice from Laminar, someone who doesn't show up on DB much any more, but who is one of the sports great teachers. He basically said, " Slow way way down, relax, and feel your body." Suggest you do the same.

What method of equalization are you using?

Have you been diving on the walls at Little Cayman? One of my favorite places.

Connor

 

[Bertico78]

Thank for your responses guys. That scolding was well-warranted, baiyoke. I do appreciate it. I will most definitely take it easy, slow down and pay far more attention to what my body tells me. It will be hard for the eager bloke like me who was used to attaining a new pb every couple of weeks. But again, I will dig in and find the fortitude and patience to take it that much slower...

Connor, I equalize hands-free (btv) almost 100% of the time. It comes naturally and I've been doing it ever since I remember.

Have yet to freedive little Cayman, but the beauty of Grand Cayman is the close proximity of the wall to shore. Most of my dives are shore swims. The underwater landscape off the west bay area is indescribably beautiful - especially at the wall with amazing overhangs, canyons, and fingers running perpendicular to shore. it's breathtaking