Hello Deeperblue,
I am not a freediver but in our training we do underwater training. While I know everyone here is in love with freediving, our training instructors basically use underwater training as a torture method to make the less committed trainees quit. Reading the exploits from the site members here has inspired to take a different attitude to our water confidence training.
My reason for posting is because during the last 3 weeks I have been occasionally spitting up blood after we do our water confidence training. Initially, I was thinking it was blood vessels in my sinuses bursting and draining down my throat. However, during an especially rigorous training session I spit up more blood along with the symptoms of wheezing and discomfort in my chest when taking a full breath. I continued that days training and trained for another week before seeking medical treatment. This essentially eliminated me from the current class but I will be able to repeat it in 6 weeks.
After receiving a CT scan the doctor noted "diffuse ground glass opacities throughout the lungs". I later had a bronchoscopy where any strange diseases or problems were ruled out. The pulmonary specialist said that the likely cause was blood vessels bursting in the lungs during the training. Conducting internet research has led me to this site. Where I see that this is called a pulmonary edema or a "lung squeeze".
I've read that a squeeze happens when lung's reach residual volume. But I think this seems unlikely in my case. The blood spitting would usually occur during "underwaters" (basically 25m dynamic apnea (no fins) with a freestyle sprint back on a timed interval). The two pools we use are only 9 ft and 12 ft deep, so this depth seems very shallow compared to the depths I've read from others experiencing a pulmonary edema. I've also read that contractions could contribute to a pulmonary edema. 25 m is probably no problem to most people on this forum but the training has caused me to get quite hypoxic. As stated, my worst episode occured during a more intense training session.
From the communities perspective, I know this is "just another squeeze post". And I have read many of those threads, but I am seeking some specific advice regarding my situation. Once the next class starts, if I were to have another pulmonary edema I would not be able to rest as many threads recommend doing after experiencing a squeeze. I would have to continue training or face elimination.
So here are my specific questions:
If I were to experience another blood spitting incident, how dangerous is it to continue to perform underwater training? (our course is 9 weeks long)
What can I do to avoid getting another pulmonary edema? I've read that stretching of the rib cage area could help?
Completing this course is very important to me, but my long term health is of more concern. I appreciate anyone would could take the time to read this post and supply an answer. I already have learned a lot on both my condition and on how to improve my training from this site.
I am not a freediver but in our training we do underwater training. While I know everyone here is in love with freediving, our training instructors basically use underwater training as a torture method to make the less committed trainees quit. Reading the exploits from the site members here has inspired to take a different attitude to our water confidence training.
My reason for posting is because during the last 3 weeks I have been occasionally spitting up blood after we do our water confidence training. Initially, I was thinking it was blood vessels in my sinuses bursting and draining down my throat. However, during an especially rigorous training session I spit up more blood along with the symptoms of wheezing and discomfort in my chest when taking a full breath. I continued that days training and trained for another week before seeking medical treatment. This essentially eliminated me from the current class but I will be able to repeat it in 6 weeks.
After receiving a CT scan the doctor noted "diffuse ground glass opacities throughout the lungs". I later had a bronchoscopy where any strange diseases or problems were ruled out. The pulmonary specialist said that the likely cause was blood vessels bursting in the lungs during the training. Conducting internet research has led me to this site. Where I see that this is called a pulmonary edema or a "lung squeeze".
I've read that a squeeze happens when lung's reach residual volume. But I think this seems unlikely in my case. The blood spitting would usually occur during "underwaters" (basically 25m dynamic apnea (no fins) with a freestyle sprint back on a timed interval). The two pools we use are only 9 ft and 12 ft deep, so this depth seems very shallow compared to the depths I've read from others experiencing a pulmonary edema. I've also read that contractions could contribute to a pulmonary edema. 25 m is probably no problem to most people on this forum but the training has caused me to get quite hypoxic. As stated, my worst episode occured during a more intense training session.
From the communities perspective, I know this is "just another squeeze post". And I have read many of those threads, but I am seeking some specific advice regarding my situation. Once the next class starts, if I were to have another pulmonary edema I would not be able to rest as many threads recommend doing after experiencing a squeeze. I would have to continue training or face elimination.
So here are my specific questions:
If I were to experience another blood spitting incident, how dangerous is it to continue to perform underwater training? (our course is 9 weeks long)
What can I do to avoid getting another pulmonary edema? I've read that stretching of the rib cage area could help?
Completing this course is very important to me, but my long term health is of more concern. I appreciate anyone would could take the time to read this post and supply an answer. I already have learned a lot on both my condition and on how to improve my training from this site.
