Question:
Why do I get so nauseous after surfacing from a dive?
jimmyb
2010-10-28 07:54:20 UTC
I am fairly new to scuba, but am finding myself becoming extremely nauseous after surfacing from my first or second dives. I am not nauseous during the dive, only upon reaching the surface. What is causing this, and is there any way to prevent this from happening?
Eight answers:
?
2010-10-28 08:02:42 UTC
you should be very careful, you must rise up through the water very slowly so that your body can adjust to the different pressure, if not nitrogen gets stuck in your blood and is often fatal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decompression_sickness
tjs282
2010-10-28 08:47:00 UTC
The fact that you do not feel the nausea underwater but only at the surface after the dive, suggests that it might be related to the pressure change during the ascent. The following suggestions of causes are roughly in the order I thought of them, i.e. most to least likely.



If you are having trouble equalising, or 'forcing' equalisations on the descent, this may indicate that you have also suffered a minor reverse bock during the ascent, which is affecting your sense of balance, producing dizziness. This should wear off with time, as the excess air escapes from your middle ear. Forcing equalisations can also damage your inner ear, but if this was the problem, the vertigo and nausea would not be temporary, but would continue long after the dive.



Remember that you should not be diving if you are congested (e.g. with a cold or allergy), and that you should equalise early and often during the descent, BEFORE the pressure becomes painful.



If you mean you are feeling like you need to throw up, this could indicate that you have swallowed air during the dive, or that you ate gassy food before you went diving--belching may help here. It might also indicate that your gear is not properly adjusted--perhaps you overtightened your BC cummerbund around your middle (remember, your suit will expand during the ascent, so a 'just right' adjustment underwater will become too tight after ascent).



Or you could be getting seasick. Ginger is supposed to help with this, or you can buy over-the-counter seasickness remedies, or acupressure bracelets.



Or the nausea might simply be psychological, a manifestation of the adrenalin rush, especially if you are slightly nervous about diving. Only you can say how likely this is.



There is a very remote possibility that you have suffered mild carbon monoxide poisoning from a bad air fill (e.g. if someone left a car with its engine running near the compressor intake), although in this case I would have expected the nausea to manifest underwater, and it would affect all the divers who had their cylinders filled at the same time as yours. The air would likely have tasted 'oily' too--although a newbie might assume this is normal (it isn't!).



As you are a relatively new diver, I am assuming that you are not doing excessively deep or long dives, so DCS is unlikely to be the cause of your nausea (and DCS has many other possible symptoms as well, such as numbness, paralysis, or pain--see your course manual).



However, if you are still concerned, or if the nausea does not dissipate with time, or you suffer any other symptoms, I would suggest you get in touch with the Divers Alert Network helpline (Non-Emergency Medical Questions: 1-800-446-2671 or 1-919-684-2948, Mon-Fri, 8:30am-5:00pm). They are better qualified to offer advice on SCUBA medicine than I am.
anonymous
2010-10-28 07:56:46 UTC
Its the change in pressure. Your body gets used to being at a way higher pressure and when you surface the pressure drops significantly. About the same thing would happen if you climbed a mountain. Never go on an airplane after diving btw its too much of a pressure change and you could rupture your organs.
anonymous
2016-02-26 01:03:16 UTC
Can you get motion sickness while scuba diving - Yes. I have and done that and the regulator was able to handle it. There are many factors that can cause motion sickness underwater but is too long to explain. As for diving in the Red Sea - not my area. You can get use-to and over-come most forms of motion sickness once you find out what is the casue. You can also take a lot of boat trips to get you body use to that particular motion. What you feel, see and presieve is factors for motion sickness.
?
2010-10-28 08:04:03 UTC
Lots of factors could be the cause, depending on the conditions of your dive and possibly wave action on the surface. It could be a simple inner ear issue. Or, it could be just a case of anxiety and nerves since you are new to the sport. Lots of times people feel nausea immediately after periods of high stress are resolved. Talk to your instructor about it and restrict yourself to fairly shallow dives (its better to work on your buoyancy control in shallow water anyway) - until you get over it. Also, Become a member of DAN. They have a huge help-base dedicated to this exact kind of stuff.
ConcernedCitizen
2010-10-28 18:34:13 UTC
Maybe you're swallowing air during your dive and it's expanding in your stomach. Either that or you're nauseated by bobbing up and down in the waves on the surface. That happened to me when I was doing my certification dives. When they had us demonstrate an emergency swimming ascent, the instructor took the student divers down one at a time and the rest had to wait on the surface. By the time it was my turn I was feeling pretty sick.



If you're swallowing air, focus on your breathing and make sure you're inhaling smoothly and not gulping the air.



If it's motion sickness, Dramamine 2 works well for me and doesn't make me drowsy.
anonymous
2010-10-28 07:56:21 UTC
It is known as "the bends", and is caused by a change in atmospheric pressure when you reach the surface.
?
2010-10-28 12:13:36 UTC
It might be the rapid change in pressure.


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