Mammalian Dive Reflex

[Crankin]

I can't put my face in the water for more than 2 seconds. Nor can I use a mask. It's a feeling of of total claustrophobia, panic, and feeling like I am going to die.
I can swim, but obviously not really fast, because I don't like the breathing part. I also wear contacts, so that's another reason for not putting my face totally in the water. I can't use goggles, either. Anything that takes away the feeling of having all of my senses, i.e. breathing the normal way, seeing totally clearly, freaks me out.
I didn't learn to swim until I was 7 or 8 because of this, even though I spent all summer at the beach and 2 years in day camp. I also won't swim in water where I can't stand up, except in a pool, but then I have to be very near the edge, so I can grab ahold of something.
I have a real fear of drowning, not being able to swim the distance, even though I know I have cardio endurance. Many years ago, I had a stress fracture in my foot, from teaching too many aerobics classes on a concrete floor. The only thing I could do was swim. It was September in AZ, so I got up a 4:30 AM to swim for 30 minutes in my own backyard pool. But even that freaked me out. I had to put on all of the floodlights and put the radio on, or else I felt like I was being enveloped in something that was going to do me in.
It's amazing that both of my kids are excellent swimmers and my younger son has the highest swim classification that you can get in the military.

[lph]

I can't put my face in the water for more than 2 seconds. Nor can I use a mask. It's a feeling of of total claustrophobia, panic, and feeling like I am going to die.

I can understand that, it's not a great feeling wearing a mask and breathing through a snorkel, it feels a bit constrained. I just mention it because to me the mask took away a lot of the feeling of having my face in water at all, it felt "protective". So once I got somewhat comfortable with wearing a mask and breathing through a snorkel on dry land, putting my face under water didn't make much difference.

[hulagirl]

Over the past few days I've done a lot of testing!

1. I ran 1.5 miles from my house to the beach before I got in. I expected the ocean to be calm that day as the winds were down. I didn't check the surf report. Duh. This dork swam in 2' waves and chop. Turns out the wind was blowing at the beach, just not my house!

I fully expected to freak out. Chop/waves are not my friend and I avoid them when I can. However, I did not have any panic, breathing issues. The water felt warm and oh so wonderful to me! Yes, I had some fun free-falling and a face full of water numerous times. But I just laughed and tried not to get sea sick! No gasping, no racing heart. It wasn't an easy swim, and when I turned around and headed into the wind/waves it was much harder and I had to stop.

+ 1 for elevating my heart rate with a hard run before getting into the water. Seems to help.

2. On Saturday I swam at a lagoon on the other side of the island. Calm, flat, no wind. Ran 1 mile before the swim, got nice and hot, high heart rate. But the water felt much colder and I started to get chills and began to shiver before I could get my chest in the water. Head in and I was doing the gasping thing. Keep in mind that this is FLAT water that I can stand up in. There is no panic here. There is no fear of the water. It is a response my body is kicking up due to cold water temps.

I swam with my coach and she had me do controlled breathing exercises for 100m. At 100m I did more stroke work and had horrible issues with inhaling water. I can't control the gasping underwater so I suck up water before I can come up for air. At 200m I continued to do more stroke work, concentrating on breathing every 2 strokes, then switching sides. At 300m I began to be able to control my breathing better. At 500m I was better. And was able to swim another 500 only having to stop for breath twice. (not because I was gasping, but because I was just tired!)

Of the 2 swim sessions my body was MUCH colder on Saturday. The water in the lagoon is probably a colder temp and it was early in the day.

I do not believe it is panic related. If I was going to panic it would have been on Friday in the 2' waves and chop. Not calm, flat and only 5' deep.

And I do get this when I snorkel for the first 15-20 min. It's so not fun!

[Cataboo]

Hulagirl, I think the problem is that what you are calling the mammalian dive reflex is not what you are describing - you're describing the involuntary cold water gasp reflex. Both happen as a reaction to cold water, but they're not the same process.

I don't swim really, but I know as a kayaker, we're all warned strongly about the cold water gasp reflex and the panic that it can cause, even if you're wearing a drysuit and should be fine in the water temperatures. The other thing to worry about is cold water getting in the ear canal really can do a number on your balance.

Links:
http://www.oregon.gov/OSMB/safety/co...mmersion.shtml
Four Stages of Cold Water Immersion

Stage 1 -Cold Water Shock
When someone falls into cold water their first unconscious response is to take a large breath of air, called the "involuntary gasp reflex." If their face is in the water when that gasp occurs, then their chances of survival immediately diminish.

http://www.ussartf.org/cold_water_survival.htm

I also find it funny that Hulagirl quoted a blog and Knotted yet is quoting scientific articles.

[hulagirl]

I also find it funny that Hulagirl quoted a blog and Knotted yet is quoting scientific articles.

I'm glad I could be of entertainment value! Once you suffer through a shitty 2000k swim like I did, you are desperate to figure out what is wrong. Finally finding someone that specifically wrote to my issues - blog, scientific, whatever - was such a relief.

Being told I'm 'just panicking' is much different than being told that what I'm having is called "Cold Water Shock." There is a HUGE difference. One you can control with time, training, focus, and experience - the other, you can't (well, at least you can't in a triathlon that bans wet-suits!).

Thanks for the link. I have to figure out a way to keep my core temp warm and my heart rate elevated so that I can feel good when I get in the water! LOL!

[KnottedYet]

I never said you were "just panicking."

I was pointing out that what you and the blog-dude and I experience is not from the MDR.

Cataboo found our culprit: a cold water reaction that makes us gasp and panic. (and I'm not talking about a cognitive panic, I'm talking about physiological panic, the arousal that the third paper I linked said could override the effects of the MDR and cause tachycardia, etc.)

Clearly the solution is to hang out in nice warm water... with a floatie and a beer for me!

[Bike Chick]

Clearly the solution is to hang out in nice warm water... with a floatie and a beer for me!

Wonderful solution! As a matter of fact, this was the extent of my swimming until 3 years ago when a cycling friend suggested we try triathlon and I had to learn to swim. I was like Catrin and didn't even want water in my face in the shower. Btw, I used a washcloth to wash my face back then--no splashing for me--and would lean backwards to rinse my hair. No kidding! When I finally got over my fear of putting my face in the water, then it was the anxiety-ridden fear of being in water over my head. I couldn't swim the length of the pool without having a panic attack when I got to the deep end. I have overcome that but now am trying to get over my fear of open water. I hadn't even considered cold, open water. Oh my! My first OWS was last year and the result was my turning around at the first bouy and heading back to shore. No kidding. I am trying it again in May and am not looking forward to it.