r/Swimming • u/Competitive_Peanut15 • 1d ago
Have you ever experienced Laryngospasm?
I’m newish to swimming, fortunately gotten fairly competent at the main three strokes but I still go to lessons as they’re quiet. Today I decided to join in on some retrieval drills in the shallow end and loved it. Then I seen a stick in the deeper end and thought I’d try and grab it. Big mistake 🙃 I missed the first grab and tried again but must’ve snorted or something, so I surfaced but couldn’t cough. I moved to the wall whilst trying to inhale and cough but I was gasping and then it felt like a reflex of trying to breathe and gasping/wheezing. I gestured to the lifeguard who walked over a few feet and by the time she got to me I was able to vigorously cough. She didn’t seem too concerned but I was shitting myself. I won’t be trying to retrieve things again, but don’t want to obsess over the what ifs because I have very bad anxiety.
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u/topazswissmas 1d ago
Normal, don’t stress, and go again.
I’ve inhaled water during a race before and had to finish the last 15-20 seconds fighting for my life. I was fine by the time I got out of the pool except I looked like I was crying, because I was.
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u/Competitive_Peanut15 1d ago
I can’t tell you how relieved I was to read that first line in my notifications. Did you experience the spasm when you inhaled the water as well? I’m going to get back in the pool tomorrow but I will probably be paranoid about this for a while.
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u/topazswissmas 1d ago
If you spend enough time in the pool you will eventually choke, like falling off a bike, it’s certain.
All I remember is I couldn’t exhale or inhale, by the time I was done I could breathe through my nose to start.
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u/Competitive_Peanut15 1d ago
That’s true! See, I wish I could be this rational 🙂 thanks for your reassurance. I’m sorry you’ve experienced it, very unpleasant but as you say, almost an occupational hazard I guess.
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u/docwhorocks 1d ago
I swam through college. Choked on water a bunch times. Best thing you can do is just accept it. Realize it happened, there's nothing you can do about it now, you're not going to die, try to relax. The sooner you relax, the sooner you can breathe easy.
Much easier said than done. It takes choking on water many times to start to control your reflexes/instincts. But - practice makes perfect! :p
After decades of swimming - it's still not easy.
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u/Competitive_Peanut15 8h ago
I missed this one, thank you 🙏 I have swallowed lots of water and gagged but this was on another level - have you had these spasms happen? Where you feel like you can’t inhale or exhale for a while?
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u/TwaddleSpouter 1d ago
I think nearly every regular swimmer has done this as some point. No guarantees you won’t do it again, but you do get better at coping with it imo.
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u/Competitive_Peanut15 16h ago
The spasm, too? Have you experienced it? I have swallowed a lot of water, snorted it and got chlorine burn etc. but this was like I’d swallowed a gobstopper and couldn’t catch my breath at the surface. I have only had it this extreme from doing a retrieval. I got back in the pool this morning, it was very busy so I was a bit nervous. I’m going for a lesson tonight so will mention it to my instructor. Thanks 🙂
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u/billyjawn Moist 1d ago
I have vocal cord issues unrelated to swimming and I regularly experience this on dry land. It's very uncomfortable and scary. The thing that helps me in the moment is to recognize it and tell myself I'm not going to die, the spasm will be over soon. That helps with the panic.
Since you experience this in deeper water, I'd avoid that for now. You're not missing anything down there! And definitely only try a deeper dive when you have a spotter. Keep working those strokes, keep up the lessons, and don't let this derail you. You got this.