First dive to 30m and narked out of my wits

[BDSC]

Wrong on two counts, I have personally felt narcosis shallower than 99ft and 33 meters is 109ft not 99ft

33 meters is closer to 108 feet. So you would only be wrong on one count.

BDSC

 

[siikik]

33 meters is closer to 108 feet. So you would only be wrong on one count.

BDSC

Closer, yes. But you should always round up for safety.



Ken

 

[FritzCat66]

Practice getting narced with a couple cartidges of nitrous oxide from a whipped cream dispenser here on dry land first. Or a balloon from a Phish concert or Burning Man. Feels pretty much exactly like getting narced to me... same tunnel vision, loopiness yet with a part of you still aware, monotopical thinking, slow response times, etc. Disappears just as quickly as it does when ascending from depth, too. Might be worth having a friend time you on a simple task like tying a knot or something.

By experiencing it that way, it kinda takes the "darkness" and paranoia out of it when experienced at depth, makes it less unfamiliar. Others may have ethical problems with it, but it worked for me (I did not know it until the first time I was narced, but then it was like, "Hey, I remember this feeling!").

NAUI and SDI won't incorporate this into their standard deep diving program... but maybe PADI?

>*< Fritz

 

[Parysa]

I have to agree with Puffer Fish. There are outlying factors that increase your susceptibility to narcosis such as medications, drinking alcohol, stress, sickness and dehydration, but it seems like 30 meters would put you in a category of being extremely hypersensitive to narcosis. Perhaps in knowing you were going deeper than your comfort level allowed caused the perceptual narrowing that you experienced secondary to possible anxiety you may have felt. The symptoms were relieved as you began to ascend which could equate to you getting more into your comfort range. I could very well be wrong but it has always been my understanding that the shallowest depth for experiencing narcosis is 33 meters/99 ft. In any event I am glad you are ok and regardless of what the problem was, you handled it well. Congratulations and thanks for the post.

I've been fine to 100 feet and narced out of my mind at 80, so I'd say it's definitely possible to be narced prior to 33 m. In fact, if I remember correctly from my AOW class, I was thinking it was 60 ft that was the shallowest you could get narced. I could be completely wrong and just pulling a figure out of thin air, but I remember someone telling me that at some point. Incidentally, the time that I got narced at 80 ft, I was working hard, had a reg that didn't breathe easily, and was in cold water in a stressful situation. Suffice it to say it wasn't a happy narc, lol.

 

[mhinagoya]

All my dives are in cold water (Puget Sound). I have been narced as shallow as 80 feet and have felt no symptoms at 150. Those are the extremes of my experience.

Under normal diving conditions, I usually get that "I shouldn't have had that last beer" feeling around 100 feet. On shrimp dives (at night), we routinely hit 130. Yes, I am narced but not to the point I can't manage my gas and understand my computer. I am of the opinion that a diver never builds up a tolerance and never 'learns' how to overcome the symptoms. Experience helps, as does knowing why I feel funny, but the results are the same; Slow reactions and diminished ability to make decisions.

I've been diving so long that many things I do are just automatic (bouancy control, mask clearing, gas monitoring, etc.). When I am narced, I shift down to 'new guy' status and those things go back to manual control. This is why I tell new divers to keep it shallow. I suggest that they should give themselves time to gain experience and develop good habits. That way, when they do get narced, they can 'shift down' to manual. If you start out in manual, then 'shifting down' becomes a bit problematic.

Unless I'm headed for a deep bottle garden or chasing shrimp, I stay the short side of 100 feet. I get more bottom time and my margin of safety is wider. Going deep just for the sake of an entry in a log book doesn't make any sense to me.

Bill.

 

[Tigerman]

33 meters is closer to 108 feet. So you would only be wrong on one count.

BDSC

33 meters is actually 108,26772 feet

 

[BDSC]

33 meters is actually 108,26772 feet

Or is it 108.26772 ft?

 

[Tigerman]

Or is it 108.26772 ft?

Depends wether your decimal and thousand seperators are . or ,
In my case thousand seperator is . and decimal is ,

 

[BDSC]

Depends wether your decimal and thousand seperators are . or ,
In my case thousand seperator is . and decimal is ,

Thanks! I did learn something new today afterall.

BDSC