NO more headache when using Nitrox

[Remy B.]

Did I misunderstand your post? I thought you were reporting getting fewer headaches when diving Nitrox than you got when diving air? We all know it is not a magical gas, but my understanding is that you are reporting an effect or apparent benefit that is not normally associated with Nitrox.



This is just my wild speculation, but it might be possible that in some instance in which you were very "unrelaxed" you might actually have been breathing in a way that eliminates more CO2 than when you are diving the way you normally do when you are diving on air (anxious about getting headaches). Maybe moderate exertion and moderate relaxation seem like opposites at first glance but could actually both result in a person breathing in a way that eliminates CO2 effectively enough to avoid headaches? In other words, maybe not thinking at all about your breathing because your focus is on a challenging dive has a similar effect to thinking TOO much about you breathing when you are diving on air and concerned about a possible headache? Who knows--this is wild speculation, and I'm just throwing it out there for consideration. Please don't interpret it as argumentative or anything more than it is.

I don't have the medical knowledge that some others here do, but absent some unknown condition like a PFO, and based on the common knowledge about Nitrox that we all have, I will speculate that the headache (or absence thereof) has something to do with what is going on in your head when you dive on air versus when you dive on Nitrox.

You put it in a strange context, I'm not thinking nothing, just noticed that I don't get headaches after diving with nitrox, I know my self better to tell you that my breathing rate is the same with air or nitrox, I just wandering why is this happening to me, is there something wrong with my body, that is my main concern, will it affect me later on, per say, if I get to be certified as a Tec diver and use less concentration of O2

During my dives I don't have headaches, is after it at surface, while diving air or nitrox I'm relaxed, actually I find diving like a relax therapy for me.

 

[kr2y5]

I suppose in theory you could do a blind test, by having someone give you a "surprise" fill of either air or 32% Nitrox (and maybe have 2-3 other people analyze and confirm that it's one or the other without telling you which), plan the no-deco limits as if diving on air, and the O2 exposure limits as if diving on Nitrox, repeat a few dives, and see if you can actually tell the difference without knowing what you were breathing upfront. That way, you can at least rule out placebo effect and confirmation bias. Then again, a disclaimer: DON'T try this at home, or else it WILL kill you... ALWAYS personally analyze your gas.

 

[Lorenzoid]

You put it in a strange context, . . .

I'll agree with that!

. . . I'm not thinking nothing, just noticed that I don't get headaches after diving with nitrox . . . .

THAT I am not so convinced of. Our brains are plenty active when we are diving. We think about what gas we are breathing, what we are going to do next, our buddies, our environment, etc. Sometimes we think about our breathing. It's hard to say how our thoughts affect our physiological responses.

Now, if you have gathered some blind test data where on a statistically significant number of dives you didn't know whether on any given dive you had dived Nitrox or air (not recommended!), and found some statistical correlation between diving air and getting headaches and diving Nitrox and not getting headaches, I would be completely convinced. In the absence of that, I feel free to inject my wild speculation into the conversation.

 

[Remy B.]

( Even though the headaches, according to DAN, were in fact due to barotrauma )

I asked me that question my self as well, am I susceptible to Barotrauma ??, higher % O2 are used for faster Deco, there for kind of a benefit as you are displacing more nitrogen out of your body or up-taking less nitrogen in that matter.

And I say susceptible because I had stay in my NDL's, I have been very close to my max NDL, and very far from them with Air, and had the same outcome as headache after diving.

I don't called a coincidence of not having headaches after diving Nitrox, my last 6 dives had been nitrox, the first time I said o nice no headache that dive, second time, uhmm not headache, but the other four times I was asking my self, this can't be a coincidence 6 out of 6 no headaches.

 

[kr2y5]

6 dives is not a sample size, from which I would dare to draw any conclusions.... especially if the measurement is so very subjective, and the conditions vary.

 

[Remy B.]

Now, if you have gathered some blind test data where on a statistically significant number of dives you didn't know whether on any given dive you had dived Nitrox or air (not recommended!), and found some statistical correlation between diving air and getting headaches and diving Nitrox and not getting headaches, I would be completely convinced. In the absence of that, I feel free to inject my wild speculation into the conversation.

Interesting thing to do actually, it is like the placebo method, it is very possible to do that, just stay in the NDL's treat all dives with a max depth of 20m and program the DC for Air use and follow the NDL's, of course this need to be supervised on surface by who ever want to test this on me. I'm up for it, like to know my self, if it is the case that my brain are playing tricks on me, don't believe so, but who knows.

 

[Lorenzoid]

6 dives is not a sample size, from which I would dare to draw any conclusions.... especially if the measurement is so very subjective, and the conditions vary.

Not to mention the possibility of "confirmation bias."

 

[Remy B.]

6 dives is not a sample size, from which I would dare to draw any conclusions.... especially if the measurement is so very subjective, and the conditions vary.

I don't agree, 23 dives with air all ended up with headache, next 6 dives with nitrox, no headaches, I have only 29 dives on me, I see a trend.

I can do my next 5 with air and then 5 with nitrox, and see what happen, but I wonder if a predetermine my brain to it, it may not be a accurate test if I know when I'm diving air and nitrox, like more the test that Lorenz mention.

 

[Sharkygill]

I too have found that I regularly get headaches with regular air, and none with nitrox. It is the biggest reason I pay for nitrox as I dive shallow and breath through tanks limiting the other benefits. I know I fell better post dive so I use it, not particularly scientific but I'm ok with it.

 

[Remy B.]

It's less anecdotal and less of a believe than you think. Here is the link of one if you care to read it

Wilmshurst PT, Pearson M, Nightingale S – Reevaluation of the relationship between migraine and persistent foramen ovale and other right-to-left shunts
Clin Scien 2005; 108: 365-367


http://www.clinsci.org/cs/108/0365/1080365.pdf

Interesting, are you a Doctor ??, do you think that is possible to have a Right to left shunt problem and not suffer from headaches or migraines ??

I think I will show this document to my doctor see if he think it will be appropriate to make a Transthoracic contrats echocardiography, if I want to get down the path of Technical Diving it is a valid test to do discard this out of the way, I don't want get bend and fuc*** my live and the ones around me.

---------- Post added April 23rd, 2015 at 12:31 PM ----------

I too have found that I regularly get headaches with regular air, and none with nitrox. It is the biggest reason I pay for nitrox as I dive shallow and breath through tanks limiting the other benefits. I know I fell better post dive so I use it, not particularly scientific but I'm ok with it.

I'm actually that happy without headaches after diving, that I was thinking I may as well stay diving nitrox since it appear that I don't get them when using Nitrox.

My headaches, are not extreme nor close to it, it just is annoying, and like I said it last between half to one hour normally, sometimes a little longer, I don't take pain killers either, it just go away.