Now I KNOW what narcosis is!

[drbill]

I've been diving for nearly 50 years. Over the previous 9 years I was doing as many as 250-350 dives a year. I dove as deep as 180-200 ft on air (many times) and although I knew my judgment was slightly impaired, I never once felt overcome with the classical symptoms of narcosis. Of course diving that frequently, I probably had so much nitrogen in my system that I was narc'ed even at the surface!

Then last June I stopped diving with that intensity. I decided it was time to work on editing the past nine years of UW video into DVD products I could sell and my proposed new cable TV show. In the past 9 months I've probably done fewer than 50 dives and there is a good chance I won't reach 100 in the last 12 months.

On top of that, over the last 3 months I've been traveling and suffering from a prolonged cold so I've done very few dives.

My first major dive was a set of two dives to 150' on the wreck of the squid boat Infidel to assess the marine life living in the net on the bottom. For the first time in my memory I KNEW I was narc'ed. I was disoriented, couldn't operate my camera as well as I should, etc. And that used to be a normal maximum depth for me on most of my dives.

This past weekend I did a single dive to 107 ft in the Casino Point Dive Park here on Catalina. Again I was narc'ed! I got disoriented. I couldn't recognize landmarks. I wasn't sure which way to head to reach the shallows.

As far as I'm concerned, being narc'ed is nothing like having a few martinis. Besides I haven't tasted that drink since my Dad "taught" me to drink back in the summer of '65. Being narc'ed was nowhere near as fun as a few glasses of ouzo, or even Scotch.

I've found these last three dives to be very educational. I no longer can dive to the usual depths without a reconditioning effort, gradually working down to deeper depths over a few months of repetitive diving. I guess I'll just have to stay "shallow" and enjoy the longer bottom times and opportunities to film.

I'm sharing this because I really do find it very interesting. I hope someone else out there will too.

 

[mislav]

It is interesting and thanks for sharing.

I'm diving to these depths as well and I have similar experiences. Normally I can go without feeling impaired (I take care of time, depth, air...) of course - I do notice some slowness but nothing major. Then again, every once in a while I do get hit more severely.

One time was while being tired, one time having just gotten over a cold, once it seemed to be induced by very low viz. Usually there was something out of the ordinary on the dive I would get hit.

I've also noticed that on repetitive dives or when I'm diving more often I become less susceptible to narcosis.

For this reason I believe that once you go back to your old diving routine you'll get your immunity back as well.

 

[Rick Inman]

It's happened to me too, lately. I've felt disoriented, couldn't operate my stuff as well as usual, couldn't recognize landmarks, not sure which way to head back.

And that was on the surface! Started happening after I turned 50.

 

[flareless]

I have nowhere near the experience you folks have but my first narc was quite awful. I had never felt seriously narc'd on any of my dives down to a max of 150. We dived a ship called the Jodrey in the St. Lawrence. After a tough swim to a ledge a current washed us down to 180 very quickly. I did not like it! Very bad paranoia and feeling of wrongness. I didn't make it to the wreck but made it home safely. I really learned a lot on that dive, particularly the feeling of the onset; like everything is closing in.

Since that dive I've been back to 175 a few times for long periods and while feeling narcy a few times I didn't have that overwhelming constriction feeling I did the first time.

As a group of us are going to dive Oriskany next month technically I think I'm going to suggest that having been off most of the winter (with the exception of an EXCELLENT trip to the Keys in February) we limit the depths and extend the times. Working up the nitrogen level is a great idea.

Finally (to adapt a passage by Douglas Adams - my apologies);

Being Narc'd is unpleasantly like being drunk.
What's so unpleasant about being drunk?
Just go ask a glass of water.

 

[Cave Diver]

Interesting story Dr. Bill.

 

[DennisW]

Bill, thanks for sharing. Everyone doesn't feel the effects, but all of us get Narc'd. As you said, I think if you build up to it you will have more tolerance like before. Hopefully it's not just a by-product of getting older. This getting old stuff ain't for sissies.

 

[fairybasslet]

I also have never been aware of feeling narc'd even though I don't dive nearly as often as you used to. I haven't gone as deep as you have, but I don't remember feeling anything even at 120 fsw. However, in Cozumel last month, I think I was at about 90 fsw going through some formations and all of a sudden, I felt like the walls were closing in on me. It was a very strange feeling, and not pleasant at all. It was kind of scary. I ascended to around 70 and the feeling went away. The guide was calling me back down to look at something but I said "no thanks." I was diving air. I don't know if I would have had the same reaction if I was using nitrox.

 

[DennisW]

Ellen,

Nitrox does not reduce the effects of Nitrogen Narcosis.

 

[Rick Inman]

Ellen,

Nitrox does not reduce the effects of Nitrogen Narcosis.

...because most people believe that O2 is narcotic also, so reducing the nitrogen by replacing it with O2 does (almost) nothing. The only way to reduce narcosis is to replace the N2 with HE (well, there are other gasses, but that's another thread...).

 

[Garrobo]

Don't know if old age has anything to do with it. I'm 69 and about a quarter of the 160 dives I've done in the last 2+ years have been on wrecks averaging about 130 feet to the sand, where I always go. Never felt like I was narced. Maybe if I go a little deeper I might feel the effects. I'll be diving the Oriskany second week of june and I haven't dove in two months. Better get with it next month and May.