diverrick
Contributor
I wanted to run this one by all of you folks to see if you can figure out what the problem was.
We finally solved it by chance, thanks to a old time diver.
So I'll tell you if you guys guess it right.
My Wife and I went down to Roatan for a weeks diving. First dive was pretty shallow, nothing over 60 ft. My wife started to get a headache after approx. 25 mins under water, then nausea, and then vomiting.
Second dive after SI,same thing, this time the headache was worse. When we got back to shore the DM thought some O2might help the headache, so she used it, and it helped relieve the headache.
Next day she tried it again, this time on Nitrox, to see if it made any difference. Same as before, she got sick after about 25 Mins. underwater. When she came up she was about in tears from the pain of the headache. We had another boat from the dive operator, take her back to shore, and she used O2 again for relief.
I was getting worried.
We were all breathing the same air, and no one else was having any problems.
None of the dives were unusual, so we didn't think it was the bends.
We considered some medication she was taking, but she had dove before with no problems, and had been cleared by her Doc to dive while using the meds.
I called DAN to see if they could be of assistance and they told me they had never heard of the symptoms she was having, and suggested we see a Doctor.
Luck being on our side, the Doc was only a mile down the road, right next to the hyperbaric chamber.
He did a through work up and found nothing, but suggested we do some stool samples to rule out a parisite. He told her to take a day off and see if it occurs again.
We didn't think it was a parasite or illness, as she always felt better after returning to shore, after each dive.
We also didn't think it was sea sickness as that usually will not cause a headache until after you've yacked your guts up. She maintained the headache came first every time.
So... What was the problem?
We finally solved it by chance, thanks to a old time diver.
So I'll tell you if you guys guess it right.
My Wife and I went down to Roatan for a weeks diving. First dive was pretty shallow, nothing over 60 ft. My wife started to get a headache after approx. 25 mins under water, then nausea, and then vomiting.
Second dive after SI,same thing, this time the headache was worse. When we got back to shore the DM thought some O2might help the headache, so she used it, and it helped relieve the headache.
Next day she tried it again, this time on Nitrox, to see if it made any difference. Same as before, she got sick after about 25 Mins. underwater. When she came up she was about in tears from the pain of the headache. We had another boat from the dive operator, take her back to shore, and she used O2 again for relief.
I was getting worried.
We were all breathing the same air, and no one else was having any problems.
None of the dives were unusual, so we didn't think it was the bends.
We considered some medication she was taking, but she had dove before with no problems, and had been cleared by her Doc to dive while using the meds.
I called DAN to see if they could be of assistance and they told me they had never heard of the symptoms she was having, and suggested we see a Doctor.
Luck being on our side, the Doc was only a mile down the road, right next to the hyperbaric chamber.
He did a through work up and found nothing, but suggested we do some stool samples to rule out a parisite. He told her to take a day off and see if it occurs again.
We didn't think it was a parasite or illness, as she always felt better after returning to shore, after each dive.
We also didn't think it was sea sickness as that usually will not cause a headache until after you've yacked your guts up. She maintained the headache came first every time.
So... What was the problem?
