Addiction, recovery, and narcosis

[2airishuman]

An older friend of the family used to dive. He recently sold his gear having quit diving after a near miss involving narcosis. He said he was sufficiently impaired that his dive buddy had to intervene to get him to ascend at the end of the dive. I don't have further details about the incident (depth, purpose of the dive). The diver was first certified in the 70s or 80s and does not hold any technical certs.

The diver in question is a recovering alcoholic. Though it's speculation on my part, I have to wonder whether he sought out deep dives in pursuit of a buzz.

Is the possible risk of narcosis-seeking behavior among divers in recovery a recognized problem?

Is there any specific advice regarding this connection that is given to divers in recovery?

 

[Diver0001]

Narcosis and alcohol do not affect the brain in the same way.

Addiction is a complex issue which is both physiological and psychological. Physiologically, it takes a long time for the brain to recover from an extended period of heavy drinking. By this I mean a minimum of 9 months before brain chemistry returns to normal. I've never heard or read anything that lead me to believe that a recovering alcoholic would be more susceptible to narcosis than they were when they were drinking. If there is any link between this bout of narcosis and your friend's alcohol recovery I would look for it in his general fitness level and sleep patterns. Depending on how long he's been stopped his whole system could be somewhat out of balance as his body/brain heals, diet changes, sleep changes, his weight could be changing, etc. All of this, of course will depend to some extent on how heavily he was drinking and over what period of time.

Psychologically it's not uncommon for recovering addicts to look for an acceptable surrogate. There is nothing about narcosis that I think is particularly addicting, but inside the mind of a recovering alcoholic, there are gears at work that most people don't have... so I guess you never really know. To get a good idea if this is happening, a good question to ask him is if he feels a need to dive deep after experiencing a period of mental unrest. In an active addiction, mental unrest is "first base" so without some kind of link between those two things then it would seem unlikely to me that the behaviour is "seeking".

Chances are also good that it was just the day. I've had days when I got narced out of my skull on the same dive where I felt perfectly ok the week before.

R..

 

[Greg_Vic_Diver]

Diving in itself is crazy addictive!

 

[NYCNaiad]

I know someone with some addiction issues (though not to alcohol). The first time she got narc'd, she loved it & it seemed like it was serving the same sort of need that occurred with her other addictions. She then specifically wanted to go as deep as possible to get narc'd.

 

[laikabear]

I read a book called Ocean Gladiator by Mark Ellyat; the author reported using deep diving on air to get high. I don't know if it was the physical feeling just from narcosis, or if it also was an adrenaline rush from the danger, that he was seeking.

I have several dives in the 100-125 foot range, but have not experienced what he describes feeling. I mean, I'm sure I've been narced, but it didn't feel like a high or like something one could literally get addicted to.

Figuratively, sure. I'm "addicted" to diving.

 

[Dsix36]

I am an alcoholic and I have been narced several times. One some occasions I would feel the world was ending and others I was pretty euphoric. None of these events ever triggered any type of relapse or began a new addiction to getting narced.

I am definitely not an expert on the matter, but I find it highly doubtful that being an alcoholic has much to do with getting narced or chasing the "high" from it. I will say that some people will have an addictive personality (myself included) and that might have something to do with it though.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I've had a couple of dark narcs, most unpleasant. Most of the narcs that I can actually feel are not so much euphoric as just a wonderful sense that "this is the BEST dive I've ever been on". Eventually, I came to realize that feeling/sensation, and always check myself to see if it really is an awesome dive or an awesome narc. Far more often, I don't feel anything amiss either to darkness or lightness of mood but will eventually notice that I'm checking my guages far more often than should be required because of not being able to hold the info in my head. I wouldn't chase any of these but certainly prefer the happy ones.

 

[Nemrod]

I am sure that my math skills degrade at depth, especially being as they are not terribly outstanding to begin with, other than that, narcosis, meh, nothing I worry over at any normal depth a sport diver belongs at. Cannot say I have ever experienced it in any significant way.

N

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I found out I have a built in audible alarm system in my head that alerts me to an oncoming narc whether I feel the results coming on or not. It's sharp increased very loud tinnitis.
After that I can choose to proceed or back off, but I never get taken by surprise.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Like Eric, I've experienced the tinnitus too, however, it's not as noticeable these days due to the tinnitus having moved in permanently.