Are Women Better Divers? DCS

[Jill Heinerth]

After reading many articles and attending seminars, my interest in the topic of women and decompression illness (DCI) was peaked in the spring of 2000 when I experienced my first case of the bends. During a deep cave expedition, I suffered a hit when my male partner was without symptoms. Luckily my case was not too serious. My symptoms included pain, inflammation and soreness associated with Simple DCI but also minor numbness in the arms, which is associated with Neurological DCI. Regardless, I wanted to fully understand the circumstances that may have contributed to my incident. The full story is at: www.RebreatherPro.com

The attached pic: Jill Heinerth and Dr. Sylvia Earle- Both in the Women Divers Hall of Fame

 

[Rhone Man]

I think it is pretty universally acknowledged that (a) higher body fat is a risk factor in DCS, as fat is a high absorbtion tissue (although actually a lower risk tissue, although nobody tends to publish that fact as much), and (b) physiologically women carry (on average) more body fat than men as a consequence of carrying all the jiggly bits that men love so much.

I certainly wouldn't say than means that women or men are better purely because of natural physiology. Completely unrealated to DCS, I tend to prefer diving with women because (a) less macho, and (b) usually better SAC rates.

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

I certainly wouldn't say than means that women or men are better purely because of natural physiology. Completely unrealated to DCS, I tend to prefer diving with women because (a) less macho, and (b) usually better SAC rates.

Point (a) is a gender stereo type that I'm not sure is true. In fact, the women I've dived with haven't been docile at all. They're about as likely to go mavrick as the next diver. Maybe we dive in different circles.

Point (b) seems to be the diametric opposite of the point you were making earlier in the post about purely physiological differences making one or the other gender better.

 

[TSandM]

Jill, thank you for a very nice article, and for being public and honest about what happened to you and why. I suspect it's quite widespread that people feel there is something shameful about getting DCS -- Especially in OW classes, it's presented more or less that if you do everything right, it won't happen, and therefore if it does, you did something wrong. This is in complete contrast to a seminar on decompression I attended by a world class diving explorer, who began by saying, "If you haven't gotten bent yet, you will." His view was that you do what you can to minimize the risk, but accept that it will never be zero.

Treatment is so much more effective if begun early, it's important that people are willing to recognize the symptoms for what they are. Denial is a big source of delay. Hearing stories like yours from someone of your stature will hopefully make it easier for others to acknowledge that it has happened to them.

 

[Garrobo]

The question was "Are women better divers?" and then something else about DCS. I don't know if women are better divers but they surely look a lot nicer than most men and are a lot more fun to be with. Having said that, the women who I have dived with, including an instuctor, were pretty serious and independent individuals.