Bent-Numbness-Burning Sensation. . .

[Dinohunter]

The quick and the short of it is I got BENT! I’m in good physical condition and my health is excellent (except for the DCS). I am an experienced safe diver and nothing in my dive profile on the day of the incident sets off any alarms for DCS. Nevertheless, after 5 minutes after boarding the boat and removing my gear after my third dive of the day I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach and immediately had trouble breathing. The pain radiated from my diaphragm to my back in the area of my kidneys. It was acute for 30 minutes (labored breathing) and subsided after 1 1/2 hours (resulting in sore ribs).

The symptom was passed off as something other than being dive related by those in the know and authority. In fact, the boat captain called DAN and I was cleared to dive the two remaining dives that day. However, just to be safe, I refrained from diving. Later that afternoon I began to suffer from nausea, restlessness, the inability to urinate, and numbness in both legs from below knees to my feet. I explained all of the symptoms away (denial, denial, denial) and had logical reasons for each (sea sickness, being overtired, dehydration from diving, and tired feet and legs compensating for the pitch and roll of the live aboard). After all, the medical doctor at DAN didn’t think my labored breathing was dive related. (My first symptom, although rare, does occur and is called the chokes).

In any case, after my return home, I was treated for a serious case of neurological DCS (the bubbles where trapped in my spine, not my joints) with two Table 6 and two wound care dives in a chamber. I have regained 98% feeling in my legs and feet. I still have residual complications such a weakness on the left side, and other issues I do not wish to discuss on this board. It’s as if I had had a stroke. Thankfully, I have regained the majority of sensation in my legs and feet. However, I now constantly experience a burning sensation in my legs and feet. What is the cause forth this? Is it a sign of healing? My doctors at the hyperbaric unit couldn’t explain it. Does anyone have any insights as to why this is occurring?

Thanx in advance,
Dinohunter

P.S. Give me good news. . . I need it.

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

While I am not a physician, what you are describing sounds like nerve related injury. Hopefully, the good news is that you feeling something. If it were numbness, that would more likely indicate a permanent injury. If you are feeling pain or burning, that means that the nerves still are working.

I hope that it is something going on as your body is in the throws of healing itself. Best of luck to you.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hi Dinohunter:

Well, that certainly was a story. I am not familiar with a burning sensation associated with decompression sickness.

Possibly on the physicians on the Scuba Board will have some familiarity with this from a clinical perspective.

I suspect that it was wise that you refrained from further dives that day.

Dr Deco :doctor:

Readers, please note the next class in Decompression Physiology :1book:
http://wrigley.usc.edu/hyperbaric/advdeco.htm

 

[Randy43068]

The quick and the short of it is I got BENT! I’m in good physical condition and my health is excellent (except for the DCS). I am an experienced safe diver and nothing in my dive profile on the day of the incident sets off any alarms for DCS. Nevertheless, after 5 minutes after boarding the boat and removing my gear after my third dive of the day I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach and immediately had trouble breathing. The pain radiated from my diaphragm to my back in the area of my kidneys. It was acute for 30 minutes (labored breathing) and subsided after 1 1/2 hours (resulting in sore ribs).

Hey Dino,

Glad you're getting better and hope you continue to improve.

Would you please share your dive profile? Not trying to find fault or blame you, just curious about it.

Good luck and thanks,

Randy

 

[Saturation]

Hello Dinohunter, unusual for a NSL dive, but more common if you ascended too fast in your dive profile and exerted yourself quite a bit in most of these dives.

The quick and the short of it is I got BENT! I’m in good physical condition and my health is excellent (except for the DCS). I am an experienced safe diver and nothing in my dive profile on the day of the incident sets off any alarms for DCS. Nevertheless, after 5 minutes after boarding the boat and removing my gear after my third dive of the day I felt as if I had been punched in the stomach and immediately had trouble breathing. The pain radiated from my diaphragm to my back in the area of my kidneys. It was acute for 30 minutes (labored breathing) and subsided after 1 1/2 hours (resulting in sore ribs).

These are not typical symptoms of bends so its possible for a divemaster or captain to discount it. Had it been accompanied by a fit of coughing and chest tightness its more like chokes. Nevertheless, a sudden onset of shortness of breath is always a harbinger of problems. Abdominal pain with chokes symptoms could be due to a massive offgassing from the abdominal region and bubbles flooding the pulmonary artery. Had symptoms resolved quickly on 02 it suggests some form of DCI, such as chokes. If it were your heart or lung issues it would not resolve too well with 02 [such as a ruptured lung]. If it were due to some muscle, back or tendon sprain or stomach issue, it would not ease at all with 02 ... alas, no 02 'trial' makes it hard to differentiate what it could be.

The symptom was passed off as something other than being dive related by those in the know and authority. In fact, the boat captain called DAN and I was cleared to dive the two remaining dives that day. However, just to be safe, I refrained from diving. Later that afternoon I began to suffer from nausea, restlessness, the inability to urinate, and numbness in both legs from below knees to my feet. I explained all of the symptoms away (denial, denial, denial) and had logical reasons for each (sea sickness, being overtired, dehydration from diving, and tired feet and legs compensating for the pitch and roll of the live aboard). After all, the medical doctor at DAN didn’t think my labored breathing was dive related. (My first symptom, although rare, does occur and is called the chokes).

How these symptoms localized is puzzling, but an MRI of spine would be needed after your recompression. Typically, the massive offgassing eventually causes bubbles to filter through the lungs, or via a PFO, and these causes an AGE. Your symptoms are more akin to spinal cord bends localize to a low thoracic segment but an AGE is more likely. An MRI of the brain and spine would be helpful.

In any case, after my return home, I was treated for a serious case of neurological DCS (the bubbles where trapped in my spine, not my joints) with two Table 6 and two wound care dives in a chamber. I have regained 98% feeling in my legs and feet. I still have residual complications such a weakness on the left side, and other issues I do not wish to discuss on this board. It’s as if I had had a stroke. Thankfully, I have regained the majority of sensation in my legs and feet. However, I now constantly experience a burning sensation in my legs and feet. What is the cause forth this? Is it a sign of healing? My doctors at the hyperbaric unit couldn’t explain it. Does anyone have any insights as to why this is occurring?

Those sensations are likely paresthesias, they occur when nerves are recovering from an injury ... its like sitting on a bar stool and having your legs go to sleep, during the recovery the 'electricity' sometimes is painful ... these are nerves sending wrong signals for what it senses. How long it lasts is difficult to say, it depends on how injured they were. An MRI can guestimate the extent of injury.

Assuming you executed a no-risk profile NSL dive, this is an unexpected hit of some severity beginning with a large abdominal offgassing, is this patient overweight by any chance? While a transit through the lungs in semi-large offgassing is common reason for bubbles to transit the lungs, a return to diving at some point may warrant checking for a PFO ... albeit unlikely as patient would have been hit hard early around the first hour that symptoms began.

Chokes is often written to have the potential for a fatal outcome. But that depends really on the volume of bubbles that enters circulation. Just last month, I treated a chokes diver after a trimix dive with 45min of 02% with complete resolution of all symptoms. Key to DCI is early treatment, and the ease by which He mobilize is advantageous over dives with N2 as the primary gas in bubbles.

His symptoms began as a vague abdominal discomfort, that increased in intensity that he attributed to his weight belt. He then began coughing, which progressed to fits of drying, loud, hacking coughs ... uncontrollable. This was 30min on surfacing. By near 1 hour post dive, it had lessened, but continued and he also felt 'off' and weak, a tad short of breath. By one hour, he was getting lightheaded, developed scotomas and orthostasis with reflex tachycardia. The speed by which 02 relieved these s/s was remarkable, 1-2minutes. Tachycardia, fatigue, and 'off'ness resolved rapidly but would return once the 02 was removed. The symptoms and signs were over after continous 02 for 45min. Why 45min? It was all the 02 we had, but s/s were stable by 20min, the extra 25min was icing on the cake ... insurance against a call to 911, which I had planned but luckily did not have to do.

 

[Seabear70]

This is gonna sound like a stupid coment, but I'm gona throw it out there and let people pounce on it.

I wonder if the gear he was wearing fit properly.

I ask this because years back, we had a diver comming up from about 220ft. on an ambient pressure bell. I don't know how many of you have been on one of those, but basicly it's SRO. Anyway, he got the clever idea that he was going to tie himself to the bell by running a loop of rope arround himself and tying it to the bell. Everything seemed fine, though he said it was a little uncomfortable to hang like that for several hours, untill we got him into the chamber. At this point he started complaining of pain in the lower back. Which we quickly diagnosed as DCS. Fast thinking on the part of the medic got the rope banned, and kept this guy alive, healthy, and in his chosen career.

 

[Saturation]

This is gonna sound like a stupid coment, but I'm gona throw it out there and let people pounce on it.

I wonder if the gear he was wearing fit properly.

I ask this because years back, we had a diver comming up from about 220ft. on an ambient pressure bell. I don't know how many of you have been on one of those, but basicly it's SRO. Anyway, he got the clever idea that he was going to tie himself to the bell by running a loop of rope arround himself and tying it to the bell. Everything seemed fine, though he said it was a little uncomfortable to hang like that for several hours, untill we got him into the chamber. At this point he started complaining of pain in the lower back. Which we quickly diagnosed as DCS. Fast thinking on the part of the medic got the rope banned, and kept this guy alive, healthy, and in his chosen career.

Its very possible seabear70, but I've never seen it in sports diving, which is what I do, and this sport has very rare habitats like a diving bell to use.

However, there are issues that either impeded circulation or subject divers to strain: struggling with weight, swimming hard, old surgical sites, tight gloves or gauge straps that, in seemingly low-risk dives, have resulted in DCI in the locations of the issue... including less harmful issues like skin bends.

 

[tiny_clanger]

I'm not a diver and I'm not a doctor. But..... I have a few friends with Spinal Cord Injury who felt a burning sensation prior to regaining normal feeling below their injury level.

 

[Dinohunter]

Randy,
Thanks for your concern, I am improving and am having better health each day. Hopefully, in time, I will return to "normal." My dive profile is as follows - Dive 1: West Flower Gardens #2 - maximum depth - 91 feet, dive time 44 minutes. Dive followed by a 2 hour and 33 minute surface interval. Dive 2: West Flower Gardens #2 - maximum depth - 80 feet, dive time 47 minutes. Dive followed by a 2 hour and 45 minute surface interval. Dive 3: East Flower Gardens #6 - maximum depth - 72 feet, dive time 45 minutes. Ascent rate for all dives were within recommended limits. Those are the facts. . .


Cheers,
Dinohunter

 

[Dinohunter]

While I am not a physician, what you are describing sounds like nerve related injury. Hopefully, the good news is that you feeling something. If it were numbness, that would more likely indicate a permanent injury. If you are feeling pain or burning, that means that the nerves still are working.

I hope that it is something going on as your body is in the throws of healing itself. Best of luck to you.

ScubaDad,
I agree with you that feeling the burning sensation is better that not feeling anything at all. The burning sensation is lessening and is now only still present in my ankles and feet. I do hold out hope that it means I am on the road to recovery.

Thanks,
Dinohunter