Bizarre effects after diving - reasons?

[Cruisin Home]

My questions are aimed at whether you may have had a DCS occurence or an AGE (air/gas embolism). The limited description you have given without third person observation leads me more to AGE.

learning to ascend very slowly is a skill I have noticed to take awhile with divers (>100 dives). I cannot tell you how many novices I have dived with that I have had to slow thier ascent.

 

[lemon]

AGE seems less likely since his symptoms really didn't start till 2 hours after the dive.

 

[Cruisin Home]

I suggest you and your dive partners read up on DCS/AGE. A lot of stuff you want to know particularly while out at sea, so therefore prior education is required. A neurological examination at time of your symptoms post dive is vital. You can find such on the DAN website. IMO, Since you suffered neurological squalae it is imperative for you to see a neurologist soon and not dive until you have done so.

 

[gcs118]

Your neuro symptoms are not adding up to me to be focal, seem more global. However everything is first person. Did one of your friends see any behaviorial symptoms (speech, motion, etc.), were you slurring, having trouble walking, eating, coordination, ????

what did you have to eat/drink on day of dive?

No one said anything seemed off. Even the guy I mentioned it to a couple times as we ate/drank water after the dives seemed to brush it off - I guess he thought it was minor because he couldn't observe anything.

I had no trouble eating, walking, etc. - just had trouble focusing my eyes for reading and was slow to comprehend. I also couldn't think straight nor remember things like the restaurant I was in or people's names.

I only ate/drank that day: water, gatorade light, Hardees biscuits, ginger snaps, granola bars

What do you mean by more global than focal?

 

[gcs118]

I suggest you and your dive partners read up on DCS/AGE. A lot of stuff you want to know particularly while out at sea, so therefore prior education is required. A neurological examination at time of your symptoms post dive is vital. You can find such on the DAN website. IMO, Since you suffered neurological squalae it is imperative for you to see a neurologist soon and not dive until you have done so.

I have been in contact with DAN and am near some of their facilities should they recommend I get checked out.

Regarding the ascent rate, my computer has a monitor that shows 30 ft./min. and your rate compared to that. I never exceeded it and if I got near to it, I stopped completely to let the bar graph zero out. I constantly watch my gauge/computer more than anything on ascents - even missing out on some sea life doing so.

I appreciate the suggestions.

 

[Cruisin Home]

I didnt read that re 2 hours later. He said something about going to sleep right away which is strange in context with other symptoms. AGE doesnt have to hit like a ton of bricks, it can but sometimes not. particulary small bubbles can migrate to small vessels in brain. These tissues may be recieving collateral blood flow from neighboring tissue and thus it takes a little time for symtoms to bring about. This is essentially the same as some forms of embolic stroke and cause people to delay in getting to hospital. only about 1/3 arrive to a hospital in less than 3 hours to become available for anti-coagulent clotbusting therapy.

 

[Cruisin Home]

I am trying to help you get to the bottom of whether you suffered DCS/AGE, which can have long term consequense, or whether you may have been dehydrated, hyoglycemic, etc. Stroke neurologist doe this everyday in hospitals because some folks, particularly old, present with neurological symoptms that are later cured by fluids/sugar/etc. We call them the "weak and dizzies" Sometimes it is quite hard to separate without the aid of imaging such as CT/MRI. One clue is that their symptms are generally more global, ie affecting whole brain, as oppose to focal, affecting one portion of brain.

soemtimes a dive can take more out of you than you think, even the boatride. I have had people just ride on my boat and be affected.

 

[lemon]

the delayed onset of symptoms is much more consistent with DCS. imho, AGE seems pretty unlikely here. i'll be interested to hear what advice DAN gives you. the most important thing is that your symptoms seemed to have resolved. i would second the above advice about not getting back in the water until you've seen a physician - and I would specifically recommend seeing one that is familiar with dive medicine.

as for TPA or "clotbusting therapy", don't even get me started on that useless therapy!

 

[Cruisin Home]

Pre computers we always calculated everything on max depth and you probably would have had a decent deco for such a dive as yours. I dont like to cut it that close with computers (you said 1-2 min near NDL) and if I per chance do then I go thru a set of good deco stops. So you miss a little bottom time, so what, dive again in an hour or two or three after you de-gas.

Good luck and thanks for sharing, you were smart to do so!

 

[gcs118]

I am still waiting on a reply from DAN, but I pulled my ascent info. from my computer. It's more food for thought and might help analyze the situation better. After much reading it seems possibly AGE more than DCS but my symptoms altogether just don't match exactly anything I've read. I'm really looking forward to speaking with a DAN expert.

With that said, my computer is set to record depth every 20 seconds. Here's the details:

Dive 1 ascent:

25’ 104
25’20 102
25’40 101
26’ 96
26’20 94
26’40 87
27’ 81
27’20 75
27’40 68
28’ 61
28’20 59
28’40 52
29’ 42
29’20 35
29’40 29
30 20
30’20 19
30’40 19
31 18
31’20 17
31’40 17
32 18
32’20 16
32’40 16
33 17
33’20 17
33’40 15
34 14
34’20 7
34’40 0

Safety stop 4:40 (worst infraction - 30 ft. / min.)



Dive 2 ascent:

27 80
27’20 77
27’40 75
28 73
28’20 69
28’40 67
29 59
29’20 55
29’40 51
30 45
30’20 39
30’40 37
31 32
31’20 27
31’40 21
32 18
32’20 17
32’40 18
33 19
33’20 19
33’40 18
34 19
34’20 19
34’40 17
35 19
35’20 19
35’40 17
36 13
36'20 7
36’40 0


Safety stop 5:00 (worst infraction 24 ft. / min.)

EDIT: Timestamp in minutes plus seconds (25 min. 20 sec. = 25'20), followed by depth in feet