bruises after diving

[kid@heart]

Just curious: Anyone heard of bruising as a mild symptom of DCS? Last year I developed some popped blood vessels in my eyes and some small bruises on my forearms during the flight(s) home from diving in Cozumel. It had been a week of great diving and we had pushed the tables to the max (but not over limits). I was very very tired (but happy) after the last long dive. I did ensure more than 18 hours between the end of the last dive and flying. The bruises on the arms certainly could have been from banging against the boat ladder in the chop, but I'm curious about the popped eye vessel thing. Anyone heard of this? I'm a 48-yr old woman, iin moderate shape (better than alot my age, worse than most 35 year olds) and I just want to know if I need to be more conservative than the tables suggest. I do take an anti-inflammatory NSAID. Thinking it that could be thinnning my blood a bit too.Thanks for any thoughts on this.

 

[Rafael]

I do not have an answer for you, but my advice is why not you give a call to DAN, just to see what they think.

The arms as you mention is most likely to be from banging but the eyes doesn't sounds good, do you think it may happened from a rapid ascent to the surface while diving?

Good luck and i hope is nothing.

 

[DandyDon]

I think you'd get better discussion and answers if this was moved to the DrDeco forum. If you would like that done, post your request here, and I'll ask a Mod for you.

 

[almitywife]

you say "more than 18hrs", can i ask how many non diving hours you did have??

i was always told-multiple dives on multiple diving days give myself no less than 24hrs and usually i give about 30hrs (im not in such great health at the moment and wary of residual nitrogen)

i hope all is well!

cheers

 

[DandyDon]

The Almitywife is much more of a diver than I, but the DAN Revised Flying After Diving Guidelines for Recreational Diving - May 2002, which can be accessed here
here state... (emphasis mine)

The following guidelines are the consensus of attendees at the 2002 Flying After Diving Workshop. They apply to air dives followed by flights at cabin altitudes of 2,000 to 8,000 feet (610 to 2,438 meters) for divers who do not have symptoms of decompression sickness (DCS). The recommended preflight surface intervals do not guarantee avoidance of DCS. Longer surface intervals will reduce DCS risk further.

>> For a single no-decompression dive, a minimum preflight surface interval of 12 hours is suggested.
>> For multiple dives per day or multiple days of diving, a minimum preflight surface interval of 18 hours is suggested.
>> For dives requiring decompression stops, there is little evidence on which to base a recommendation and a preflight surface interval substantially longer than 18 hours appears prudent.

Extra wait time before flying and extra hydration are both good ideas, of course.

 

[almitywife]

ahhhh - 2002 revised!

well im am getting old now! (hmmm, maybe i should read that stuff that comes in the mail more often also!)

surprised DAN did this, i KNOW they have the data to make such a call but considering how computers these days can be so different on the same dive due to one being less conservative than the other i would have thought 24hrs would be a nice number to round it off to, especially when adding into account the wide spectrum of divers health.

thanks DD - but this old shelia will stick to her old training me thinks!

 

[DandyDon]

thanks DD - but this old shelia will stick to her old training me thinks!

Good plan. Just giving the DAN info...

 

[meekal]

as mentioned, ask DAN... then you will know for sure, but the eyeBall part is probably a mask squeeze..... no harm, no foul

 

[Damselfish]

as mentioned, ask DAN... then you will know for sure, but the eyeBall part is probably a mask squeeze..... no harm, no foul

and as far as bruises, it's easy to get all sorts of little bangs on a dive boat that you don't always notice at the time because you're focused on something else.

 

[Bowmouth]

Just curious: Anyone heard of bruising as a mild symptom of DCS? Last year I developed some popped blood vessels in my eyes and some small bruises on my forearms during the flight(s) home from diving in Cozumel. .

Because you developed the bruises and popped blood vessels during your flight back home and you'd been out of the water already for a good 18 hours I think this could be diving related. It's quite common to have "delayed" signs and symptoms of DCI after diving.
Bruising is a common sign of DCI and best thing you should have done was to contact a diving physician immidiately upon your return home. Your diving physician would have done some neurological examinations with you and could have made a proper assesment of your condition.
It's not always true that "some bruising" means you are just "mildly" bend. Also, even if a person is "mildly" bend it STILL means he or she needs chamber treatment. It's also good to know that it's not uncommon for divers who have been bend before to more easily get bend again on future dive trips.
Make sure you drink plenty of water on your future dive trips, buy a dive computer rather than using tables and stay well within the no-decompression limits, make really slow ascents and include a safety stop of at least 5 minutes at the end of every dive you do.

Also, if you develop ANY signs and symptoms of DCI stop diving immidiately and contact the nearest recompressiuon chamber/diving physician.