Can NITROX Harm you.

[Dive-aholic]

I think I understand what you're saying. I'll try to be clear but I think English is not your first language so if you don't understand something, please ask.

Yes, LONG exposure to HIGH levels of Oxygen can cause irritation in your lungs. It causes a cough that feels like a cold. With enough exposure, the lungs can be damaged and the cough can become chronic (meaning it never stops). There are good examples of such damage among divers. Mark Ellyatt is one example of a diver with permanent damage to his lungs and a permanent cough due to Oxygen exposure. There are others as well.

HOWEVER. What is very important to understand is that by using Nitrox for normal sport diving, this risk is almost non-existent. The divers who have this issue are making extreme dives. Very deep, very long, and well beyond the boundaries of normal sport diving.

Normal (sport) divers who use Nitrox never have these kinds of damage to their lungs.

Does that help?

R..

Rob is absolutely correct. Long exposure to high levels of oxygen is bad for the lining of the lungs. What can happen is the surfactant (the slippery fluid that lines the lung tissue and keeps them from collapsing) will dry out and when you exhale the walls of the alveoli (the tiniest sacs of the lungs) will collapse on themselves and be unable to expand again because they become stuck against each other. The surfactant keeps them slippery enough to be able to open up again. That being said, in the hospital setting we will sometimes keep people on 100% oxygen for several days without negative effects. So it is very unlikely that recreational diving use of nitrox will come even close to causing lung collapse.

 

[drrich2]

What do I reply to people who tell me these types of things.. to convince them so I can enter this course...

Do you need somebody's permission to take the course?

Richard.

 

[tstormdiver]

Rob is absolutely correct. Long exposure to high levels of oxygen is bad for the lining of the lungs. What can happen is the surfactant (the slippery fluid that lines the lung tissue and keeps them from collapsing) will dry out and when you exhale the walls of the alveoli (the tiniest sacs of the lungs) will collapse on themselves and be unable to expand again because they become stuck against each other. The surfactant keeps them slippery enough to be able to open up again. That being said, in the hospital setting we will sometimes keep people on 100% oxygen for several days without negative effects. So it is very unlikely that recreational diving use of nitrox will come even close to causing lung collapse.

Very interesting, Rob. Knew that could happen, but not the mechanism that caused it. Thank you for the information.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

My God, as a Respiratory Therapist, it is really hard to read this. Please don't worry too much about long term exposure to oxygen, thus causing Acute Lung Injury / Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome ALI/ARDS. It has a lot to do with the Type II pneumocytes. You don't really have that much gas to sustain a dive that long. But if you want to know more: Acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ALI/ARDS): the mechanism, present strategies and future perspectives of therapies

You really need to focus more on MOD. If you have not taken a class, then please do so.

 

[Tom Winters]

I was scratching my head over this post - it reminded me of the days when nitrox was viewed as the dive gas of the devil.

Over there in Abu Dhabi, there is one surefire way to get nitrox to collapse your lungs - have someone drop a cylinder of nitrox from the top of the Burj Al Arab Hotel. The effects of this exposure to nitrox won't be so hot for your liver either.

5a6eeb - tell them to cancel the fatwa on nitrox.

 

[Splitlip]

Voo Doo gas.

 

[Searcaigh]

Over there in Abu Dhabi, there is one surefire way to get nitrox to collapse your lungs - have someone drop a cylinder of nitrox from the top of the Burj Al Arab Hotel.

Bit difficult since the Burj Al Arab is in Dubai

 

[Subcooled]

I want to know why enter nitrox people tell me its more harmful than air it can cause collapsing lungs oxygen toxicity....?

Collapsing lung? That can happen during an extremely deep breath hold dive or in a car crash, but not with nitrox.

Nitrox is not more dangerous. I use it every week. There are two things to remember, though:

1) oxygen toxicity - this kills (as you loose consciousness underwater)

Oxygen toxicity also happens with air, just a bit deeper. You just need to watch your maximum diving depth.

2) pulmonary oxygen toxicity - this causes irritation to the lungs

Not relevant on recreational dives. You won't have any unpleasant feelings.


How could you motivate that course?

1) Nitrox has less nitrogen and more oxygen. If the dive time is fixed, then nitrox causes less decompression stress.

2) Alternatively, you could stay longer at depth. Nitrox 32 is a good gas for all dives down to about 30m/100ft. It gives nice extension to the no decompression time there.