Cold water diving lung injury?

[engdiver]

I have noticed on some past dives in colder water that at the end of the dive my lungs will hurt when I take a deep breath. It goes away after a day or two but is a concern. Does colder water do this or am I possibly brething to hard during the dive. I am always careful about a lung expansion injury and first noticed this once about 7 years ago when I descended quickly and breathed harder during the dive then normal.
Anyone experienced this?

 

[fisherdvm]

I seem to get alot of cramps in my cold water dive yesterday with wetsuit. I wonder if it is simply cramps in the intercostal muscles of your chest, or diaphram of your lung.

If you truly had lung barotrauma, I would expect wheezes from pulmonary edema or hemorrhage into the lung.

You might also expect coughing - with possible blood in the sputum

My guess is - this is not pulmonary related, but muscular in nature. However, without examining you and listening to your lung, my opinion is worth less than a dime.

 

[jonesbf]

The majority of my dives have been in water around 65 degrees. I have never experienced any lung issues. I do however experience more trouble equalizing my ears in the cold water because it tends to make my mucus thicker.

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

There is not much on the effects of cold gas breathing from hyperbaric medical sources.

Effect of breathing cold air on pulmonary mechanics in normal man.
Guleria, Journal of Applied Physiology, 1969
The effect of inhalation of cold air at -30C for 15 min on pulmonary compliance and flow resistance was investigated in 10 normal human subjects. There was no significant change in pulmonary compliance but the inspiratory flow resistance was significantly increased. It is suggested that the direct action of cold air on upper respiratory tract is responsible for mild local airway obstruction.
PubMed ID: 5804126

Most of the research revolves around respiratory heat loss on deeper dives.

Respiratory Heat Loss and Pulmonary Function Durring Cold-Gas Breathing at High Pressures.
Hoke et. al.
Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Underwater Physiology
available from UHMS
--note: this does have measures at 200 fsw

These describe secretions resulting from cold gas on deeper dives.

The Calculation of Minimum Safe Inspired Gas Temperature Limits for Deep Diving.
Braithwaite, 1972
4095

Respiratory Heat Loss Limits in Helium-Oxygen Saturation Diving.
Piantadosi, 1980
RRR ID: 3357

There is more in the repository but it is a busy day here. Enjoy!

 

[engdiver]

To be more specific, I am refering to water below 50 degrees F down to about 35 degrees.

 

[mandvm]

Is the pain similar to that which a person might experience while exerting themselves outdoors in cold weather? Sort of a burning sensation in the airways? I wonder if it's just bronchial irritation/mild bronchospasm due to sudden deep breathing of cold air.

Michael

 

[engdiver]

I would describe it similiar to what mandvm wrote, but also the way your lungs feel after coughing hard a few times. It could be the cold water causing cramps along with the cold air that I am breathing combined with working hard to lug all the cold water gear (drysuit, double tanks, lead, etc) down to the dive site and back.

 

[Thalassamania]

I have noticed on some past dives in colder water that at the end of the dive my lungs will hurt when I take a deep breath. It goes away after a day or two but is a concern. Does colder water do this or am I possibly brething to hard during the dive. I am always careful about a lung expansion injury and first noticed this once about 7 years ago when I descended quickly and breathed harder during the dive then normal.
Anyone experienced this?

This could be symtomatic of serious problems for diving. Talk to your physician about an acetylcholine challenge.

 

[engdiver]

What is an acetylcholine challenge? I have not noticed this problem outside of diving.