DCS Paranoia

[northernone]

What system do you have worked out for assessing what's normal post dive aches and pains and what's the onset of DCS?

I've not been officially bent. However, since my understanding of decompression theory has increased my knowledge of it has gone down significantly and my confidence also. So now I'm constantly 'monitoring'. The only dives I'm not are when I'm on my oxygen rebreathers. It's not a comfortable feeling to hold the possibility of being bent in the foreground of the mind for hours post dive even on 'conservative' profiles.

A little more context. This comes from occasionally staffing a chamber and meeting too many bent divers.

What's your response to this?

Regards,
Cameron

 

[MargaritaMike]

I don't know if I have a system. When I walk up the hill to get the mail (big hill) I have joint pain - a sure sign of DCS. Today, after running a chipper shredder for 4 hours and then moving the 3-4 yards of mulch, I have joint pain. Another sure sign of DCS. Most of the time this pain is in my shoulders, elbows, and hips. When I have been diving for several days in a row, I have joint pain in my shoulders (carrying my gear???), elbows (lifting gear bags on the boat and off again????), and hips (finning with straight legs from the hips?????). Obviously this is NOT DCS because I didn't go to the chamber.
All kidding aside, this is a very good question. I have begun to think about exactly what you are posing a whole lot lately. I have almost learned more about DCS than I think I really want to know. One of the main things is that my age and body type are significant factors in DCS. I know I am now destined to have getting bent in the forefront of my mind while diving in the future.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Cheers - M²

 

[Jack Hammer]

There comes a point you just have to trust your deco decisions and accept any possible consequences of tech diving.

 

[sigxbill]

I often wonder this same question - is the pain from working out? or is it DCS? Am I just getting old? Or is it DCS? Like @Jack Hammer says - I just trust my deco decisions - otherwise I'd be going to the chamber every time I walk up the hill to get the mail - lol! But deep down, I wish there was a way to be sure - a system for assessing my which aches and pains are my normal annoyances vs. possible DCS ...

 

[rsingler]

You'd probably have to survey a bunch of divers that have been bent, rather than ask a doc who hasn't, but my experience has been that most (not all) divers with DCS pains say that they're subtly "different."
The skin crawls are not an itch. The joint pains are not just an ache. Muscle pains I'd mentally discount altogether unless they were sudden onset after diving near your personal limits when you'd followed your dive by some real exertion of some sort (including lugging your tank up the dive ladder). And numbness or tingling or weakness should ALWAYS set off an alarm.
But you're tuning in to your body, which is a good thing. What is your body telling you? Stay conservative as you age.

My goal? Never get bent. Not even once.
Are my dives five minutes shorter than my buddies when we're pushing the limits? Yes. Do I mind? Not in the least.
Do I get teased for my slightly longer safety stops? Yes. Do I mind? Nope.

There are old divers.
There are bold divers.
There are no old, bold divers.

 

[DogDiver]

Been bent twice. If you do aggressive mixed gas staged decompression cave diving it’s not a matter of if, but when.
There will be no doubt in your mind that things have hit the fan. It will usually be 45 minutes after you get out of the water. My full blown neuro hit resulted in left side paralysis, left hearing loss, took me 4 tries to dial 911 on my phone. Fine motor skills impaired. When oxygen started, the good news I started to get better. The bad news, I started to get better. No doubt DCS. Time for a chopper ride.

 

[MargaritaMike]

Been bent twice. If you do aggressive mixed gas staged decompression cave diving it’s not a matter of if, but when.
There will be no doubt in your mind that things have hit the fan. It will usually be 45 minutes after you get out of the water. My full blown neuro hit resulted in left side paralysis, left hearing loss, took me 4 tries to dial 911 on my phone. Fine motor skills impaired. When oxygen started, the good news I started to get better. The bad news, I started to get better. No doubt DCS. Time for a chopper ride.

Can you spell "NO aggressive mixed gas staged decompression cave diving FOR ME!"? That's scary. I'm glad you recovered. You DID recover, didn't you?

Cheers - M²

 

[jorged]

shore entry am i bent?
from 80ft slow ascent to 50ft carying rope with me about 15kg i fell defficult in breathing but manageable thats why i drop the rope then fins up to maybe 15ft or 20ft rolling shore ascent no safety stop.

5days from now i feel fatigue maybe because i am tired before dive.
and i feel i would like to vomit but did not. am i being paranoid? thanks

 

[boulderjohn]

I started getting symptoms a number of years ago after a weekend of deco diving, but I wasn't sure. To make a long story short, it turned out to be carpal tunnel syndrome aggravated by a weekend of toting scuba tanks. Once I had the surgery the symptoms (which had been recurring with every dive trip) disappeared. I was later told that it is extremely easy to mistake carpal tunnel syndrome for DCS, and many a person suffering from that problem has taken a chamber ride.

I also read once that spinal stenosis (which I also have) can cause symptoms easily mistaken for DCS, and many a chamber ride has resulted from that misdiagnosis.

That leads me to a study released a couple of years ago. People who have had DCS were studied to see if there were any particular characteristics that could have led to the DCS. They found that a large percentage had spinal stenosis, and they concluded that people with spinal stenosis are at greater risk for DCS.

Or are they?

How did they identify the people in the study? They were all people who had been diagnosed with DCS and treated for it in a chamber. But was that diagnosis accurate? Was that treatment appropriate? Is it possible that a more proper conclusion of that study might be that people with spinal stenosis are at greater risk to be misdiagnosed as having DCS and then inappropriately treated for it?

Anticipating a question: both hand and arm numbness associated with carpal tunnel syndrome and spinal stenosis and aggravated by activities like scuba are alleviated by time and rest, the kind of time and rest you will get in a chamber treatment.

 

[boulderjohn]

By the way, my carpal tunnel syndrome that was cured by surgery was in my right wrist. It is now developing and starting to get bad in my left wrist. I am about to do three days of intense diving and hauling dive gear. I am not looking forward to the evenings, for I know my left arm will get worse and worse each night, showing sure signs of DCS if I did not know better. Sleep will not come easy.

I saw the doctor today, and my treatment plan is starting.