Decompression sickness

[RyanT]

Hi @Graeme Fraser, my hit was way back in 1993. At the time I was young and bulletproof, so I initially chalked the pain up to a strained muscle. Over that first several hours though, the pain just slowly got a bit worse. And indeed, the epicenter really was "deep" in the joint. It was a very different feeling from the normal joint pains I commonly get from my middle-aged body body exposed to exertion.

I did have a bit of a worry a couple of years ago when after a dive I noticed a fairly distinct pain in my right sterno-clavicular joint. Then it occurred to me that I had just spent 25 minutes in deco in a ripping current while hanging on a line (wearing doubles and a stage)...most of that time was spent hanging on with my right hand. It was noticeably sore, but nothing like that deep pain I had felt when I actually got bent. I monitored the pain and sure enough it began subside and completely went away over the next couple of hours. But yeah, I always pay attention to those little aches now.

 

[boulderjohn]

It could be I had another medical issue (BPPV was ruled out after DCS by an otolaryngologist and ENT), or it could be that I had taken a hit mid-summer too.

Your story reinforces nicely that "What do we really know?" aspect of our understanding of DCS.

 

[jadairiii]

Had a couple of joint hits, mild, treated it with Motrin, fluids and denial.

Had some sub-clinical "hits", total exhaustion, not equal to the exertion of the dive. Sometimes they included chills and headache. Treatment was Motrin, fluids, nap and denial

Then, there was the time after a "very aggressive" deco schedule after a mix dive to 210, about 4 hours later reached for the tv remote and my shoulder sounded like a slushy machine, weird, the sound and the "feeling". More Motrin, fluids and denial.