Does nitrox make you feel good?

[bperrybap]

Hey.... this is the SAME study I quoted: Still the same critique I will give... Too darn small sample size. Age and sex of the participants were not noted. But that does not mean I discount it, we just need to have more than 1 study.

Just remember we had a complete reversal of the former recommendation for hormone replacement in postmenapausal woman of 15 years ago. We once thought that it decreased heart attack, decrease alzheimer, etc... Now we did a 180, and said that it increased heart attack, increased breast cancer, etc. .... And the study was done with thousands of participants.

We can not rest on this singular study of 11 participants.

Back on topic.........

Not only that but if I remember correctly, the subjects were
only exposed to a single simulated dive. Many folks,
including myself, state that they "feel better" after multiple dives in
a single day not after a single dive. For me personally, if I were only
doing 2 dives in a day, I'd just stick to air if there was a cost
differential but for 3,4,5 or 6 dives in a day, Nitrox makes
a difference for me.

Plus this "dive" in the study was not a "real world" dive profile
based on an actual profile done by a diver used to drive
the chamber.
i.e. it was a single descent and slow ascent at the end.
Not sure about the rest of you folks
but that isn't anything close to any of my dive profiles.
Sure I can start deep and move up and do slow ascents,
but my profiles are not linear and flat like what appears these
subjects were exposed to. Mine have some variation to them
including some amount of minor ascents & descents.

I walked away from reading this study very disapointed
and thought that it was performed by someone that was trying
to prove that nitrox had no benefit vs someone actually trying to
determine if there was a benefit.

--- bill

 

[Wayward Son]

Irregardless of how I feel after the dives, the small difference I normally pay for nitrox is worth it terms of increased bottom times during the dives. The LDS I usually get nitrox from only charges me $5 per tank, without regard to tank size. An 80 or a 100, they're both $5.

My primary LDS is a bit more, but it still only costs $8.80 to fill an 100.

I drive a round trip of 300 miles, plus pay for a boat charter ($70 per diver min for a 2 tank inshore trip, more for 3 tanks inshore or anything farther out & there are 3 divers in my family), plus food.

The cost of fills is trivial to me under such conditions. Maximizing my BT is my goal, not saving $1.50 per tank on my fills.

 

[Charlie59]

Oh come on. You walked away from the study thinking they were biased? The design was very good and tested thoroughly for anything that could OBJECTIVELY define a difference between the two. First people complain that the study couldn't be done due to lack of "average dive" then they gripe that this controlled environment is not "real world", give me a break.

The most reasonable criticism is the low number of subjects, otherwise the study is pretty good.

The fantasy of nitrox and feeling good is goofy. As others have stated the advantage to nitrox is extended bottom time, especially when doing multiple dives on multiple days. Otherwise you guys do it to look cool, I guess.

 

[fisherdvm]

The most reasonable criticism is the low number of subjects, otherwise the study is pretty good.

.

I agree on this...

However, the lower the sample size, the more likely you would have the result due to probability, especially if the change you are looking for is relatively infrequent.

My bigger complaint, however, is the lack of inclusion of your "average" divers - overweight, out of shape, dive only 4 times a year, tobacco users, woman, old man, etc...

These are the folks I expect nitrox might make a difference... Irregardless of how you want to dissect the oxy-hemoglobin curve and argue about partial pressure vs. benefit gain.

The result from this simple scubaboard survey suggests that the result of this well designed double blinded study need to be seriously questioned.



Just read my previous posts on other threads - I am not a nitrox user, and has NEVER been a supporter of nitrox use before.

 

[Wayward Son]

Then there are people who choose to use it for safety reasons. They dive EAN on air tables. They've been bent on air before & wish to avoid having that happen again, so they do this as a way of creating a buffer to keep them selves from getting close to NDL saturation.

 

[wardric]

Then there are people who choose to use it for safety reasons. They dive EAN on air tables. They've been bent on air before & wish to avoid having that happen again, so they do this as a way of creating a buffer to keep them selves from getting close to NDL saturation.

We did that on the Empress of Ireland. Mix was EAN 26 or 27 so the extended bottom time was not an issue at 120-130'. So we dived air tables and were happy with the extra security margin. Anyway, it compensated a bit for the 36F water

 

[HowardE]

Otherwise you guys do it to look cool, I guess.

I don't need nitrox to look cool.

 

[tech_diver]

Normally, I wouldn’t get involved in such a controversial and volatile topic but there are some really great posts from some knowledgeable people so I wanted to throw out some ideas and get opinions. If I wanted to start a lot of drama and thrashing I would post to the creation/evolution thread but the scuba biz already gives me enough of that.

Everyone has seen that there is really very little scientific study on this topic. Many scientifically intriguing questions around scuba diving go unresearched due to lack of resources in our industry. The sport we love does less dollar revenue worldwide than the Nigerian Scam Email industry (really, check out the numbers yourself). It’s surprising there’s even one study on this topic to quote.

How about this for a possible study? Divers make two dives (different days, same profile, etc.) with unknown gases and try to guess which dive was Nitrox. If there was statistical significance to the correct guesses, it might suggest that there is a perceptible ‘something’ about the gas.

For myself (and I know I’ll get called out for this), at 25 ft, I can tell the difference between o2 and air. However, this may have to do more with the taste and texture of the gas (different humidity, trace contaminants, etc.). You might try it… a blind taste test at your deco stop between air and O2.

Can you tell the difference between O2 and air?

 

[Dive-aholic]

I don't find a significant difference when diving nitrox or air. I used to think I did, but I've felt just as tired after a long day of diving on nitrox as a long day of diving on air. Where I do find a difference, like some others here, is when doing a 20' deco stop on 100%. I have chronic knee and ankle pain and the only time I am completely pain free is for the 4-6 hours following a deco dive. The longer I'm at 20', the longer my pain free period lasts. Now if I could only afford a chamber to step into every morning when I get up!

For those who are interested:

Here's a link to an article discussing the narcotic effects of oxygen.

 

[ffestpirate]

I don't pay for nitrox, I fill my own and I use it even in the pool while I'm with students. I don't have cotton mouth and I'm more awake and energized. In the hospital, we use o2 for everything from trauma patients to hangovers. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand the benefits. Any one who has to spend valuable time worrying about why I'm diving nitrox, needs to do more diving and less focusing on others.