Experienced something strange ~95'. Was I narced?

[TT_Vert]

Thanks for the input guys. I will attempt to take more breathes at the surface pre dive. I always assumed a breathe or two would indicate any restriction.

Dave

 

[DevonDiver]

At that point It turned more into survival mode. My goals were as follows:

1. Get my buddy and guides attention to know where I am and that there is a problem.
2. Ascend enough to had a shot at getting to the surface in a near blackout situation
3. Try to stay concious.

Just a reminder: The order of emergency ascent options is;

1) Normal Ascent. If you have enough air to make it to the surface.
2) AAS Ascent. If your buddy is available with enough air for you both to surface.
3) CESA. If you have no air and no buddy support.

and...

4) Buoyant Emergency Ascent. If you are not confident, at any time, that you can complete a CESA, or will lose consiousness on ascent, then you should dump your weights and float to the surface. This is the point where your concern about DCI ceases to be a priority.

The buoyant Emergency Ascent is often overlooked/forgotten by PADI trained divers, because it is not actually taught/practised in the water. It should be.

When I teach OW courses, I make sure to spell out how important it is that a diver attains positive buoyancy at any time during an OOA emergency if they feel themselves losing consiousness.

Getting buoyant will drastically improve your chances of survival in the event you lose consiousness on ascent. Even if you 'drown' on the ascent, you will continue to float/rise to the surface where you can easily be rescued and rescucitated. If you sink back down, then your survival odds become very, very low...

Far too many fatality incident reports list that the diver concerned 'lost consiousness and sank down'.

DCI can be fixed. Drowning can only be fixed at the surface and in a very limited timescale.

Practice ditching your weights....

 

[TT_Vert]

I wasn't to the point where I felt I wasn't going to make it back up. I was just ascending so I would get to the surface in case of continued problems. I was very aware of my depth and that It wasn't safe for me to do an emergency ascent at the depth I was. Had I gone up 20' and still was at a point where I felt very light headed I would have probably gone up. Fortunately I was ok as I ascended a bit and was able to continue on. I really didn't want to go from 95' to surface quickly w/o a safety stop.

Dave

 

[DaleC]

Thanks for the input guys. I will attempt to take more breathes at the surface pre dive. I always assumed a breathe or two would indicate any restriction.

Dave

Or just stop turning back the valve a half turn. Then it is either on or off, and immediately noticable when taking a breath.

Some may say that this causes the potential for a stuck valve (I've never had that experience myself) but I'd rather risk a problem after a dive than one during a dive.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I wasn't to the point where I felt I wasn't going to make it back up. I was just ascending so I would get to the surface in case of continued problems. I was very aware of my depth and that It wasn't safe for me to do an emergency ascent at the depth I was. Had I gone up 20' and still was at a point where I felt very light headed I would have probably gone up. Fortunately I was ok as I ascended a bit and was able to continue on. I really didn't want to go from 95' to surface quickly w/o a safety stop.

@TT_Vert: Given an emergency situation, it's OK to skip a safety stop on a dive within recreational limits. Just try your best not to ascend any faster than about 60 ft/min and remember to maintain an open airway.

 

[PeeBee UK]

From reading your description (and bear in mind that this is just the internet so worth as much as you are paying for it) I'd suggest that it was a combination of Narcs plus CO2, think of it like this. Despite what some people will say, everyone gets narked to a greater or lesser degree and that degree will vary from day to day so just because yesterday you did dive n and weren't perceptibly narked doesn't meant that you won't be today. Narcosis affects different people differently and not always in a consistent manner, When I get narked on cold, dark dives it often takes the form of paranoia that has me checking my gauges much more often that usual and then forgetting what I just read and checking them again etc etc... If you weren't comfortable at that depth a little bit narked and your breathing pattern changed then this could bring in the 2nd part of the problem CO2. If you aren't efficiently emptying and refilling your lungs but instead are breathing shallowly then you are allowing the lower part of your lungs to retain air that is constantly having the remaining O2 removed from it by your body thus increasing the amount of CO2 in your lungs overall. By ascending a few feet you became less narked, your breathing pattern changed as you relaxed and you cleared out the CO2 rich air in the lower parts of your lungs. That's just a theory of course but seems reasonable to me as I type it

I don't believe that your valve was only partially open, if that had been the case you would have been delivered less than a full breath of gas when you sucked on it at depth and having been in that situation myself I promise you you would have noticed.

 

[String]

The above description is absolute textbook CO2 retention which at that depth probably had a fair narcotic effect in addition to the nitrogen effect.

CO2 in diving is never your friend.

 

[Firefishvideo]

provided that the tank valve was open, My guess would be:
Overexertion, overbreathing. Was this Old or Rental Gear?....sounds like you need better equipment.
I would suggest some more shallow dives...as your experience level suggests that you would benefit from some more time in the water to regulate your breathing and exertion levels.
....and of course make sure your gear is serviced and in good working order.
...lastly stay closer to your buddy if you do deeper dives.
...just take it easy and get some more experience.
Good luck!

 

[String]

"sticky" SPGs are normally caused by the gauge having been flooded at some point in its life. Particularly common on rental gear.

 

[NightForce]

Did you take note of what rental number was assigned to that regulator/spg package? If so and you continue to rent from that dive shop don't let them give you that regulator set again.