Fatigue After Diving

[matt9122]

I am relatively new to tech diving. While I have done thousands of dives and hundreds past the recreational limit of 130' I have not been doing proper decompression diving very long. I have around 20 decompression dives thus far mostly in the 150'-170' range. I work at a dive shop and am lucky to work with many different groups and hear many different opinions on deep stops vs. shallow, tables vs. computers vs. ratio deco, GUE vs. TDI vs. PADI, and on and on and on.

While this is a good thing, it also makes it very hard and confusing as a new diver to determine what is best for me as a starting point. After all of the articles, lectures and conversations with instructors I have decided to use gradient factors for the ability to have a bit more control over deep vs. shallow stops and to be able to further control my profile. The industry standard seems to be 30/85 which is what I have started at for my dives. This is not to far off of a VPM profile with a conservative factor of +2. I feel like this is a good starting point to get a sense of how my body is handling these dives.

After a few dozen dives mostly around 160' for 30min I have decided that I am feeling a bit more tired than I think I should. I have had no further problems than this exhaustion, but it is obvious to me that the feelings after these dives are not how I feel after a normal recreational dive.

I am not in amazing shape, with 6-pack abs, but I am certainly not in bad shape. I eat right, hydrate and begin these dives well rested.

My question is....is a certain amount of exhaustion normal after these dives? I am almost to the point that if I do any deco diving, I have to take the rest of the day off so I can come home and take a nap. Further, if this is not a normal occurrence, as I believe it is not, what are some suggestions for adjusting my profiles for future dives.

I am not trying to get into a debate about deep stops vs. shallow stops, or eating habits, etc. I am just curious what other divers have felt this exhaustion following dives with simple profiles and what adjustments have seemed to help these feelings of fatigue.

Thanks for any feedback. Sorry if this has already been beaten into the dirt, it is hard to find related threads with the amount on here.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I took a year or so off from diving deep before making a dive on a German U-Boat in 190 feet. I had forgotten how heavy doubles and deco bottles were. I was worn out by the end of that day.

 

[tursiops]

This is where you try 30/70 GFs, etc, and keep good records. I found longer stops near the surface helped me.

P.S.
Maybe the best I've read on GFs is Gradient Factors.

 

[PfcAJ]

Gases?

If you're fatigued, there's a reasonable chance of it being decompression 'stress'. I'd fiddle with those gradient factors.

 

[ajduplessis]

I visited the gym this morning after some inactivity during the past month and was fatigued after the work out. Is this decompression stress? No, of course not.

Any form of exercise and effort will result in some form of fatigue. You need to know how your body responds to physical effort. Scuba puts different "strain" on your body and muscles. Only once you really understand how your body responds to effort while scuba diving, only then can you start thinking about making changes to how you manage your profile and deco.

In answering your question, yes a certain amount of exhaustion is normal after dives. But only you will know if it normal, or excessive. If the latter, you need to start thinking differently about your deco approach. Hope this helps?

 

[Germie]

There are different things you can try.
First is to play with the GF's. I prefer myself on deep dives over 100m depth a 40/80. If you use vpm-b try vpm-b+3/80

Second, I don't know which decogases you use in combination with bottomtimes and bottomgases. I know from some divers that uses 18/45 as bottomgas with only a 50% that are tired. If they take a 100% then no problems.
Ratio deco is a tool, it can be quite aggressive on long bottomtimes. See http://techdiving-network.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Ratiodeco_et_al.pdf (sadly in German)
I don't know if you dive with 1 or 2 decogases. But sometimes it is worth a try to follow a plan with 1 decogas, but make an extra switch to a 80% or 100%. Or follow a new plan with the 2 decogases (that will be a little bit shorter than with 1 decogas).

And even there is no proof for it, but there are divers that say they are tired after deep air dives and not if they use for the same dive some helium in their breathingmix. CO2 buildup can be possible too with deep airdives.

 

[Nasser]

Agree with the others. Try adjusting your Gradient Factors and make note of how you feel after the adjustments. Each person responds differently due to a number of individual factors so you need to spend a little time dialing things in - not only for your particular settings but also sometimes from dive to dive depending on the dive conditions. There have been a few threads where making these adjustments have resulted in divers feeling much better after deco dives.

What gases are you using?

 

[matt9122]

Thank you for the responses and suggestions.

I'm am using 21/35 with a 50% switch at 70'.

 

[Nasser]

Thank you for the responses and suggestions.

I'm am using 21/35 with a 50% switch at 70'.

O.K. - that's what I'm using as a Bottom Mix for the same depth and I switch to the 50% as well... but I also add an 80% at 9m (02 is not as readily available here as a deco gas) as well as sometimes breathing it on the surface for a few extra minutes after the dive and I feel fine. When doing a deep air dive at the same depth 50-55m (using 40% and 80%) over a period of days I definetly feel a little more fatigued.

So perhaps consider adding 80% or 02 as your shallowest deco gas - this should help. Also definitely experiment with GF settings... try a shallower "deep stop" as in a higher Low GF and adding a little more time on your High GF (assuming you're running Buhlmann GF ) I don't use VPM so can't advise on that.

 

[shoredivr]

Just took a workshop with Steve Lewis on Gradient Factors. One of the things he said was if you are not feeling better after a dive than you were when you started, your body is telling you something. Try dropping the GF to 30/70. See if you feel better. If you do using this more conservative deco schedule, there's your answer.