Hallucinations

[Rhone Man]

I have had hallucinations from narcosis only once: I was at about 180 odd feet and I was only 15 years old (yes I know, spare me the lecture). I have been to that depth several times since and experienced narcosis of the fuzzy head variety, and of the "panicy dark narc" variety but I have never experienced hallucinations again as an adult. I have also never heard the "Wah wahs", although I don't doubt they exist.

I normally experience "happy narc" first at shallower depths (around 150 feet) so my internal check warns me that I am treading in an area where I don't make good decisions and to be careful and stick to closely to my dive plan.

One interesting thing though: on that hallucinagenic dive, as soon as I worked out in my own mind that they were hallucinations, I no longer saw them. I had thought they were Egyptian heiroglyphs written in the sand, but once your head "cleared" it was obvious that they were just ordinary ripples. I have also heard people talk about looking down and seeing their fins "eating them" a la the character Venom in Spider Man 3.

 

[seaducer]

I have been down to 140 on air, and the only effects I noticed (or remember) is that whenever I looked at my guages, I had to look more than once to remember what they said. I spent a lot of time rechecking...which is fine there was nothing else worth looking at for me anyway...

 

[ScubaVideo]

Simple answer is that there is no one answer for how narcosis will affect you. It can be different from one dive to the next. In the same place. Conditions, temps, vis, your physical and mental state prior to and during the dive, and on and on. As varied as the effects of drinking are for each person so is narcosis. I have a good idea as to how I will react in MOST cases but not every time.

I've been narked once, and it was at only 70'. I have a lot of dives at greater than 100' and some over 120' and one to 160' - never got narked on any of those dives.

The one time I was not well rested and maybe even a little dehydrated. There were no hallucinations, just euphoria - "Wow, this a the best dive I've ever had!" "Those fish sure are pretty", "It's not even cold down here today" (53°). The next day I had a crepitus in my right thumb. Went to the ER and they started a helicopter en-route with in a few minutes - I said maybe they should call DAN first? They did and that saved me a chamber ride. My profile was fine and I had no other symptoms. But, it's nice to know my HMO had my back - at least they did once upon a time. I probably slammed my thumb on the dive and didn't even remember it.

 

[Narced Out]

I have been down to 145 on air and i do this often. I dont really hallucinate but things that may not seem interesting stick out a lot more to me.

Last week at 135 i saw this patch of dead kelp and in it was a plastic cup. When i saw this i thought i had found gold haha. I wouldnt say you really hallucinate but things stick out more. I also tend to look at my gauges a lot.

I wanna try 160 on air tho haha.

 

[gbray]

One time I was diving a cold quarry and was amazed when my computer said I was at 170 feet.
I remember tapping on the computer to make sure it was working properly( duh. I guess I thought it was like a stuck needle on an analog gauge). It was an awesome dive. Afterwards I told my buddy, I didn't even get narced. Then I remembered, the quarry is only 120 feet deep. My log screen revealed we were at 112 feet deep. I know what I saw it said 170 feet deep. I also remember staring at my computer for a very long time to be able to read it. OK so I was narced. But I wasn't halucinating,..... was I?

 

[Rubber Duckie]

I've been narked once, and it was at only 70'. I have a lot of dives at greater than 100' and some over 120' and one to 160' - never got narked on any of those dives.

The one time I was not well rested and maybe even a little dehydrated. There were no hallucinations, just euphoria - "Wow, this a the best dive I've ever had!" "Those fish sure are pretty", "It's not even cold down here today" (53°). The next day I had a crepitus in my right thumb. Went to the ER and they started a helicopter en-route with in a few minutes - I said maybe they should call DAN first? They did and that saved me a chamber ride. My profile was fine and I had no other symptoms. But, it's nice to know my HMO had my back - at least they did once upon a time. I probably slammed my thumb on the dive and didn't even remember it.

Thats funny. How would crepitus indicate the need for a chamber?

 

[Bob DBF]

I wasn't narked and I didn't hallucinate. It was the mermaid that was narked, I couldn't say if she was hallucinating but she sure looked and acted narked. My buddy said she was not narked but how could he tell, he as narked too.


Bob
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I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[ScubaVideo]

Thats funny. How would crepitus indicate the need for a chamber?

It's not just an action of broken bones rubbing, but a sound. That sound was loud enough that the Dr. could hear it. Possible micro bubbles in the joint was what he was thinking and began by erring on the side of caution. He also knew I was diving, not rested and got narked. I was thinking it was just that I had some internal swelling of the knuckle - as did DAN.

Crepitus
— n
1. a crackling chest sound heard in pneumonia and other lung diseases
2. the grating sound of two ends of a broken bone rubbing together
Crepitus | Define Crepitus at Dictionary.com

 

[gcbryan]

Porkfriend, most people I have to believe don't have hallucinations. I'm also guessing that for those that have it was their first few times going deeper. Maybe it was more Co2 and anxiety mixed in with the normal narcosis...who knows. In any event I haven't heard of it occurring with someone who was relatively experienced at those depths. Someone please correct me if this isn't generally true.

Narcosis for me varies but is generally of the dark variety (checking gauges too often) and is more of a dull feeling. I've only had the happy variety a few times and that variety bothers me a lot more than the dark variety.

The degree of apparent narcosis at similar depths varies from day to day for me and isn't really dependent on water temp but is affected somewhat by viz.

I'm been to the same depth and felt very narced and not "felt" narced at all the next time. You are narced however whether you feel it or not.