Headache & Nausea

[joe rock]

Yesterday, I want diving at the local quarry. I did 3 dives. After the second dive, I started to get a slight headache. After the 3rd dive I had a bad headache and nausea (actually got sick on the way home). The deepest dive was to 60', shortest surface interval was 1:40. Nothing strenuous, nothing out of the ordinary. Same dives I've made several times before.

Does anyone have an idea what could cause this? I thought it might be dehydration?

 

[Rick Inman]

So many possibilities... bad air, CO2, non-dive related sickness... No one on line can diagnose you.

As a guy who was sure he wasn't bent and was, I suggest (as my Wife insisted I did) that you call DAN. Can't hurt.

BTW, I am moving this thread to Diving Medecine.

 

[joe rock]

Rick,

Thanks, I did plan on doing that. What would cause the CO2 problem?

 

[Rick Inman]

Rick,

Thanks, I did plan on doing that. What would cause the CO2 problem?

Skip breathing, over-breathing the reg, working hard...

 

[DandyDon]

And you could just have a "bug." If DAN clears you, take two aspirin, drink one whole quart of water, get to bed early. See a physician is you don't feel better in the morning.

Good luck. I'm lounging comfortably at home with the room at 75F, but my new dive buddy has chills. Giving her the same suggestions after a hot bath... :05:

 

[joe rock]

Thanks for the help. Talked to DAN. Based on feeling fine later on, nothing to do with "bubbles" or DCS. As Rick said, could be from a number of things including plain old motion sickness.

 

[sky50960]

headach might be a DCS symptom...
but way a diver could not suffer a simple headach ( vasomotor migrain...) while diving.

As said above everything is not dive related.

 

[Lisa0825]

Is there any way to find out if anyone else who got air at the same place as you had problems? The only time I have ever gone diving before my certification class was a resort dive, and everyone on the boat got sick. I didn't realize until I took my OW class that we probably had bad air since we all went through that shop whose boat we were on. Plus, my friend and I came up early and we were much less sick than the others who stayed down and had more time breathing that air. They yakked all the way back to land!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

What kind of shape are your sinuses in? Here's what happened to me one day. I had a sinus headache and didn't take anything for it but since my sinuses were clearing fine I did my dive (I was taking a rescue class). During the dive the pressure underwater made the headache go away but when I surfaced the pain was back and twice as bad. I made my second dive, and as I made my descent the pain slowly went away. When I surfaced after the second dive I had a killer sinus headache. We went to dinner and my instructor asked what was wrong. When I told her she asked all the DCS questions and when the answers were "no" she advised me to take something for the headache and not go on the night dive. We headed back to the dive site and I had to have my dive buddy pull over so I could get sick. He asked if I wanted to be dropped off at the campsite instead of the quarry and I told him he'd do nothing but worry about me being there by myself so I would go to the quarry and watch the dive. I felt fine by the time the night dive started, the headache had gone but my instructor would not let me join the dive since I had taken meds so I helped with the bubble watching.

My sinuses are extremely sensitive to pressure changes (I can tell you when the barometer changes) and sometimes I get sinus pain that's so bad it makes me sick even when I'm not diving.

Always better safe than sorry and calling DAN was a good choice.

Just another thing to consider.
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[lisa_j]

Joe - This used to happen to me. After my dives I would feel exhausted, have a killer headache and feel VERY seasick...which is unusual for me since we run a charter business and I'm on the boat a lot!

It became really unbearable and I started changing things little by little - my breathing techniques, loosening/tightening my mask, keeping WELL hydrated.
What ended up fixing everything was clearing my ears more often. I realized that I wasn't doing it as much as I should during a dive when we changed depths by a few feet every now and then. Once I paid attention and was conscious of my equalizing, my dives ended with me feeling GREAT and ready to go again.
Good luck, I know how awful it feels!!
Lisa