Headache while on EANx

[iflyprops]

I am a newly certified nitrox diver and have done two nitrox dives. On both dives I had a pretty bad headache after about 7 or 8 minutes at depth, and it took about 10 minutes to dissapear on the surface. I was well within even the conservative 1.4pp02, I am in decent shape and am nearly stumped as to why I feel better on air. I asked my friend who is a course director and he didn't have an answer either. My last dive was a few days ago on 30%, max depth 109, on the speigel grove. Also, my reg doesn't breath hard...its an atomic z1 so that shouldn't be an issue. The only reason I can think of is that I took some triptone sea sickness pills before each of the dives, but I have never heard of any problems with it...

Any input would be appreciated!

Thanks

 

[archman]

I got "bad air" in my tank from an old military compressor once. The thing dumped some oily residue inside the cylinder that had to be scrubbed out. Same symptoms... headache that cleared up soon after the dive.

It might be possible that your mix was contaminated. I've also heard that some people don't respond well to nitrox. Maybe you should breathe from your tank on the surface and see if the headache recurs. You can also get the gas analyzed.

Aren't there scuba docs on this board?

 

[boomx5]

it could be any number of things but I would maybe wonder if it was a little bit of CO2 build up.

 

[iflyprops]

I doubt it was contaminated as the nitrox was from two different shops, one in orlando and the other in the keys. But its still possible. next time I dive it will probobly be in a spring so I'll have to get some nitrox and since the sea sickness pills will be unnecesary that will remove one variable...

Thanks again!

 

[d33ps1x]

From the same shop and do the dive on air after the nitrox if you get another headache.

See if air does it to you as well.

 

[Warren_L]

iflyprops, it would stand to reason that if it is indeed the nitrox that is causing your headaches, it would be the increased pp O2 that would be causing it, rather than the lowered pp N2 compared to regular air. This is assuming you do not have contaminated gas. Although with regular air, you will not get similar pp O2 to EANx30 for example at depth unless you go deep. Do you get any headache like symptoms if you dive deep on air, say to 120' or deeper?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

A lot of people talk about improved gas consumption on Nitrox, which is feasible but only at the cost of elevated CO2 levels as you are really breathing less often and flushing less CO2 from your system. Monitor your breathing pattern to make sure you are not intentionally or unintentionally getting extra air milage out of the nitrox.

 

[d33ps1x]

A lot of people talk about improved gas consumption on Nitrox, which is feasible but only at the cost of elevated CO2 levels as you are really breathing less often and flushing less CO2 from your system. Monitor your breathing pattern to make sure you are not intentionally or unintentionally getting extra air milage out of the nitrox.

Does that really play into it? If you are properly breathing slow and deep you are clearing a lot of it every time you breath anyways and motabolizing more oxygen with every breath.

 

[iflyprops]

My breathing pattern may have something to do with it. On both dives I was conciously making an effort to slow my breathing. About 3/4 of the way through the speigel dive I actually felt a little like I could not catch my breath.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Sounds like CO2 buildup to me ... particularly with that second "clue" of breathlessness. Keep in mind that it's CO2 that triggers the breathing response, and if you don't breathe correctly you won't adequately flush it out of your system. You can breathe slowly ... but you also have to breathe completely. Inhale slowly, pause briefly between inhale and exhale (do not close your epiglottis when you take this pause), and exhale slowly and completely. The slight pause (no more than one to two seconds) gives your lung tissue time to make a more complete exchange of CO2 for O2. It's important to exhale completely to remove this gas from your lungs.

There's a way to test to see if this is the likely culprit. Next dive try breathing as you normally do ... and when you're done exhaling, make a conscious effort to exhale some more. If you can exhale more than a slight amount of additional gas, then you were not completely removing the spent CO2 from your lungs ... which would build up in your lung tissues and account for both the headache and the breathlessness.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)