help with narcosis speech!

[amazingbiologirl]

im writing a speech to inform for my sophmore speech class on nitrogen narcosis..but i dont know all that much about it! any info at all on the subject would be greatly appreciated! but all i need are 3 main topics to talk about within it(symptoms, causes, consequences, etc.) and help with writing the speech as a whole would be awesome too!! thanks a ton!

 

[AmyJ]

Hi girl,

I don't have the answers you're looking for.. but might suggest that you try using the search function. There is just tons and tons of info on this board, You should be able to find more than enough for your paper. Good Luck!

 

[alcina]

Check your Open Water manual. There will be an entire section dedicated to this to get you started.

 

[Kim]

I just finished reading 'The Last Dive'. There was one reference to narcosis in the book which I had never heard before and might be of some use for a bit of 'color'.
It's called the "Martini Rule".
Basically it says that every 10 meters/33 ft of depth is equivelent to drinking one martini on an empty stomach. So a depth of 30 meters/99 ft would be equivalent to three martinis on an empty stomach! I'm not sure exactly how scientific it is - but like I said, maybe for the humor!

 

[Dive-aholic]

I just finished reading 'The Last Dive'. There was one reference to narcosis in the book which I had never heard before and might be of some use for a bit of 'color'.
It's called the "Martini Rule".
Basically it says that every 10 meters/33 ft of depth is equivelent to drinking one martini on an empty stomach. So a depth of 30 meters/99 ft would be equivalent to three martinis on an empty stomach! I'm not sure exactly how scientific it is - but like I said, maybe for the humor!

The martini rule dates back to Cousteau. Doesn't hold any scientific basis. Everyone has a different tolerance to alcohol. The same goes for narcosis. I had done several deep dives before my first experience with narcosis, and I didn't even know I had experienced it until the next dive when I experienced it again. My wife experienced narcosis much earlier than I did, and on a much shallower dive, but not since then! From our own experiences, it appears that (for us anyway) narcosis depends on the type of dive we're doing. It's less likely to occur if we're diving nitrox or task oriented. If I'm just doing a fun, deep dive on air, I start to get narced. Fortunately, I can think past it.

 

[MN Lakeman]

I'm almost done reading the book: "Shadow Divers" - an excellent read, even for non-divers. There is a lot of discussion on the symptoms on deep dive narcosis, in fact the author does an incredible job describing the various details of it using all sorts of metaphors. I really never thought I experienced this affliction even after the dozen or so 100 ft dives I have done, until reading this book & realized in looking back that I had some strange feelings other than the typically described "euphoria" - such as unexplained sadness, worry, tunnel vision etc - nothing serious, but definitely worthy of observation. These spells didn't seem to creep up until mid week during 3 to 4 dives a day. As mentioned above, like booze, it affects everyone differently, & at different moments.

 

[Rick Inman]

Head down to your LDS and ask to borrow an advanced diver manual and read the section on deep diving. Also, this months Dive Training Magazine (which you can get a copy of at a PADI shop) has an article on the history of diver training and has some good stuff on "Martini's Law".
Of course, the best thing to do id take a Deep Diver specialty class, make a deep dive and write about your own experience as well.
Good luck!