I pilot friend of mine and his wife were on a Liveaboard in Thailand last month and his wife got DC sickness almost out of nowhere according to him. He posted the story on one of the aviation webboards I visit so here it is reposted.
What do you think happened?? Did she really get bent or was it an unrelated medical condition that would have happened anyway had she been topside?
Here is the story from him copied and pasted verbatim..
We learned the hard way on our last dive trip (2 weeks ago) that you can do everything right and still get bent.
We were on the very first dive of a 4-day, 13-dive trip aboard a liveaboard in the Andaman Sea (Thailand.) One of the other divers had an air problem, so the DM ended the dive after just 30 minutes. Max depth was just 24m/ 78', and average depth just 15m/ 48'. We were in the water just 30 minutes, and the ascent profile was completely normal.
Taylor came out of the water and almost immediately collapsed. Complete paralysis, although she could talk coherently. Then she lost her vision. All of this happened within 5 minutes of exiting the water. We got her on 100% O2, and after 30 very stressful minutes, her sight and ability to move returned. Got her on an evac boat, then an ambulance, straight to the deco chamber in Phuket. By the time we got there (5 hours after the incident), she was absolutely fine -- passed all the neurological tests, so the deco guys told her she could skip the chamber but would stay at the hospital overnight on O2. She was discharged the next day.
It was a terrifying day, to say the least. For the life of me I CANNOT understand why it would have happened. She was rested and well-hydrated. Her dive was one of the shallowest and shortest dives we've done in a long time, and it was the very first dive of the trip. Her ascent was completely normal and conservative. I am utterly befuddled. I thought about a bad fill, but all 20 divers filled off the same compressor, and nobody else had a problem.
It taught me one thing, though. NEVER dive without an O2 bottle available on the boat and a deco chamber within some sort of reasonable distance. In the Caribbean and Mexico, for example, nobody ever carries O2 unless you're on a liveaboard. I am convinced the O2 saved her life, or at least saved her from potential neurological damage.
I just can't figure out how someone with that dive profile could get bent.
END
So what do you guys think? A diving related problem or one that would have happened anyway topside?
What do you think happened?? Did she really get bent or was it an unrelated medical condition that would have happened anyway had she been topside?
Here is the story from him copied and pasted verbatim..
We learned the hard way on our last dive trip (2 weeks ago) that you can do everything right and still get bent.
We were on the very first dive of a 4-day, 13-dive trip aboard a liveaboard in the Andaman Sea (Thailand.) One of the other divers had an air problem, so the DM ended the dive after just 30 minutes. Max depth was just 24m/ 78', and average depth just 15m/ 48'. We were in the water just 30 minutes, and the ascent profile was completely normal.
Taylor came out of the water and almost immediately collapsed. Complete paralysis, although she could talk coherently. Then she lost her vision. All of this happened within 5 minutes of exiting the water. We got her on 100% O2, and after 30 very stressful minutes, her sight and ability to move returned. Got her on an evac boat, then an ambulance, straight to the deco chamber in Phuket. By the time we got there (5 hours after the incident), she was absolutely fine -- passed all the neurological tests, so the deco guys told her she could skip the chamber but would stay at the hospital overnight on O2. She was discharged the next day.
It was a terrifying day, to say the least. For the life of me I CANNOT understand why it would have happened. She was rested and well-hydrated. Her dive was one of the shallowest and shortest dives we've done in a long time, and it was the very first dive of the trip. Her ascent was completely normal and conservative. I am utterly befuddled. I thought about a bad fill, but all 20 divers filled off the same compressor, and nobody else had a problem.
It taught me one thing, though. NEVER dive without an O2 bottle available on the boat and a deco chamber within some sort of reasonable distance. In the Caribbean and Mexico, for example, nobody ever carries O2 unless you're on a liveaboard. I am convinced the O2 saved her life, or at least saved her from potential neurological damage.
I just can't figure out how someone with that dive profile could get bent.
END
So what do you guys think? A diving related problem or one that would have happened anyway topside?
