How did you know you were narked?

[kimbalabala]

I've only been narked once - and I knew it because I wasn't freaked out at 100 feet (and normally I would have freaked out at 80!).

 

[Kevrumbo]

On adaptation to Deep Air and Nitrogen Narcosis:

"Moreover, our results suggest that experienced divers can discriminate between the behavioral and subjective components of narcosis. . .It has been proposed that the intensity of narcotic symptoms could be used by divers to gauge the extent of performance loss (10). The present results indicate that this advice is inappropriate for adapted divers because the two components of narcosis [behavioral and subjective] uncouple in a direction that could lead to an overestimation of performance capabilities --a potentially dangerous situation.

On the other hand, the question arises as to whether adaptation confers any benefits on the diver, since performance efficiency is not directly improved and could be overestimated. In this regard, it could be argued that a reduction in symptom intensity reduces the possibility that attention will be focused on subjective sensations rather than the task at hand."

From:
p.9, Hamilton K, Laliberté MF, Fowler B. Dissociation of the behavioral and subjective components of nitrogen narcosis and diver adaptation. Undersea Hyperb
Med. 1995 Mar;22(1):41-9. PubMed PMID: 7742709.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

The one probable case where I had a buddy get narced was a little over 10 years ago, on what might have been my first "upright" dive on the Spiegel Grove off Key Largo. My buddy - a German grad student I worked with who was, true to form, typically an extremely meticulous diver - found a discarded weight belt just inside one of the cutouts in the superstructure, probably at around 90 ft or so. I have no idea who the heck left those weights; there had to have been at least 25 lbs of lead on that belt. As I'm watching, my buddy goes to pick up the belt; I forget if he was at least smart enough to stay over the deck instead of struggling to keep from plummeting down the side. As he was trying to lift the belt, he went and pulled out his SMB, which was one of those dinky little ones that's about 5 ft long and maybe 3 inches in diameter - nowhere near enough to use as a lift bag on 25+ lbs of lead. Finally he gave up and left the thing; later he admitted he had no idea why he thought trying to salvage it was a good idea.

As for me, I'm not sure if I'm getting narced or just giddy about my surroundings/activities. I'm sure narcosis is at least a contributing factor. Some items from the highlight reel:

• The first time I noticed anything like that was on the wreck of the former HMAS Hobart in South Australia; my buddy and I dropped through the stack and mess hall into the engine room at around 90 ft. Both of us happened to note the beams of our lights being visible in the little bit of silt we'd stirred up; we looked at each other and proceeded to have a <30-second lightsaber battle in the engine room.
• My first dive on the Spiegel Grove (back when she was on her side and the floor of the well deck was at a reasonable depth) we were drifting back through the well deck towards the stern and I decided to orient myself feet towards the deck, body perpendicular to the current, and pretend I was storming the beach complete with yelling into my regulator. My two companions thought I was quite mad.
• First dive on the deep ledge in Jupiter, I fell behind the group while strafing lionfish at about 120-125 ft. A single lemon shark passed at the bottom of the ledge (maybe 30-40 ft away and 10 ft farther down) and I have GoPro video of me waving my lionfish onna stick at it while audibly saying "Here, fishy fishy!" It was probably for the best that the shark was not interested.
• Another Jupiter deep ledge dive, this one a lionfish tournament - was at around 110-115 or so swimming hard for the ledge (figured vertical relief was going to provide some targets) and saw a bull shark in the distance. Again, got GoPro video of myself crossing two pole spears in front of me while loudly humming the opening bars to "Duel of the Fates," followed by "Jeez, I'm ****in' narced." There were a few other amusing instances of talking to myself as I went along. I wound up pushing that dive too hard and not starting my ascent until I was down to 750 psi (in an HP 120 tank) because right when I was going to start up I came across a cluster of four lionfish that amounted to half my bag for that dive.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

So I am 16 yrs old I think and my buddy and I find a new quarry to dive in Pennsylvania. We are trespassing illegally – off having fun on our summer break.

We had never dove this quarry and didn’t know anyone who had. The water was quite clear.

We had done quite a few quarry dives and also NJ wreck dives, generally depths were 40-60 in quarries and maybe 60-90 in the Ocean with a few dives to 130 or so in the ocean.

I typically keep the depth gage strapped to the handle of my huge Darrel allen (10-D cell) light. But for whatever reason, I had taken the gage off the light and left it in the car.

So we only had one tank and we dove for a while in the 60 or 75 ft vis and then we came to a steep break where the bottom went from a 30 or 45 degree slope to straight vertical.. I think this may have been a slate quarry and when I say vertical, I mean straight like the side of a building. As I recall, my buddy went up..We were diving single aluminum 80's with no pony bottle or octopus.

So I swim along the break and I come to this wire rope ladder which goes from the upper slope and over the edge and down… So I had no depth gage and very little experience diving in such clear water. I estimate that the break is at a depth of around 30 feet. So I figure what the hell. Down the ladder.

I am wearing a 7 mm suit and our BC’s back then were horse collars and we did not have power inflators, so it is somewhat of a pain to remove the reg and blow air in the BC when your lips are numb from 40 degree water.

So I go down about 60 ft on the ladder.. and I am getting super heavy. So I stop and hold onto the ladder and blow a bunch of air in the BC. My bubbles knock a lot of algae off the ladder and it feels weird with the crap raining down on me, but the water is crystal clear and it is getting dark.

So I am guessing I might be at 100 feet or so. I take off down the along the ladder, with no real goal in mind other than to see how deep it goes. I swim for a good while and figure dman I’m deep. I hold onto the ladder and shine my light down and can see another 50 or 70 feet of ladder continuing to go down - with no change or end in sight.

So I realize, there is nothing to see anywhere within a reasonable depth. It is freezing cold, but I don’t really feel narced. I decide, hey I will count the rungs of the ladder on the way up, save a little air and then swim down with my depth gage and measure the depth to the break and I can get an idea of my new “depth record”. Seems like a reasonable and workable plan..

So I start my ascent. I have one goal.. count rungs.. 3 times I lost count or forgot to count etc. I think that I finally got my sheet together and when I hit the break I had counted like 120 or so rungs.. I was absolutely stunned how narced I was. So my best narced (conservative) estimate was about 120 rungs.

Each rung was more than a foot.. maybe 18 inches or a little less.

When I came back with the depth gage the break was 60 feet not 30 like I assumed.

So I was at 60 plus maybe 120 times 1.5 or maybe a good bit more. Wonder what a computer would have said if they were available back then?

 

[Jared0425]

120X18 is 180ft. That's a deep ass quarry. Do you know what one or where it is?

 

[flybigjet]

I've experienced narcosis two times that stick in my memory; once on air at 155' and once at 28% Nitrox at 175' (both with deco stages). Nothing severe, but enough that I took notice of it.

The symptoms for me are a small bit of tunnel vision and a slight feeling of a "giant hand" squeezing the back of my head.

Funnily enough, my narcosis symptoms are almost exactly the same as my hypoxia symptoms. I've had the opportunity in my career to do multiple altitude chamber "rides" (basically, you get into a pressure chamber that brings you up to 25-30,000' or so. You then take off your O2 mask off to see what your individual symptoms are, and how easily you can die. It's an..... interesting experience).

I personally think that having that experience makes me a bit more "aware" of impending narcosis-- I don't know if there's any medical or scientific reason for the symptom similarities or if its all in my mind, but I seem to be a bit more sensitive to the "feel" of impending narcosis since I've been exposed repeatedly to my hypoxia symptoms.

Either way, it's a nice thing to know.

R.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

120X18 is 180ft. That's a deep ass quarry. Do you know what one or where it is?

You forget the other 60 feet which was where the ladder started...Sorry dont remember location.. I could see down another 60 or more feet with my light.. kept going..

 

[Dan]

You forget the other 60 feet which was where the ladder started...Sorry dont remember location.. I could see down another 60 or more feet with my light.. kept going..

How many cat's life left you have? Mine is 4.