How do you know if you have sub-clinical or type I DCS?

[khacken]

I know from my OW book that you get pain in your joints, mainly shoulder and knees. Or that you get a scratchy feel on your skin. But how bad is the pain or itchiness?

Are we talking 1-2 on a scale from 1-10 (10 being worst possible pain). Or is it very high? I have played sports most of my life, so I normally ignore pain below the 3-4 level. However, I don't know how much and what type of pain to ignore with diving. I do know any pain in the ears or sinuses cannot be ignored. I also know that any mental, neurological or breathing issues must assesed immediately. I know that a rescue course is the best way to learn this, but I only have 13 dives and only OW, so I feel rescue would be beyond my abilities at this point.

I don't want to cry wolf or be a baby, but I also don't want to injure myself.

 

[MoonWrasse]

I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.
Just continue diving within your training and experience, and continue with your diving education.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello khacken:

DCS Pain

Small aches and pains are often referred to as niggles. This means they are low level and difficult to distinguish form true joint-pain DCS. Most likely, they are pain from hauling and lifting gear, reentering the boat etc.

One might become suspicious if they were doing diving that would increase gas loading. Such would be swimming in currents and multiple, long dives in a single day.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[ScubaSixString]

I know from my OW book that you get pain in your joints, mainly shoulder and knees. Or that you get a scratchy feel on your skin. But how bad is the pain or itchiness?

Are we talking 1-2 on a scale from 1-10 (10 being worst possible pain). Or is it very high? I have played sports most of my life, so I normally ignore pain below the 3-4 level. However, I don't know how much and what type of pain to ignore with diving. I do know any pain in the ears or sinuses cannot be ignored. I also know that any mental, neurological or breathing issues must assesed immediately. I know that a rescue course is the best way to learn this, but I only have 13 dives and only OW, so I feel rescue would be beyond my abilities at this point.

I don't want to cry wolf or be a baby, but I also don't want to injure myself.

I did 4 relatively deep dives (70-90 ft) in a day the rest of the divers had done 3 (I switched off partners due to an injury). On the ride home, my elbow was itching like crazy, no amount of scratching did anything. It felt like the itching was UNDER the skin, if that makes any sense. Was it subcut "DCS", I don't know. But there were no long term effects.

If this is a theoretical question, I'd say go with the book as a guide. If it happens in real life and you're unsure, call DAN.

 

[khacken]

OK, so it sounds as if it is minor pain or "niggles" it is not something that needs to be treated anyways. That is really what I was wondering about. I agree with Dr Deco on the pain associated with hauling gear and so forth. My first dives I felt very fatigued after I got home and cramped up during the dives. Now I can dive five dives over a weekend and barely notice any effects from it. I guess that is just part of getting into shape.

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

I've been so sore from lugging gear that I was really afraid I was bent, I talked with my buddies and my instructor who suggested I had worked harder than normal and was experiencing muscle soreness.

I'm hoping that if ever god-forbid, real joint pain or skin pain (maybe associated with marbling) will be distinguishable to the slight-fatigue after a normal dive day. When I realized fatigue is a Type II symptom I thought, geesh I'm type 2 everytime.

 

[jcmvw1]

This is an interesting subject, A week ago I did multiple dives in Canada. On the last dive of the weekend My dive buddie panicked and we made a short rapid acsent to our safety stop. Right after the dive I was feeling some shoulder pain I thought it was just sore from lugging gear all weekend. I had talked to my friend who was also my instructor. And we both figuered it was probably nothing. Well about 12 hours later I wake up with severe pain in my shoulder. Long story short I did an 8hr ride in the chamber. Even knowing that I prabably took a hit on that dive I still didnt want to admit it to myself. So what do you do every time that you feel some pain after a dive?

 

[lamont]

how do you differentiate DCS skin itchiness from sun and saltwater exposure?

 

[khacken]

jcmvw, I think from what I am seeing in this thread that if you do something that might make you more prone to DCS, such as rapid descent, you should not ignore any symptoms.

I hope that everything ended ok for you. I never like to hear a fellow diver in pain.

 

[TSandM]

As a physician and a diver, I think this is a really hard one.

When I started diving, I frequently had a lot of pain in my neck and shoulders. I still have it if I have to carry my gear very far. One dive, I was in so much pain driving home that I started worrying that I was bent, even though there was nothing particularly suspicious about the profile. I got home and said nothing, and the pain got better over a couple of hours. The next morning, I mentioned it to my husband, who flew into a rage because he said I should have said something the night before, in case I really did need to go to a chamber.

In point of fact, diving involves carrying heavy equipment; hanging it off one's shoulders; in our area, climbing up and down slopes wearing said heavy equipment; if you are maintaining trim, using muscles you may not have used much at all. There is a lot of wear and tear soreness -- muscle pain, neck and back pain, bruises -- that can be very difficult to differentiate from DCS.

I think you end up having to use a lot of data. If the pain gets worse over time, it's suspicious. If your profiles involved a lot of nitrogen loading, that raises the index of suspicion. If you have done such dives before WITHOUT similar discomfort, that raises the index of suspicion.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that people who dive a lot have gone through several episodes of subclinical DCS without recognizing it for what it was. If it gets worse, we seek care.