How Does Narcosis Effect You?

[BRT]

I find myself looking at my gauges and then looking at them again, having a hard time remembering what they showed.

 

[Storker]

Nark for me is molasses for brains. Sometimes increased apprehensiveness. I've yet to experience the fun and/or comical stuff I heard numerous stories about during my OW class.

I really don't like being narked.

 

[chillyinCanada]

[QUOTubcooled, post: 7647099, member: 171324"]See the attached picture.

This test was done in a dry chamber at 6 ATA. Pay attention to task #2 (join the points in order A-1-B-2 with a line). And so I did. A-1-B-2. I do remember how I thought hard whether I should connect A and 1 and B and 2 or ALL the points. My logical conclusion was to connect those four points explicitly named in the task.


A biologist was also in the chamber. She thought that cows drink milk.[/QUOTE]

Baby cows do drink milk!

Still might have to cut her some slack because there's a quiz that's done outside of the chamber that includes something similar and more people than not get tricked on it.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Deepest I care to go without helium is about 120 fsw ... that's in our local waters which are typically turbid, so it's typically dark at that depth even at mid-day. I most likely am narced before I reach that depth, but at 120 fsw I typically recognize it. The symptoms usually appear as forgetfulness (look at depth gauge, clip it off, and can't recall what it read) or anxiety ("what if" scenarios start playing a continuous loop in my head, taking my mind off what I'm supposed to be thinking about).

Deepest I've gone without helium was my first dive below 150 feet, during my advanced nitrox class. I had a lot of difficulty focusing on what I was doing. Told the instructor as soon as the dive was over that I never wanted to do that again. The next dive was on 25/25 and I did a lot better.

For those of you who think you're not narced at those depths, I challenge you to a little experiment. Go do a deep dive (below 100 feet) with someone who's on a helium mix. At the deepest part of your dive (arrange this in advance, so they know what you're doing), signal that you want to breathe off their gas. Do so for a couple minutes, then go back on your own gas. Notice the difference.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[100days-a-year]

I routinely work at 150' to 180' ,heavy exertion and high task loading.My work is videoed so I can improve technique and spot any lapses as well as share my exploits.That is my envelope for noticing impairment.Many people are impaired prior to 1ATA,it may not be the N2 and CO2.I use mix beyond 200'.

 

[rongoodman]

The one time I was really aware of being narced was on a dark, cold dive to 100' in Lake George on the Radeau. Short term memory loss was very obvious.

 

[Bob DBF]

Diving to 130 was not a problem but operating a camera and DSLR photography needed decisions that were taking a lot of mental effort.

That was because the diving was going as planned, had it gone south, you would find that dealing with an emergency could have been as challenging as operating the camera.

Narcosis will make a diver slow, stupid, and less situationally aware without knowing it until something goes wrong. Whenever I dive deep air and have not been doing it regularly, I make progressively deeper work-up dives and find out if I'm ready and that I can manage the narcosis on the dives. This doesn't insure the success of the deep dive, but if you have problems sticking to your dive plan and don't abort immediately, you wont fare better deeper. As focus is narrowed by narcosis, the limits of depth, air, and time are necessary, if any limit is met or forgotten, one has go up to a depth where it can be sorted out, because one way too narked.

Whenever I dive deep, I have a mild paranoia and if it is not there I abort. If I have a dark nark or a happy/peaceful nark or hear the Sirens song, I abort. If anything does not go the way I planned, I abort. A bit of advise I got from and old diver back in the day, One can manage narcosis to a point, the only way to stop the nark is to head up, if you don't, good luck, you'll need it.

I've been deeper than some and not as deep as others.


Bob

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I get tunnel vision. Get so focused on the mission objective that I will forget things. Like checking on my buddy, gauges, time, etc. The actual goal will get accomplished and I'l remember doing it. But the other stuff is foggy or non existent in my memory.
However I have discovered a way to manage a good bit of it over time by developing a routine to keep my situational awareness a bit closer to the surface of my mental facilities that works most of the time.

 

[emoreira]

My deepest dive was to 120 feet (36 meters) and I felt nothing different in any way.

 

[ladabiel]

Hi everybody. For me according personal conditions. One day 162ft (i'm not proud about this) without symptoms, week later i felt bad (depressions, fear...) in 120 ft, ascending to 90 and all problems gone. Nice evening...