How long do I have to stay out of the water?

[Stijn]

Hello

You never think it could jhappen to you bet then it finally hits you; the bends.

i had them a few days ago. Skin itching, fatigue and pain in joints and limbs. I contacted DAN and they helped me through it. Since I am a 2,5 charterflight away from the nearest recompression chamber and hyperbaric doctor, they helped me through phone calls and e-mails. In total I was breathing 5 hrs of O2 in 2 days.

The symptoms are gone now but DAN does not want to give me their agreement that I can dive again before I see a hyperbaric doctor, which out of their point of view and their situation I can understand.

However, the 1st charterflight is in 3 days. And then I am stuck in Bali (indonesia) for 11 days before I can take the next return flight back to where I live, a lot of hassle.

My own safety and health will always be on the first place but do you think DAN is over conservative to cover themself?

How long do I have to wait before I can go diving again?

Should I go to the hyperbaric doctor?

Any advice is wellcome!

Thanks

 

[Diver0001]

Should I go to the hyperbaric doctor?

Assuming you are totally symptom free and putting myself in your position I'm not sure I would go to all the trouble, but that's me. The prudent thing to do, of course, is to go to all the trouble.

R..

 

[tndiveinstruct1]

Hello

You never think it could jhappen to you bet then it finally hits you; the bends.

i had them a few days ago. Skin itching, fatigue and pain in joints and limbs. I contacted DAN and they helped me through it. Since I am a 2,5 charterflight away from the nearest recompression chamber and hyperbaric doctor, they helped me through phone calls and e-mails. In total I was breathing 5 hrs of O2 in 2 days.

The symptoms are gone now but DAN does not want to give me their agreement that I can dive again before I see a hyperbaric doctor, which out of their point of view and their situation I can understand.

However, the 1st charterflight is in 3 days. And then I am stuck in Bali (indonesia) for 11 days before I can take the next return flight back to where I live, a lot of hassle.

My own safety and health will always be on the first place but do you think DAN is over conservative to cover themself?

How long do I have to wait before I can go diving again?

Should I go to the hyperbaric doctor?

Any advice is wellcome!

Thanks

Stijn,

Glad to hear you're feeling better... but I would still go to see the doctor.

It's kinda like you calling your auto mechanic or a plumber and describing a problem to them, and they send you some supplies to fix your fuel injectors or your pipes in your house. Sometimes it takes a trained eye to spot something else that could still be related.

The oxygen certainly helps, but remember that cells in our body start dying when oxygen can't get to them. I will presume that the O2 you were breathing was at 1ATM. Also remember that the N2 was at an increased pressure, something more than 1ATM. As we know, time will allow the pressure outside and inside to equalize. But some areas take longer to equalize, and some take shorter. While the pain in your joints and the rash on the surface are gone, there may be some other areas that aren't visible to you that could benefit from the increased pressure of hyperbaric treatments.


I'm not saying that there is, but that's just the way that I look at it. I would play it very conservative myself.

Hope this helps, and good luck.


Randy Cain

 

[Mako Mark]

Stijn, are you sure there is no Hyperbaric unit in Denpasar??? I know that there used to be when I lived in Bali. What happened to it??

 

[Stijn]

Thanks for the advice

Yes, there is a chamber in Bali, maybe I didn't write enough clear but I am 2,5 hrs away from bali. For the moment I am staying in Sulawesi.

 

[opiniongirl]

Considering the less-than-lovely side effects that could affect you if you take a chance and are wrong....

Personally, I would follow DAN's advice to the letter - even if they are being more conservative - if it happened to you, it could happen to you, right?

 

[DandyDon]

Maybe DAN is conservative because they want you to be able to walk off of the plane, rather than be carried...? :aeh:

:help_2: I'd be interested to hear how you got bent, exactly. If you put that in Accidents, it could be helpful to others. Indeed, when I posted my screwup in the sub forum there, it was helpful to me. Go here: http://scubaboard.com/f286-accidents-and-incidents.html

Diving that far from a chamber, one really wants to be extra careful. Maybe you were, but we'd like to learn.

 

[Stijn]

Thanks for all the advise.

Eventually I didn't take the flight to the recompression chamber. I stayed 8 days out of the water and started step by step diving again. Now I am back on my full schedule; 3 dives a day, although more conservative then last time.

If the logistics to go to a chamber would have been easier, I would have gone. But Me, and my fellow Instructors did not think this was necesary.

So, back in business

 

[pasley]

YES you should go.

IMHO you should not dive until DAN says OK. The ahve the research and the training and are IMHO the experts on the subject. Normally they recommend 30 days of no diving after all symtpoms disappear. I once listened to a nyperbaric doctor after my first chamber ride and he said 7 days when DAN said 30. So on the agreed upon day 7 I went diving. Day 8 and 9 were yet another Chamber ride. Then I stayed out the recommended 30 days and have not been back in 2 years.

 

[BigJetDriver]

I went diving. Day 8 and 9 were yet another Chamber ride. Then I stayed out the recommended 30 days and have not been back in 2 years.

Melvin,

The Catalina chamber folks have a story they tell, probably apocryphal, about a guy they were treating a while back. He was unconscious, so they looked in his logbook to get some idea of his dive profiles. In it they found a note about another dive he was on. It said: "Went diving with _____. Went really deep. Woke up in the chamber. The people there were really nice to me. It was a great dive!" :11: