Fair enough - point made, point taken - slang being what it is, he didn't get "hit" either....
"unexplained" may be a bit imprecise as well - if there always is a reason, there always is an explaination.....
I got bent without reason
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Fair enough - point made, point taken - slang being what it is, he didn't get "hit" either....
"unexplained" may be a bit imprecise as well - if there always is a reason, there always is an explaination.....
AfterDark
Contributor
I am 24 years old I am not going to say I am in great shap but I am in pretty good shape. I was diving a Sunto vyper air computer which I think and have also been told is a very conservative computer. I didn't change anything from normal I actually dive quite often around 4 times a month normally I do 3 dives a day and not just two. I also always clean the gear and boat after I get done I am pretty picky about cleaning my boat so I do it my self. I will say that it may be lack of water. I usally buy two of the big aquifina I think is how you spell it bottled waters and a couple of gatorades before I go out and drink them. I did drink on saturday but I now that I think about if I only drank one gatorade and one whole bottle of water on sunday. Which is a little less then normal. My question which is maybe a stupid one. Can wearing a thicker wetsuit make a difference. I honestly don't know I know that nitrogen exits your body and I am assuming through your skin. I wore a hooded vest a 3 mil and a 1.5 mil on sunday which is more then I have ever wear. I didn't really kill my self fishing had a catfish catch and a bonita but nothing crazy by any means. Hmmm you guys do bring up some good points I am going to look in to that heart thing. I also still have a little fluid on my knee I hope it goes down cause my wife said it is super painfull to have it drained. Thanks for the comments Oh and I will post and update on the insurance I actually have three insurances including dan so we will see. I am a prior enlisted air force guy hince my screen name and I am now civil service so I have decent insurance through the goverment. But I am super curious what this whole issue is going to cost cause I really have no clue.
I'm glad you got relief in the recompression chamber and I hope you make a full recovery. The most common symptom of DCS is denial.
While you didn't go past the limits of your computer, it sounds like you could have been more conservative. You didn't mention your bottom times, so we don't know if you were pushinmg it there.
I recommend multiple stops on ascent. I also rarely make a 3 minute stop at 15 feet. My 15 ft stop is almost always at least 5 minutes, sometimes closer to 15. My 30 ft stop is usually my 3 minute stop. Deeper stops are usually 1 minute. As already mentioned, drinking lots of water is an excellent idea as is avoiding exercise.
Having said that, there are two ways to guarantee you'll never get bent.
1. Don't dive.
2. If you do dive, don't come up.
Nitrogen exits when you exhale, not through your skin.
While you didn't go past the limits of your computer, it sounds like you could have been more conservative. You didn't mention your bottom times, so we don't know if you were pushinmg it there.
I recommend multiple stops on ascent. I also rarely make a 3 minute stop at 15 feet. My 15 ft stop is almost always at least 5 minutes, sometimes closer to 15. My 30 ft stop is usually my 3 minute stop. Deeper stops are usually 1 minute. As already mentioned, drinking lots of water is an excellent idea as is avoiding exercise.
Having said that, there are two ways to guarantee you'll never get bent.
1. Don't dive.
2. If you do dive, don't come up.
Nitrogen exits when you exhale, not through your skin.
The DAN insurance should pick up whatever charges your primary insurance does not so hopefully it won't cost YOU anything. 
As others have mentioned a couple of the things that can but considered suspect for an unexplained hit- dehydration, heavy muscle use within a few hours of a dive (before or after).
An older injury at the same location could make it easier to bend as well.
The DAN website is an excellent starting point to read up on dcs and dive medicine in general- Divers Alert Network : DAN Medical Center : Medical Articles, take a look at some of the articles there.
There is also a wealth of information in the dive medicine and ask dr. deco forums here.
If you want some good reading material for your down time I'd recommend Mark Powell's "Deco for Divers" book.
Nitrogen isn't off-gasssed from your system through the skin- it passes back through your bloodstream to the lungs where you simply exhale it. If there is too much nitrogen too pass out that way then you can get bubbles forming in the joints or other tissues as you experienced- DCS. (Please excuse the gross over simplification here)
Your circulation significantly effects the off-gassing, if your suit was very tight around the knee that could lower circulation and cause a problem as well.
Or, it could be a whole bunch of factors in combination.
One of the things the hyperbaric doc will normally do is have you follow up with your regular doc to see if there might be any underlying medical issues that could have contributed to the incident- if they don't you should do that on your own.
As others have mentioned a couple of the things that can but considered suspect for an unexplained hit- dehydration, heavy muscle use within a few hours of a dive (before or after).
An older injury at the same location could make it easier to bend as well.
The DAN website is an excellent starting point to read up on dcs and dive medicine in general- Divers Alert Network : DAN Medical Center : Medical Articles, take a look at some of the articles there.
There is also a wealth of information in the dive medicine and ask dr. deco forums here.
If you want some good reading material for your down time I'd recommend Mark Powell's "Deco for Divers" book.
Nitrogen isn't off-gasssed from your system through the skin- it passes back through your bloodstream to the lungs where you simply exhale it. If there is too much nitrogen too pass out that way then you can get bubbles forming in the joints or other tissues as you experienced- DCS. (Please excuse the gross over simplification here)
Your circulation significantly effects the off-gassing, if your suit was very tight around the knee that could lower circulation and cause a problem as well.
Or, it could be a whole bunch of factors in combination.
One of the things the hyperbaric doc will normally do is have you follow up with your regular doc to see if there might be any underlying medical issues that could have contributed to the incident- if they don't you should do that on your own.
I was 34 minutes on my first dive and 36 on my second if that helps. Of course I wasn't at depth the whole time. I guess those safety stops are a good idea. It seems that I have heard of those safety stops coming from a navy dive table? I would also ask the question that if you are doing all those safety stops are you diving on a AL80? Cause you must not get hardly any bottom time or you suck air like an ant cause if I was to take that long of safety stops I would never get to the bottom. That would break down to be 18 mins of safety and of course a few minutes to get down. Which in turn would leave around 10 mins of diving on a 73-75ft dive? at 100ft you wouldn't get any bottom time. I am curious as to your setup if you are dropping a bottle are diving doubles? I guess that is what throws me so much about my situation. I have done alot of 100ft dives spearfishing and never had any problems. I hate to even say this but I have even had some almost oh **** moments. But I guess that is what threw me so much on this outing is that I was actually doing a little floundering and lobstering. Which compared to how I normally dive is like hanging out at the beach. I am going to check in to that heart thing alot of people have said something about that. I also think that water issue may have played in to it not that I didn't drink I just didn't drink quite as much as usally do. It is the holidays so I can use a break maybe I can do some hunting and spend quality time with my two children. Thanks everyone for your input.
Scott L
Contributor
As I stated before I am hardly qualified to offer much on this subject but if the DCS event could posibly been caused by the condition you would think it would deserve some mention from DAN along with a recomendation of a nearby qualified physician to consult. Perhaps the OP can phone DAN back with an inquiry...
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