I must have chronic DCS

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As I've been getting older, I make a list of symptoms I have before I get in the water. It helps sort things out when I get out of the water.



Bob
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I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

My problem is by the time I have finished the list it is too late in the day to dive.
 
As I've been getting older, I make a list of symptoms I have before I get in the water. It helps sort things out when I get out of the water…

Isn’t that in the US Navy Diving manual? I think it is under “Diagnosis, Geezer Compensation”. :wink:

I have adopted it for getting out of bed each morning.
 
Just surfin the web, I found this, at least some of these symptoms you can have in daily or weekly basis, so what is what, even if you dive you can have some of these symptoms after the dive and likely have nothing to do with the dive

Ruh-roh . . .




:fear:



:crying2:
 
I have been fairly sure the handful of times that I've had pain after a dive that seemed type I DCS-like: it occurred in my shoulders/upper arms each time; each time was some level of deep, throbbing bone pain that intensified if I coughed; and each time the pain varied in response to pressure changes, whether that was ascending during a long hike/drive up a mountain or shaking my head in annoyance and rolling back off the boat with a tank of 80% to go hang at 30' until I felt better. It was also always after a dive past 200' with more than an hour of deco, while using VPM...but that's another thread.

Anything unlike/less painful than that, and I chalk it up to the gym. Anything weirder/more painful than that, and I'm calling DAN.
 
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DCS typeBubble locationSigns & symptoms (clinical manifestations)
MusculoskeletalMostly large joints (elbows, shoulders, hip, wrists, knees, ankles)
  • Localized deep pain, ranging from mild to excruciating. Sometimes a dull ache, but rarely a sharp pain.
  • Active and passive motion of the joint aggravates the pain.
  • The pain may be reduced by bending the joint to find a more comfortable position.
  • If caused by altitude, pain can occur immediately or up to many hours later.

CutaneousSkin
  • Itching, usually around the ears, face, neck, arms, and upper torso
  • Sensation of tiny insects crawling over the skin (formication)
  • Mottled or marbled skin usually around the shoulders, upper chest and abdomen, with itching
  • Swelling of the skin, accompanied by tiny scar-like skin depressions (pitting edema)

NeurologicBrain
  • Altered sensation, tingling or numbness paresthesia, increased sensitivity hyperesthesia
  • Confusion or memory loss (amnesia)
  • Visual abnormalities
  • Unexplained mood or behaviour changes
  • Seizures, unconsciousness

NeurologicSpinal cord

ConstitutionalWhole body
  • Headache
  • Unexplained fatigue
  • Generalised malaise, poorly localised aches

AudiovestibularInner ear [10][a]

PulmonaryLungs


---------- Post added January 29th, 2015 at 07:05 AM ----------

Just surfin the web, I found this, at least some of these symptoms you can have in daily or weekly basis, so what is what, even if you dive you can have some of these symptoms after the dive and likely have nothing to do with the dive


I think you are a hypochondriac. Those symptoms could be anything from AIDs to Limes Disease. N
 
Made two trips to a chamber. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind I was bent. When a major neuro hit happens, you won't need to ask someone if you need to get to a chamber fast. Trust me, you will know.


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I had a Transverse Mylenitis once that caused most of my body to go numb. I had been out of the water for 2 months so there was no way it was DCS.
However, had I been out diving the day before I had symptoms I for sure would have been in the chamber, and probably told that I should never dive again since chamber rides (however many) would have not have had any effect.
 
I've got chronic cervical radiculopathy, so if the pain & numbness right arm post-dive goes away with neck forward flexion, then I know it's not type II DCS. But if the pain is either arm musculo-skeletal/joint sharp & impulsive and getting unbearably worse into the Surface Interval, then I know it's type I and I'm prepping for an IWR treatment, weather & sea state permitting. . . (nothing yet on this current Truk trip with a week more to go with two total so far).
 
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In a recent thread, a bunch of folks reported that they were experimenting with a $100 portable Doppler bubble meter... it sounds intriguing, and if someone pushes limits and truly wants to be able to tell whether the symptoms are of concerns, maybe it could be a useful additional signal to consider... I am very curious, myself, to know whether it actually works.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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