In-water DCI symptoms !

[davew.2000]

Is anyone aware of in-water DCI symptoms ?.

Ascending from a 75M trimix dive I suffered pins and needles in hands and feet and several hot flushes throughout the ascent. When symptoms manifested I descended approx 5M, which cleared the symptoms, and waited 2 minutes before ascending to next deco stop. In total I did 40 minutes extra deco. Although no symptons were present on surfacing oxygen was administered and I was flown to a chamber to be checked over. No recompression or any treatment was required. The dive had gone well, the ascent managed properly, I began hydrating 2 days before the dive, everything appeared to be correct. The general diagnosis was that it just wasn't my day.

Four weeks later after a couple of test dives I did an air dive to 50M. On ascent suffered 2 hot flushes, again did extra deco and exited the water with no symptoms and no further treatment.

I have an appointment to see the doctor at the hyperbaric facility next week to discuss the case and possible causes.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice ?

Any suggestion would be most greatfully appreciated.

Dave W.

 

[Northeastwrecks]

Certainly it is possible to get bent while still on the dive.

How aggressive are your profiles? Should you be including additional stops in the plan?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

davew.2000 once bubbled...
Ascending from a 75M trimix dive I suffered pins and needles in hands and feet and several hot flushes throughout the ascent./B]

I dive to depths aof about 150 ft weekly and the bottom temp is in the low to mid 40's. On rare occasions, I will feel a pins and needles sensation in my ankles but this seems to be located in the area of my legs below the seal in my semi-dry. It makes me nervous every time but it has more to do with the area rewarming and circulation returning to the capillaries in the skin. Gven the circulation issue and the implications for increased risk of DCS, I get very conservative on stop times and depths and usually remain in the water until the sensation passes.

It si important to note how you feel at the end of the dive so that over time you can distinguish the normal aches and pains of a strenous dive or the effects of cold water from a significantly different symptom that could indicate DCS.

Without being in tune with how you feel normally the psychological results can be much like the automatic rough that occurs on an overwater flight in a ingle engine aircraft. The little sounds that are always there in flight seem to magnify and signify an impending engine failure. If you worry about getting bent a lot, you run the risk of perceiving normal aches, pains, etc as possible symptoms of DCS.

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear dave w:

Generally, divers do not report problems while in the water. Divers in a decompression chamber do, however, experience problems during the decompression phase. I suspect that loading on the legs, and subsequent nucleation is the reason. In-water decompression usually yields its problems after the diver reaches the surface.

I suspect that you have something different from DCS. As DA suggested, it is good to examine how you feel. Many divers report feeling fatigued, etc when the decompression has been abbreviated too much.

Dr Deco :doctor:

Please note the next class in Decompression Physiology :grad:
http://wrigley.usc.edu/hyperbaric/advdeco.htm

 

[davew.2000]

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply.

With the question of temperature both dives had a minimum temperature of 6 degrees C, which for the UK is normal and obviously we dress accordingly so I don't believe this is the root cause of the problem. For background info, I've dives for 22 years and am now aged 34. I've completed approximately 1700 dives and the 2 dives mentioned are the only dives where I’ve experienced any problems.

Prior to the trimix dive in June 7 of my previous 10 dives were excess of 40M with dive times up to 60 minutes total.

Both dives where the problems occurred were at an inland site which I’m very familiar and comfortable with. Both dives ere with my regular buddy of 8 years or so and both dives were comfortable and relaxed throughout.

Our deco profiles were cut on proplanner with a safety margin set at 20%. The 75M dive profile was very much a V shape as the shot we descended went to 50M and we then worked our way down a slope to our greatest depth, then returned up the slope to the same shot to deco and return to surface.

I have considered the probability that this is not straightforward DCI and possibly the product of a circulatory problem or possibly lung damage, but until I've seen the Doc at the chamber next week I'm in the dark.

I exercise regularly, at least 3 times per week varying between squash, the gym, and swimming, with the core of my exercise being cycling generally 100 miles per week in the summer. I haven't seen any deteriation in performance in my other activities which contradicts the circulation or lung damage thoughts.

If anyone has any other suggestions please let me know.

Thanks,

Dave W

 

[Saturation]

davew.2000 once bubbled... Is anyone aware of in-water DCI symptoms ?.

Ascending from a 75M trimix dive I suffered pins and needles in hands and feet and several hot flushes throughout the ascent. When symptoms manifested I descended approx 5M, which cleared the symptoms, and waited 2 minutes before ascending to next deco stop. In total I did 40 minutes extra deco. ...
Four weeks later after a couple of test dives I did an air dive to 50M. On ascent suffered 2 hot flushes, again did extra deco and exited the water with no symptoms and no further treatment.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice ?

Any suggestion would be most greatfully appreciated.

Dave W.

At issue here is whether these flushes and pins-needles are coming from bubbles. The ascent phase is when the "fast tissues" off-gas, and symptoms could also be due to ascent rates causing bubbling. However, these symptoms are paresthesias and since they occur in such varying locations, face, hands, and feet, such a distribution can occur worse case due to bubbles as forms of cerebral gas emboli. If not de novo, it would be a PFO. The small bubbling normally lung filtered and later offgassed during deco could then be passing through the PFO, and into the brain. Possibly, these body parts are often those areas shut down early when the body is cold and could reduce circulation herein transiently, and thus could offgas erratically during deco.

Do you get these symptoms on backgas?

Is your ascent between 30-10 fpm to the stops?

Were you cold during the dives? Even if you're used to 6C water, a lot depends on how you felt during the dives per se.

Do you get these symptoms on non-deco dives? If not, then it suggests the symptoms are clearly deco related ... considering your extensive dive history.