Is Light DCS Possible with Very Shallow Dives?

[starelf]

My girl friend and I had my OW course on March in Philippines, with similar diving practices. I felt nothing but my girl friend felt ichy after one day. After we get back to Shanghai, she booked a doctor appointment and doctors said it was very slightly allergy to plankton, which had no impact on future divings.

I do not know whether you are the same case but hope the experiences can be helpful to you.

 

[Tigerman]

Come to think of it, it could actually also be small pieces of firecoral or jellyfish drifting in the currents that make you itch. Ive had it happen once after some bad weather in the caribbean..

 

[261311]

Thanks for all the responses! It's great to know there is such an active community in case I need to have a less dumb question answered one day

The only dumb question is the one that goes unasked my friend.

 

[freewillie]

I disagree, not the same thing.

skin bends is generally not life threatening and could be considered light DCS. On the other hand a diver could be extremely bent and be dead before they hit the surface.

You are confusing severity with the illness. Having DCS is a concern even if the event is not life threatening, it is still the same disease process as the more severe fatal conditions.

The reason I like to use pregnancy as the example is that there are different degrees of showing with 1 month pregnant no visible bulging of the abdomen and 9 months where everyone knows you are pregnant. Either way you are still pregnant. The same for DCS, "light" is still the same process as "fatal" just the severity differs.

 

[Tigerman]

The "severity" of pregnancy however DON'T differ wether you're 4 months or 8 months on the way - youre still either pregnant or you're not and the result WILL be a child (unless something tragic happens). With DCS the severity does differ wildly and it's even classified in different types. While you are either bent or you're not, the result IS entirely dependant on how severely..

 

[iamjblevine]

Possible explanation for the sore wrist you described...
I had soreness in my hands and wrists the first few times I dove. Took me a while to figure out if was from gripping the two piece 7mm wetsuit and pulling it on before diving on consecutive saturdays and sundays. The old hands of this desk monkey weren't used to real work. I'm guessing if I were a framing carpenter having to grip a hammer 8 hours a day it never would have happened. Now that I've put the wet suit on a few dozen times it takes 1/3 as long and I don't get the hand soreness.

 

[freewillie]

The "severity" of pregnancy however DON'T differ wether you're 4 months or 8 months on the way - youre still either pregnant or you're not and the result WILL be a child (unless something tragic happens). With DCS the severity does differ wildly and it's even classified in different types. While you are either bent or you're not, the result IS entirely dependant on how severely..

Severity is a more severe expression of the same disease process. To use a different disease analogy, wether or not you have a "mild" heart attack or a "fatal" heart attack you had a heart attack. Heart attacks are also classified into different types and will present with various degrees of "severity" but in ANY heart attack the disease process is the same.

For DCS, the underlying event is nitrogen loading and subsequent gas bubble formation within a blood vessel. Which blood vessel determines and the size of the bubble determines if it is a "mild" case or a more severe "fatal" case. Either way, the fact you had a profile that resulted in DCS is a concern even if it was a "light" case. The terminology of "light" or "mild" is misleading in medical terms since it tends to mitigate what is a potentially serious if not light threatening event. If you are lucky enough to have a "light" heart attack please thank your lucky stars and guardian angel since if the same disease process took place in a different artery you would be unlucky having a "serious" if not fatal heart attack.

 

[KD8NPB]

DCS typically shows up within 3 hours after a dive. Less than 1% of treated patients note symptoms showing up after 3 hours.