Is there a DCI lag time?

[Heffey]

With DCS’s, how quickly do symptoms develop?

I was recently watching a diving program where after a long deep dive the diver quickly boarded the boat, scrambled out his gear and rushed into a chamber to decompress. This seemed really crazy to me. This method seems more like treating DCS than the prevention of DCS.

Is this kind of decompression used often?

I would love to know more about this.

 

[boomx5]

That's how the Navy and some commercial dive opts conduct some of their decompression. I think they have something like 5 minutes, but I could be wrong. We have some commercial divers on the board here, and I'm sure they'll be along soon enough to help out.

 

[wedivebc]

With DCI’s, how quickly do symptoms develop?

I was recently watching a diving program where after a long deep dive the diver quickly boarded the boat, scrambled out his gear and rushed into a chamber to decompress. This seemed really crazy to me. This method seems more like treating DCI than the prevention of DCI.

Is this kind of decompression used often?

I would love to know more about this.

That's why they call it "bend 'em and mend 'em"

 

[Heffey]

That's how the Navy and some commercial dive opts conduct some of their decompression. I think they have something like 5 minutes, but I could be wrong. We have some commercial divers on the board here, and I'm sure they'll be along soon enough to help out.

I wonder if that is 5 minutes before any symptoms or 5 minutes before having to be carried into the chamber.

 

[pants!]

I recall reading that symptoms generally develop between 30 minutes and 3 hours after exiting the water.

Of course, in very severe cases (2 hours of missed deco) the onset would probably be much faster.....

 

[ScubaSixString]

With DCS’s, how quickly do symptoms develop?

I was recently watching a diving program where after a long deep dive the diver quickly boarded the boat, scrambled out his gear and rushed into a chamber to decompress. This seemed really crazy to me. This method seems more like treating DCS than the prevention of DCS.

Is this kind of decompression used often?

I would love to know more about this.

30 mins to 12 hours, if i remember correctly. And yes, it was treating DCS. If he had wanted to prevent it, he would have done that underwater, via deco stops.

I suppose in theory he could have been doing a dry decompression, but thats a commerical/military thing.

Depending on the profile, its *possible* to get bent before you hit the surface. Read the Last Dive. Chris Rouse was bent before they got him up the ladder.

 

[BigJetDriver]

The practice, called "Surface Decompression" or "Sur-D O2" if O2 is used with either a hat or Bibb mask, is used by the military and by commercial divers.

Without checking my references, I would tentatively state that the time limit from surfacing to chamber is supposed to be less than five minutes, but do not quote me on that.

I do know for a fact that this is definitely a "bend 'em and mend 'em" strategy, and as such, has the highest incidence of DCS problems of any method of decompression.

But then, the military has plenty of divers to spare, and the commercial company can always buy another one! :11:

 

[BigJetDriver]

P.S.--AGE (arterial gas embolism) is a severe form of decompression sickness, and can occur within a few minutes of surfacing.

As has been pointed out above, it is possible to be in full-blown DCS without having reached the surface.

 

[cudachaser]

Brought the very question...they told me they have a one hour window to get there divers into chamber. On a normal mission they decompress the divers in Aquarius. If therre was an emergency and they had to get the divers out in a hurry...the divers would fall back to igloos positioned around Aquarius and wait the arrival of a "go fast boat" that pick rush the team to a chamber located at NOAA's shore base

Joe

 

[dgrolem]

I was told years ago by a physiologist who worked for the U.S. Navy that the Navy deco tables have a 1+% bend rate. This Surface Deco procedures was the cause of it in his opinion. When I asked why they did this, he replied that an entire ship may be in harms way "waiting" on a diver to finish in-water deco. This was militarily unacceptable. The diver is designed to take the "risk" not the entire ship.