boulderjohn:
I have done this a few times myself, and I instruct my students to hold the reg in their mouths by the hose to ensure the reg does not get spit out. Never purg your reg while being sick underwater....
Ron
local Cozumel diver death April 2006
- Thread starter maggs_the
- Start date
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I have done this a few times myself, and I instruct my students to hold the reg in their mouths by the hose to ensure the reg does not get spit out. Never purg your reg while being sick underwater....
Ron
I would like to return this to the serious tone of the original post. Although I realize that the original post was later corrected to indicate that the poster had been misinformed, I do want to comment on a common logical fallacy that can be in effect in cases like this.
We hear that a diver died from vomiting in the regulator. We know from the other posts that this is almost certainly impossible. So how does that rumor get started?
There are many very serious physical amilments, some of them fatal, that can include vomiting as a symptom. A diver can be have a fatal medical emergency underwater, like a heart attack. The diver could vomit during that heart attack.
A person who was not knowledgeable could see a dead diver with vomit in the regulator and draw a false assumption that the vomiting caused the death.
This is one of the most common fallacies in the world--Post hoc ergo propter hoc. [Because something came after something else, whatever came first must have caused it.] We see something happen (diver vomits) and then something else happens (diver dies), and we assume that whatever came first caused whatever came second. In reality, they can be unrelated events or (in this case) they could both be results of a different, less obvious cause.
We hear that a diver died from vomiting in the regulator. We know from the other posts that this is almost certainly impossible. So how does that rumor get started?
There are many very serious physical amilments, some of them fatal, that can include vomiting as a symptom. A diver can be have a fatal medical emergency underwater, like a heart attack. The diver could vomit during that heart attack.
A person who was not knowledgeable could see a dead diver with vomit in the regulator and draw a false assumption that the vomiting caused the death.
This is one of the most common fallacies in the world--Post hoc ergo propter hoc. [Because something came after something else, whatever came first must have caused it.] We see something happen (diver vomits) and then something else happens (diver dies), and we assume that whatever came first caused whatever came second. In reality, they can be unrelated events or (in this case) they could both be results of a different, less obvious cause.
cinder4320
Contributor
Don't worry too much about the logistics of vomitting. If the time comes you'll do it just fine. I'm a pro! No need to worry, just keep the reg. in. I never even purge or switch to my alternate. No need.
Miranda
Miranda
On my open water dive, I had bad seasick and had to vomit underwater. As I had been told, I tried to vomit through regulator, but I found it stuck. I don't know how, I couldn't do it (but I had to), so I took the reg out and vomitted freely, then replace the reg again after I purged it. I was lucky I guess because the training was still fresh in my mind to purge the reg, it was my first dive! It was a beaten rental reg, so I don't know whether it's the problem. But I automatically keep in my mind to vomit without reg in case I need to.
I was on boat going to a dive site last month. One of the divers on the boat got sick and was not looking good. He went diving anyway. My girlfriend and I went diving as well and we went our way. Towards the end of the dive we ended up very near the rest of the group when I notice everyone was looking at one of the divers. It appeared that he was trying to feed the fish which I always think is a stupid thing to do. However upon a closer look he was vomiting. He gave the OK signal stating that he was okay. We were at 10m and the deepest that anyone can go in the area is about 13 meters so if there was any trouble the ascent would not be long. Anyway....a picture is worth a thousand words. Look at the guy vomiting in is Reg. Yeah I took a picture....I couldnt help myself.
opalobsidian
Contributor
Oh my GOD! I should make that my screen saver!
shellbackdiver1:
This illustrates a danger related to diving that has not been mentioned here. OK, the guy felt sick before the dive. Why? Probably seasick. Probably--it could be something else, too. If seasick, no harm done in diving. If something else....
I was once diving with a guy who suddenly felt sick. It was much harder to diagnose, though, because we could be sure it wasn't seasickness. He was in a swimming pool doing his confined water training. I got him to the rest room in time, and helped him as he went through a series of signs and symptoms that, yes, included vomiting. What could the cause have been?
After a lot of evaluation, we decided that he probably had some kind of illness unrelated to diving. His wife was also in the class, and to be safe, she took him to the hospital. Whatever it was that was wrong with him, it was clearly contagious, for I went through it all a few days later.
When we encounter signs and symptoms of a medical problem while on a dive trip, we have to make our own medical diagnosis without any expert supervision. Often we decide it is nothing serious and go ahead with the dive. Usually we are right. Somethimes we are wrong. If we discover we were wrong at 90 feet, well, that could be a problem.
The real scoop on the drowned swimmer as I know it to be:
A local man was swimming off "Caletita" with his family. This is the local swimming/beach area just north of Villa Blanca and immediately south of Hotel Cozumel. A Dive Paradise boat was waved over because his family could not find him. The DP divmaster searched the immediate area, and located him at the bottom in about 20 feet of water, already gone. He was brought back to the boat and taken to the closest pier which was Hotel Cozumel. CPR was attempted and an ambulance was called.
The victim He was a middle aged average sized man. His actual cause of death is not known...heart attack, stroke, or something else leading to the drowning.
Maggs and oilman does this sound closer to your recollection of what happened?
A local man was swimming off "Caletita" with his family. This is the local swimming/beach area just north of Villa Blanca and immediately south of Hotel Cozumel. A Dive Paradise boat was waved over because his family could not find him. The DP divmaster searched the immediate area, and located him at the bottom in about 20 feet of water, already gone. He was brought back to the boat and taken to the closest pier which was Hotel Cozumel. CPR was attempted and an ambulance was called.
The victim He was a middle aged average sized man. His actual cause of death is not known...heart attack, stroke, or something else leading to the drowning.
Maggs and oilman does this sound closer to your recollection of what happened?
OP
maggs_the
Contributor
Christi:
yes
before the stories got "way out there", this sounds MUCH more logical
still awful sad
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