Long term effects of the bends

[loveSSI]

I'm new to diving, no expert by any means. But if you were feeling "narced" at 140 feet why would you go further down after your instructor who was faster and swam down? How is that going to help? You should have just made an ascent, no?

JJTNJ-sometimes there is just that button in your head that gets stuck that says "stay with your budy! stay with your buddy!" and no matter how hard you try, it wont get unstuck. i would have done the same, but there is a limit to how far i would go to ask what is going on. the rescue diver class teaches you that you can only help your buddy if you can help yourself. if it gets to a point where i am in danger, how can i help my buddy?

back to our orginal topic, if someone gets bent and has the classic signs of the bends (pain n joins and rashes and achy feeling and such) isnt the ONLY cure O2 and a trip to the decompression chamber? unless you went diving again and artificially compress yourself (which i would NOT suggest) how do you get (for lack of a better term) unbent? if the N2 came out of solution and is now bubbles, how does your body vent it out.

 

[RJP]

This was actually after completing my idc, I was on a dive with my course directors wife who was a master instructor, it was a just a fun dive, I knew the site well it was a down a nice gentle slope we used for training sites off nearby sipadan off the coast of boreno, the coral pretty much became non existent around 90-100 feet, looking back I dont remember if we had a formal dive plan, we were both experienced and familar with the site,diving around sipadan I was familar with going down to deep depths, never beyond the limit though and had a brief feeling of what it was like to be narced, during training we had gone to 135 feet, we were cruising around 90 feet when she signaled down and took off, she was quite a bit faster than me, at around 140 feet starting to get narced it was either follow or surprised and disoriented in the depths and not quite sure of a compass heading to take back up the slope, mistakes were made, lets say things wound up on less than ideal terms with my cd afterwards, previously we had done deep dive beyond deco limits, it was planned, and nothing went wrong but still unwise, the dive with his wif was reckless, eventually I did report them to PADI but nothing was really done, thank you for the information

A dive to 200ft with no plan at all? And this after passing the IDC?

Did you report YOURSELF to PADI?

 

[MMM]

This has got to be a troll...

 

[I Dive]

This was actually after completing my idc, I was on a dive with my course directors wife who was a master instructor, it was a just a fun dive, I knew the site well it was a down a nice gentle slope we used for training sites off nearby sipadan off the coast of boreno, the coral pretty much became non existent around 90-100 feet, looking back I dont remember if we had a formal dive plan, we were both experienced and familar with the site,diving around sipadan I was familar with going down to deep depths, never beyond the limit though and had a brief feeling of what it was like to be narced, during training we had gone to 135 feet, we were cruising around 90 feet when she signaled down and took off, she was quite a bit faster than me, at around 140 feet starting to get narced it was either follow or surprised and disoriented in the depths and not quite sure of a compass heading to take back up the slope, mistakes were made, lets say things wound up on less than ideal terms with my cd afterwards, previously we had done deep dive beyond deco limits, it was planned, and nothing went wrong but still unwise, the dive with his wif was reckless, eventually I did report them to PADI but nothing was really done, thank you for the information

Please provide your full name, location, and certifying agency so I can make sure nobody I care about takes a course (or even dives) with you.

 

[marinediva]

Would suggest you go to the Dr DEco forum and read some of the threads.
I asked a similar question there myself recently, as I have had a number of bone breaks in the past two years. My history also shows DCS type 1 twice in a 30 month period with 1500 dives.
Bone density is something that concerns me as I am a middle aged woman heading towards menopause. Your profile does not suggest your gender nor age.

 

[BuoyantC]

A troll? Hmmm, 100-199 logged dives listed and this happened several years ago during IDC? At best an inexperienced Instructor, at worst.............!

 

[Crowley]

I think the level of abuse directed at somebody who yes - may well be an inexperienced instructor - but is asking for honest advice about something they are potentially worried about is shameful. Absolutely shameful. Abuse from professional Dive Instructors and Divemasters who should have been taught better - by their parents.

To agodwyn: If you've managed to read this far, thankfully we have a medical voice of reason in here from TSandM - there are potential future problems associated with the bends but it's unlikely given your circumstances. People here are criticising your lack of dive plan, but here is a new instructor putting their faith in somebody who - even on paper - is more experienced than them. And if your dive buddy disappears off at pace - do you follow them? float around in the blue for a bit? Turn around and go back to the entry point - meaning we now have two solo divers (one, in the OP's case, at depth) who each have no idea as to where the other is? Potential problems are multiplying exponentially, and the more experienced instructor should have know better.

Yes, agodwyn, perhaps you also should have known better, or perhaps you should have tried to make contact sooner and refused to continue the dive - even faked an equalisation problem or something - but I do understand why you followed. Perhaps you couldn't catch her - or even didn't feel it was your place to question their judgment, but hopefully we learn from our experiences, move on, and do it differently next time.

I hope that helps agodwyn,

Cheers,

C.

 

[Crowley]

back to our orginal topic, if someone gets bent and has the classic signs of the bends (pain n joins and rashes and achy feeling and such) isnt the ONLY cure O2 and a trip to the decompression chamber? unless you went diving again and artificially compress yourself (which i would NOT suggest) how do you get (for lack of a better term) unbent? if the N2 came out of solution and is now bubbles, how does your body vent it out.

To answer this question, although I appreciate it's off topic: It depends on the size of the bubbles, basically. One of the major concerns with decompression sicknes is bubbles getting lodged in places they shouldn't be - such as the brain. The blood in your veins - ie returning from nitrogen saturated tissues to the lungs - contains bubbles anyway after a dive. These tiny bubbles may pass safely through the circulatory system where they will eventually be returned to the lungs and vented naturally.

In "mild" bends, bubble formation may cause aches and pains and whatever but they will eventually dissipate over time, if uncomfortably. Major problems occur when bubbles get stuck somewhere, depriving tissues of oxygen. This can cause more serious problems over time, the effects of which may not be reversible - once a tissue is starved of oxygen it starts to die off rapidly.

In these cases, recompression is definitely required, to return the bubbles to solution so the gas can be transported back to the lungs and exhaled.

O2 speeds the whole process up by reducing the pressure gradient between the gas that's in solution in your blood and the gas that's in your lungs, hence helping to elimiate the nitrogen faster.

That's a pretty basic overview but also leads to the fact that there may be other long term affects from the bends;

TSandM I could probably use your help here!

Cheers,

C.

 

[jugglematt]

thanks for bringing the subject a bit of sanity crowley

yes the diver who started this thread made a number of mistakes (as have i ) he could have been badly hurt , luckily he is still with us and hopefully able to learn from the experience . are people going to say they dont make mistakes , shure we all have dumb days and its easy to sit at home and criticize others for doing dumb things .

i like the fact that he is willing to ask questions and hopefully learn from the experience .

hopefully dont do dumb things too much and kill yourself .

if my buddy was heading off to 200ft i would wave him good by and watch his bubbles from a shallower part of the wall , i think your in more danger following some one else to a scarey depth than doing a solo dive at a shallower depth and meeting up later on in the dive .

the more i dive the more i gain confidence in my own judgment , if im not happy i wont go there , ill abort a dive if it don't feel right , and ill turn my boat around if im not happy with the sea conditions.

i suggest learn to listen to that voice in the back of your head saying Oh Bugger this is Dangerous i should not be here ,

Matt