Narcosis Managing Techniques

[Deep-Thief]

How do you work up to dealing with narcosis? Here let me put my Nomex suit on, Now that thats taken care of.

Go down to the local corner of a drug infested neighborhood and pick yourself up a bag of weed. Get yourself some rolling papers, and smoke 1/2 of a joint per day for the next month or two. That should acclimate you pretty well.

Don't worry, I know half of you are saying to yourself, Damn hes right. The other half are saying, is he serious. Yes it kinda goes along the same lines as the drunk. You do it long enough and you figure out how to deal with it. YMMV

 

[dumpsterDiver]

That is only half correct. The best way to acclimate yourself to narcosis is to practice scuba diving at safe depths while really high on reefer. You tend to get a little cold, but you can get all the buzz of 180 ft at only 30 feet and if anything goes wrong, you are just a couple of kicks to the surface.

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

The best way to acclimate yourself to narcosis is to practice scuba diving at safe depths while really high on reefer.

The data on the effects of marijuana and hyperbaric pressure make me question the above statement. Perhaps at the surface is a better option.

Walsh and Burch (1977) Reduction of the Behavioral Effects of delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol by Hyperbaric Pressure. NMRI report ADA046749 published as: Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, v7 p111-116 1977. RRR ID: 4226

BTW - True narcotics reverse with enough pressure.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

It was supposed to be a joke!!! I learned the hard way (in my teens) that weed and diving DO NOT mix! It is a long story, but my buddy ended up chasing a "tuna fish" at 110 feet in a Pennsylvania quarry. It was not good...

 

[battles2a5]

I'll agree that proper diving technique and management of END's with He is the way to go. If you are dead-set on deep air, I think PSAI is the only agency with a narcosis management regiment:

PSAI:rofessional Scuba Association International

240 on air anyone?? :O

 

[Rick Inman]

Get yourself some rolling papers, and smoke 1/2 of a joint per day for the next month or two. That should acclimate you pretty well.

I think I stayed pretty consistently loaded from 1976 to 1983, and today it's no easier for me to "maintain dude!" at depth.

Might make the after-dive cheeseburger taste better, though.

 

[FritzCat66]

I still say the effects of a little nitrous oxide better simulates the narcosis effect. Maybe because it's also nitrogen-based?

Dunno, but the training agencies should really have the students do a few whippets as part of Deep Dive training. It's very short-lasting (i.e. goes away as fast as it comes on, also very similar to narcosis), anyone who has ever had it at the dentist's office also knows the sensation. But if you've never ever felt anything like that before, I seriously think a hit of nitrous while safe on land is the best "narcosis simulator" there is.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Exactly. I've been narced at depth a few times, and the one time I received nitrous oxide at the dentist office was the exact feeling. I was fully aware of the things going on in the office, but found myself having to think hard before answering questions. My dentist is also a diver and she told me she hadn't been narced. I told her to try some of her own gas. The only difference is that the effects of the nitrous took more than an hour to go away.

 

[Blackwood]

For nitrogen narcosis you can either ascend as needed until you feel better or add helium to your mix.

You have a portable underwater trimix fill station? SWEET!

 

[Rick Inman]

You have a portable underwater trimix fill station? SWEET!

It's called a rebreather.