New To Diving (Oxygen Question for experienced divers!)

[JoeDive1234]

Just bought some second hand gear and about to do my courses on SDA.
I am wanting to dive in an unconventional way; for health benefits. I am trying to replicate HBOT (hyperbaric oxygen therapy) in a more cost effective way. Basically what it is, is breathing 100% oxygen in a chamber at an increased atmospheric pressure. But it is expensive. My plan is to get certified to be a nitrox diver, dive to the correct ATA with 100% oxygen (or as close to 100%) and stay stationary there. I won't be moving because I know that effects the oxygen levels in your body. So I am wondering as a non-experienced diver if this is a good or bad idea?
Thanks!

 

[Jim Lapenta]

What is SDA?
Also a regular nitrox cert will not get you 100% fills. Max is 40%. Hyperbaric O2 therapy is done to infuse the whole body with O2. Inside and out. Why are you trying to replicate it?

 

[USMC CPL.]

If memory serves me correctly 100% o2 mod is 6 meters less than one ata.

 

[JoeDive1234]

What is SDA?
Also a regular nitrox cert will not get you 100% fills. Max is 40%. Hyperbaric O2 therapy is done to infuse the whole body with O2. Inside and out. Why are you trying to replicate it?

SDA is Scuba Divers of America, what certification do I need? HBOT is very expensive looking for alternative.

 

[kafkaland]

Back idea. If there is an incident in the chamber and you have a seizure from too much O2, you will survive. Underwater, you'll drown. Also, for reasons that are still unknown, the body appears to tolerate higher O2 exposures in the chamber than underwater.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

SDA is a scam site. There have been numerous threads on this. The physical address was a vacant lot in Las Vegas. The training is not recognized by any agency. You are supposed to go to a physical shop and actually analyze a couple tanks of nitrox with an instructor after completing online training with other agencies. None of them are permitted to accept this training.
What you need for 100% O2 fills is a technical diving cert called advanced nitrox that usually comes after a fair amount of experience as a diver and pretty rigorous, if done right, training and around 100 dives.
I'm guessing you are not a diver yet.
If you are I'd have a frank talk with your instructor about your training to this point.

 

[speedhound]

You're taking chances with a likely oxygen toxicity hit..won't kill you by itself but the consequent seizures will cause you to lose your regs...then you drown...albeit saturated with O2. Not a good idea for any diver.

 

[tbone1004]

this is dicey as mentioned above.
The least unsafe way to do this is to get a nitrox diver cert, then get advanced nitrox only, *I think @uncfnp did something like that for a medical reason*,
then get and learn how to use a full face mask so when you give yourself an O2 seizure, you are less likely to drown $1k. At the same time, get a gas switch block $300, and an extra tank so you can take air breaks like you do in the chamber. Then make sure you have a support diver so when you seize, they can call 911.

The "best" course for this would be IANTD's In Water Recompression Supervisor course.
To get there, you need Basic Nitrox diver, deep diver, CPR/O2 administration, rescue diver, advanced nitrox, and 100 logged dives.

So minimum of $2k in gear *if you get good used gear*, and probably double that in courses *course fees, certification, travel, lodging etc etc* and probably a year to get there, so how far does $6k get you in HBOT?

I do not recommend going this route to avoid HBOT fees.

 

[JoeDive1234]

Back idea. If there is an incident in the chamber and you have a seizure from too much O2, you will survive. Underwater, you'll drown. Also, for reasons that are still unknown, the body appears to tolerate higher O2 exposures in the chamber than underwater.

Why why would there be a likely oxygen toxicity hit if you follow the correct depths and oxygen levels

 

[Lorenzoid]

In addition to what tbone said about the practicalities and mechanics of it, do you know enough about HBOT that you could determine what partial pressure of oxygen and length of exposure would be effective to treat whatever medical condition it is you are trying to treat? I don't know anything about HBOT, but I would assume they have some sort of prescribed regimen, somewhat like the regimens used to treat decompression sickness. If you don't have that knowledge, experimenting with yourself as a guinea pig to discover a regimen that is safe and effective sounds like a bad idea. Of course, the whole idea sounds like a bad idea for the reasons others have mentioned.