Nitrogen Narcosis and Nitrox

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Packhorse

Contributor
Messages
1,779
Reaction score
12
Location
20 meters below Auckland New Zealand
# of dives
500 - 999
Question is does diving nitrox or trimix lower the effect of narcosis?
In the SSi nitrox book it says" You should not count on experiencing less narcosis or impairment". But if this is the case how do deep (50m+) divers deal with it?
What are your personal experiences? Is it a measurable effect that you caculate like EAD or PPN ?
The book also states that the active ingredient in decongestants may act as o2 exciters but it does not state what this ingredient is. I asume its psudoephidrine. Is this correct or are there other drugs too?
 
trimix yes, nitrox no
 
H2Andy:
trimix yes, nitrox no
Because HE replaces the N2. Many say O2 is also narcotic.
 
Andy is absolutely correct, as usual. Well, most of the time. Trimix is amazing as far as lessening your narcosis. If you thought you were not that narc'ed on air, try Trimix.
 
Trimix helps to some extent, but if there is a high workload, such as fast swimming, or task loading, my narcosis creeps back in.

I personally think that nitrox is more narcotic that air, but that is just my opinion.
 
oxygen breathed at higher than normal partial pressures also has a narcotic effect. so while you may lower your PN, your elevated PO2 adds to the buzz. same idea with trimix
 
I still get a 'euphoric' feeling when diving on Nitrox at deeper depth, or closer to my mod of the mix anyways. As Rick said "Many say O2 is also narcotic". I'm not sure if there is any solid proof as of yet to support this, but it looks to be a growing trend that people are starting to treat O2 as being narcotic.

I'm sure I've been narced, but have never really noticed the symptoms in myself during the dives.
 
Packhorse:
The book also states that the active ingredient in decongestants may act as o2 exciters but it does not state what this ingredient is. I asume its psudoephidrine. Is this correct or are there other drugs too?

My Padi book says your guess is correct. That's why I no longer use it even though it was fantastic stuff for me.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

Back
Top Bottom