Nitrogen Narcosis and Women.

[nitroxbabe]

nudinut once bubbled...
I would have thought lower haemoglobin levels in women, would be from not eating enough red meat.

Boy, could I take that and run. However, since this seems to be a PG-13 rated board, I'll try to control myself. hee hee hee

Hi Walter! I of course have no idea if any studies were done, and am just relating what others have told me and my personal experiences. I make no claims as to the accuracy of ANYTHING and I may indeed be (and probably are!) completely full of it.

Believe me (and as you know!) I'm being VERY careful about what I say here for fear of getting ripped a new butthole again.

However, I can say that I've not been narc'd as much as I was on that particular deep dive as I've been on subsequent deep dives. Further deep diving may give me more anecdotes.

I'm still waiting for a medical opinion - ?

 

[chickdiver]

Just some food for thought, Babe: (oh, BTW< I am not trying to be mean ) On that particular dive, can you think of any other variables which might have come into play re: narcosis? I am specifically thinking about things like : was it a strenuous dive (lots of current, cold), poor visibility, hydration level, nervousness, etc.? I think you might have attributed the narcosis to blood donation , when there might actually have been another process at work. Just something to consider....

 

[nitroxbabe]

The dive was beautiful (Blue Hole, Belize) - warm water, great vis, hydated, I was not anxious at all (maybe a little excited!).

I've done deep dives since in warm and cold and not had this degree of narcosis.

I don't know why, as I said. This is all anecdotal. I'll have to acquire some more anecdotes I guess.

 

[chickdiver]

Well, you just blew my theory out of the water!! Narcosis is variable among individuals, and it also varies in one subject from day to day. I know that I have done dives that left me blasted at 70', done the same dive the next weekend and had no (noticeable) impairment-- who knows?

 

[Walter]

One large factor in narcosis is speed of descent. Never descent faster than 75 ft/min.

 

[nitroxbabe]

Walter - I wonder if that might be part of it. While I don't believe we descended faster than 75 fpm, we did descend pretty darn fast. I have not descended that quickly since then. Hmmm. Again, thanks for the tip.

 

[Walter]

Babe,

If you "did descend pretty darn fast" you probably exceeded the max descent rate of 75ft/min. 75 ft/min is not terribly fast, only 1.25 ft per second. Many divers exceed this rate when they don't think they "did descend pretty darn fast."

 

[WreckWriter]

Walter once bubbled...
Never descent faster than 75 ft/min.

Hmmmmm.... I believe the average descent rate among the group I dive with is closer to 200 fpm. You'd miss the wreck most every time at 75.

Tom

 

[nitroxbabe]

Well as I remember we went from 0 - 135 in less than 3 minutes. It may have been substantially less than 3 minutes, I don't quite remember. I was narc'd.

Now that I think about it, I don't believe I've descended that quickly on a deep dive except that once. I've usually gone down a line behind others or made a stop or two on other deep dives.

So, I think you are onto something Walter.

 

[Walter]

Tom,

I agree. There are situations in which you have to descend quickly. A live boat drop in screaming current is one of them. The average diver never experiences this.