Oxygen poisoning seizure > how to react ?
- Thread starter Etmutt
- Start date
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
jadairiii
Contributor
- Messages
- 1,259
- Reaction score
- 1,876
Per the article. I've had the "vague feeling" back in my stupid deep air days. It's not fun.
Found the story on the KW diver incident (note how long according to the report that he regained consciousness:
May 1993
Key West, Florida—A diver mistakenly switched to his “labeled and color-coded” oxygen regulator instead of EAN 36 at his 28 m/90 ft decompression stop following a 25-minute exposure to 64 m/210 ft conducted on trimix 17/50. The diver seized approximately 4 minutes later at his 21 m/70 ft stop during the mix training dive and spit his regulator out of his mouth.
A second diver was on the scene in seconds and, unable to reinsert the regulator and having a substantial decompression obligation, inflated the diver’s BCD and sent him to the surface. The diver was picked up immediately by the surface support crew and displayed faint irregular breathing. He was cut out of his equipment, lifted on the boat, and placed on oxygen when he became semi-conscious. Emergency evacuation procedures were initiated and the boat left to rendezvous with an ambulance dockside about 50 minutes away.
The diver regained full consciousness within about 15 minutes and did not exhibit DCI symptoms. He was evacuated from the hospital to a chamber within an hour and a half. Still not exhibiting symptoms, he was treated with a Table 6. The diver has little memory of events following his/27 m/90 ft stop until regaining consciousness at the surface. Apparently, his only warning was a vague feeling that something was wrong after switching to O2. Reported by Key West Diver Inc.
Examining Early Technical Diving Deaths: The aquaCORPS Incident Reports (1992-1996)
The early days of technical diving were marred by an alarming number of fatalities that threatened the viability of this emerging form of diving. Here InDepth editor-in-chief Michael Menduno presents the original accident analyses of 44 incidents that resulted in 39 fatalities and 12 injuries...gue.com
See? Told you it was 99%, not 100%..!
I'll preface this with saying I'm not certified for the dive in question, but you really wouldn't have a "wrong" feeling on "just" air @ 90' or 32 or 36? I'm just curious as to what happened in that 4 minutes that he didn't "catch" the mistake?
If I'm wrong for thinking that please enlighten me. I'm just trying to understand, I don't ever want to experience what that diver went through.
This is included in the UHM report on surfacing an unconscious diver. @Dr Simon Mitchell is the principal author.
OP
I think i agree that surfacing the diver asap seems the best way to go once the seizure is over.
But if by any chance you manage to keep the regulator and your buddy seems to be breathing; I think i would take the chance to keep him under water as long as I can... We dive a lot far from any logistic base around here and on surface support is not really a thing. At the same time, we re lucky enough to have a dive environement that you could describe as "ideal" (very good visibility; warm water; current usually limited)
But if by any chance you manage to keep the regulator and your buddy seems to be breathing; I think i would take the chance to keep him under water as long as I can... We dive a lot far from any logistic base around here and on surface support is not really a thing. At the same time, we re lucky enough to have a dive environement that you could describe as "ideal" (very good visibility; warm water; current usually limited)
unfortunately no. we do not have a precise accident report (we must assume that right now it is at the bottom of the priority list of his friend and family) ; but word is he switched to 40% at bottom depth instead of bottom stage
jadairiii
Contributor
- Messages
- 1,259
- Reaction score
- 1,876
My experience, I was diving a hot Nitrox mix deep (210', 1996?), swimming into the current, becoming more and more agitated (feeling of unease), but not really thinking about it, when my lips became numb and tingly......that's went my medulla oblongata kicked in and sent a very strong message....GET SHALLOW!!!. Feeling cleared at about 30'.
Everyone thinks “if I had that feeling that something was wrong, I would be able to deal with it!!” That’s not always the case. I used to think that way. When I had my incident in Truk, the last thing I remember thinking was “that felt weird, I should get back on the boat!” The next thing I remember is people pounding on my chest and jamming oxygen into me and I was back on the boat.
When you’re at the point that you’re thinking something might not be right, you may already be so impaired that you can’t act. That’s why it is so important to avoid the situation before you need to act.
When you’re at the point that you’re thinking something might not be right, you may already be so impaired that you can’t act. That’s why it is so important to avoid the situation before you need to act.
Appreciate the replies, I don't want to sound condescending or judgemental. I've never been in that situation, I have zero experience, but would like to avoid it. I'm just trying to learn.
In my (very inexperienced) mind, I would "think" at the 1st sign of uneasiness, vague feelings I'd check the gas I was breathing... but I can 100% see how they might be taken as being tired, cold, it was a long dive, etc... and just shrugged off.
I'll be the 1st to admit I don't know. Gas switches scare me after reading about all the fatalities because of them.
In my (very inexperienced) mind, I would "think" at the 1st sign of uneasiness, vague feelings I'd check the gas I was breathing... but I can 100% see how they might be taken as being tired, cold, it was a long dive, etc... and just shrugged off.
I'll be the 1st to admit I don't know. Gas switches scare me after reading about all the fatalities because of them.
I have never heard of a post seizure diver being combative to the point of harming or killing their rescuer. This has never been reported and is inconsistent with chamber seizure recoveries too. Net, the incidence of that is extremely low or non-existent.
Sending up an unconscious diver (unattended) will almost for sure lead to their drowning however. Toxing to drowning victims sometimes live a day or two because the high ppO2 minimizes their brain (hypoxia) injuries from the subsequent drowning. But they more often than not they die.
Similar threads
