Possible DCS due to altitude change

[borab96]

After a day of diving I returned to my summer home that has an elevation of 150m. It was then when I noticed that I had a very mild pain in my right shoulder. It seemed like a pinched nerve but I think I noticed it because I am prone to worrying after my dives. The pain came and went, never causing any discomfort (I could easily do my daily push ups). What's weird is that when I went for a swim the other day the pain was completely gone and when I went back to my house at an elevation of 150 it seemed to start again and then die down as usual. Now, as for my dives... My first dive was to a max depth of 32 meters and the total time was 30 minutes. I was well within my no deco limits, however the fast ascent alarm did go of because of "underwater traffic" (I moved out of the way of another diver and the ascent was no more than 2 meters). After the dive I did my emergency stop and headed up to the boat. After a surface time of about two hours I did a second dive with a maximum depth of 22 meters. The dive time was 40 minutes and everything went according to plan. After the second dive I got a headache but that is common for me because the place I dive in is very windy and wet hair and wind dont mix well. One thing I did after the first dive is I passed a 12kg weight belt to a crew member on the boat with my right arm while I was in the water. I also forgot to loosen my bc straps before I got my arm through and that might have strained my shoulder as well. To top it off, I wore a tight wet suit.

I am fully aware that joint pain is a very obvious sign of dcs but I wouldn't even call what a felt actual pain so my diagnosis is that the mild pressure change due to altitude is causing my shoulder pain but I am not sure. In that case, I believe very mild altitude based dcs does not require recompression, I just have to wait for my body to deal with it. My options for treatment are waiting at sea level, breathing oxygen, possibly doing a recompression nitrox dive or visiting a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. I should also mention that I was sleep deprived before and after the dive. (Despite my better judgment I went ahead with the dive anyway)

In conclusion I had a terrible dive experience and many things went wrong. If I'm ever going to get bent I'm sure this is a good opportunity for those pesky nitrogen bubbles but I need your opinion on this. Should I go see a doctor? btw, I'm completely fine as I type this (still sleep deprived though).

 

[tech_diver]

150 meters above sea level? Isn't that less than a six story building?

If I understand the situation you describe, I don't think the elevation of your home could cause any hypo/hyperbaric stress without some diving involved. People work in buildings three times taller than that with no altitude or DCS issues.

 

[elan]

150 meters above sea level? Isn't that less than a six story building?

If I understand the situation you describe, I don't think the elevation of your home could cause any hypo/hyperbaric stress without some diving involved. People work in buildings three times taller than that with no altitude or DCS issues.

the ceiling on those stories of yours must be really high 150m would be about 50 stories. Not sure about DCS but it would be noticeable on ears. Most likely it has something to do with pulling some muscles while lifting than getting a hit
But your profile is not clear , you are saying that your max depth was 32 but what was your average depth? And what gas did you use?

 

[tech_diver]

"the ceiling on those your stories of you must be really high

150m would be about 50 stories. Not sure about DCS but it would be noticeable on ears."

EEEEEP! I suffered a transient bubble of digestive gas in my cerebellum


Long day... flinging my adding machine out the window...



Still 50 stories is only half the Empire State building...(checking citation Empire State Building - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

[borab96]

the ceiling on those stories of yours must be really high 150m would be about 50 stories. Not sure about DCS but it would be noticeable on ears. Most likely it has something to do with pulling some muscles while lifting than getting a hit
But your profile is not clear , you are saying that your max depth was 32 but what was your average depth? And what gas did you use?

My average depth was slightly less: 27 meters. That one was a wreck dive and the other one was a relativly shallow dive with an average depth of 15 meters. I used air on every dive. I thought that too, but I couldn't explain why I got better while I was swimming and got worse at elevation. I think I didn't get a hit but the residual nitrogen in my body reacted to the slight elevation. My no fly timer finished a couple of hours earlier and I feel completely fine and I got to finally sleep properly. BTW I damaged every muscle in my body that is worth damaging so I'm sure I would recognize a strianed or a pulled muscle, this was a very different feeling. Anyway, thanks for your input.

 

[Mr Carcharodon]

150 m of above sea level is the same pressure change as 0.18 meters of sea water. That most assuredly is noise as far as decompression is concerned.

32 meters for 30 minutes is well within NDL? Maybe I cannot think in metric this late at night, but I don't think so. Was it an air dive? It may have been fine if average depth was closer to 25 meters. The second dive does not sound like it should have been a problem.

Pain coming an going is also not typical, I think.

Of course you can call DAN which is what they are there for.

 

[borab96]

My average depth was 27 meters and my computer showed another 10-15 minutes or so before I started my ascent from about 20 meters. It was a wreck dive so I could have gone over a table NDL but my computer said I was fine. (It was an air dive.)

---------- Post added August 9th, 2013 at 02:56 AM ----------

150 m of above sea level is the same pressure change as 0.18 meters of sea water. That most assuredly is noise as far as decompression is concerned.

As far as I know a pressure change of 600 meters can easily cause altitude dcs if the diver does not wait at sea level for a few hours and the pressure change is only 0.05bar (0.4m) Who knows, maybe 150m has noticeable effects after a dive?

 

[Damselfish]

600m is the value used in the flying after diving recommendations, and the recommendation would be for more than a few hours. But I don't know about the "easily" part, and flying is also a much quicker ascent than returning to that elevation on land. Of course it's a continuum and not a magic barrier, but I really think a) you should call DAN if you're concerned and b) if you did have a problem, I doubt it was caused by the elevation. (I vote for the weight belt - not that I even stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.)

What did you mean by "emergency stop" - are you saying your computer was calling for a deco stop, or are you talking about a safety stop? It's not an emergency.

In conclusion I had a terrible dive experience and many things went wrong.

I really didn't see that in your description?

 

[borab96]

Sorry, I meant safety stop. Freudian slip, I was probably thinking about the fast ascent. As for the dive being terrible, I had a headache, a fast ascent and I was sleep deprived. Also my bc malfunctioned during my second ascent (If I hadn't reached the quick dump in time I would have rocketed to the surface from 10 meters. But I didn't mention this. That was the main reason why the day sucked)