Hi everyone - I am quite new to diving and although immensely enjoyed my first days of diving, I am actually writing about a pending (perhaps dive related, potentially considering DSC) issue which is haunting my partner for the last 5 weeks and any help/opinions would be much appreciated. In case this is not the right place for the topic - please let me know or of course feel free to move it to the right location.
In short - my partner continues to have symptoms heavily identical to decompression sickness (mild) and she is struggling a lot. Current symptoms (40 days after the dive) are: dizziness, headaches, occasional joint pain, muscular weakness, vertigo and sometimes numbness of leg/palm, she says she often feels like after having drunk a couple of beers ... Long story is below:
Both me and my partner took part in an open water diving course in the beginning of May 2018. The second day of diving we both did 4 dives, 12m , 14m, 17m and 17 m each. Following that we did the tests and passed, got dinner etc. and headed home. As you can imagine we were both shattered after the past two days (on top of the dives we also had 3-4 hrs of sleep each night as the hotel we were staying was very noisy), so her complaints about tiredness and dizziness (4 hours after the dive) were not taken seriously by myself, me being dead tired too. Arrived at the hotel and went to bed quite early, app. 10pm. She then woke up around 2.30 am with severe lower back pain, inability to properly move her right foot (cramps and muscular pain) and more of the dizziness. After an hour or so, we decided to call the DAN and speak to a doctor about this (having learned the risks of diving and whom to talk to). After a 20 or so minute call, the DAN specialist was quite sure that we are not looking at decompression sickness but advised to contact them again if the symptoms do not go away.
The following day we went to the diving school to talk to the instructors there and the opinion was that we are exhausted by the dives and there is not much suggesting decompression sickness. The general dizziness and vertigo settled in, my partner started feeling joint pain (knees and elbows), pain in the neck and headaches, together with general muscular weakness and inability to properly move her right leg and arm. A day later we spoke with DAN again and the doctor mentioned that although they consider DSC could be the culprit, they think it is unlikely to be the case. We were advised to visit the local diving doctor and hyperbarric treatment cabinet - which we did. The local doctor was on the opinion that there do not seem to be a case of severe DSC (quite obvious to us too) and advised we can safely travel home (plane trip of 2x9 hour flights). We flew back to London on the next day, and no new symptoms or issues were observed on the flight.
Upon arrival we also visited another dive center in London, where the doctor having heard the above was more or less convinced we are not looking at a DSC, and that the flight would have made the symptoms worse if this was indeed the case.
As the symptoms continued for the next weeks, we carried out quite an extensive number of tests, including blood, MRI, neurology exams, viral infection checks, lyme disease and so on - all coming out negative and ruling out serious conditions (MLS, tumors etc.). However we noticed that despite that the joint pain started to slowly disappear, we are now faced with a more severe dizziness, vertigo, and heavy difficulty moving the right arm/leg.
I guess any opinions on whether the above can be considered a mild DSC would be welcome, as we are new to diving we lack the experience and are unaware of similar cases. I am aware that DSC is usually quite more severe as symptoms, but as it is extremely difficult to diagnose, I would appreciate any help...
Thanks for reading and apologies for the long post.
In short - my partner continues to have symptoms heavily identical to decompression sickness (mild) and she is struggling a lot. Current symptoms (40 days after the dive) are: dizziness, headaches, occasional joint pain, muscular weakness, vertigo and sometimes numbness of leg/palm, she says she often feels like after having drunk a couple of beers ... Long story is below:
Both me and my partner took part in an open water diving course in the beginning of May 2018. The second day of diving we both did 4 dives, 12m , 14m, 17m and 17 m each. Following that we did the tests and passed, got dinner etc. and headed home. As you can imagine we were both shattered after the past two days (on top of the dives we also had 3-4 hrs of sleep each night as the hotel we were staying was very noisy), so her complaints about tiredness and dizziness (4 hours after the dive) were not taken seriously by myself, me being dead tired too. Arrived at the hotel and went to bed quite early, app. 10pm. She then woke up around 2.30 am with severe lower back pain, inability to properly move her right foot (cramps and muscular pain) and more of the dizziness. After an hour or so, we decided to call the DAN and speak to a doctor about this (having learned the risks of diving and whom to talk to). After a 20 or so minute call, the DAN specialist was quite sure that we are not looking at decompression sickness but advised to contact them again if the symptoms do not go away.
The following day we went to the diving school to talk to the instructors there and the opinion was that we are exhausted by the dives and there is not much suggesting decompression sickness. The general dizziness and vertigo settled in, my partner started feeling joint pain (knees and elbows), pain in the neck and headaches, together with general muscular weakness and inability to properly move her right leg and arm. A day later we spoke with DAN again and the doctor mentioned that although they consider DSC could be the culprit, they think it is unlikely to be the case. We were advised to visit the local diving doctor and hyperbarric treatment cabinet - which we did. The local doctor was on the opinion that there do not seem to be a case of severe DSC (quite obvious to us too) and advised we can safely travel home (plane trip of 2x9 hour flights). We flew back to London on the next day, and no new symptoms or issues were observed on the flight.
Upon arrival we also visited another dive center in London, where the doctor having heard the above was more or less convinced we are not looking at a DSC, and that the flight would have made the symptoms worse if this was indeed the case.
As the symptoms continued for the next weeks, we carried out quite an extensive number of tests, including blood, MRI, neurology exams, viral infection checks, lyme disease and so on - all coming out negative and ruling out serious conditions (MLS, tumors etc.). However we noticed that despite that the joint pain started to slowly disappear, we are now faced with a more severe dizziness, vertigo, and heavy difficulty moving the right arm/leg.
I guess any opinions on whether the above can be considered a mild DSC would be welcome, as we are new to diving we lack the experience and are unaware of similar cases. I am aware that DSC is usually quite more severe as symptoms, but as it is extremely difficult to diagnose, I would appreciate any help...
Thanks for reading and apologies for the long post.
