Long story, short. I got pretty badly bent in the Carib in Dec. 2011. In generally, I'm a pretty darned conservative diver...others would agree. I am disabled and have a lot of scar tissue, though. I had literally tripled all of my precautions...time before flying, etc. - Still got bent. It can happen to anyone and I will encourage people not to be macho or in disbelief or too embarrassed or ashamed to get help. GET HELP! I will mention that I've got just over a couple hundred dives at this point, so not a ton but I do dive with some regularity. 
I fell fast asleep immediately on my flight home - clue number one - since I typically don't sleep on planes. As soon as I woke, the joint pain and continued fatigue...I knew right away. I asked for lots of water and O2. They offered to divert the flight, but for many reasons I opted just to get back to CA ASAP. I had them arrange to an ambulance to take me to the nearest HB chamber...and that was about all the presence of mind I had!
While in the hospital, I learned that scar tissue holds nitrogen like nobody's business...which the dox figure is why/how I got bent even after having been quite cautious - and yes, they did basically give me my own more suitable guidelines for someone who's had as many falls as I have.
Here's the question: I never really had any follow up after I got out of the hospital after about a week and 5 or 6 HBC dives. I was feeling about as good as I ever feel, so meh! Now it's hitting me and I'm questioning, though. I've clearly got some ongoing memory issues that can't be attributed to much else and I think that's understandable. Some of the physical issues that I have anyway (and were severely exacerbating during my 'bending'!) have gotten substantially worse over the last couple of years, though. There's no good explanation. (Mostly joint pain, including back pain right along my spine) My primary care doc sees no way that this could have anything to do with getting bent and seems to think that psych/memory/brain-type issues make some sense, but he doesn't see how I could have lingering/permanent physical effects (maybe since I sought treatment? don't know.) I had asked him if this was something that maybe I should look into/follow up on/see if anything might be done....but, like I said, he seems to think there's no way and thus, no point. Is it worth me getting back in touch with the dive med dox who treated me? Is my primary doc right? Can anything be done even if my primary is wrong and I go back to the dive med folks? (I know ya'll aren't M.D.s, I'm merely looking for the experiences of others or stories or ??? Nothing will be construed as medical advice. I run a legal advocacy program, so I get it. No disclaimers needed, just looking for lay opinions and thoughts! )
Thank you!
I fell fast asleep immediately on my flight home - clue number one - since I typically don't sleep on planes. As soon as I woke, the joint pain and continued fatigue...I knew right away. I asked for lots of water and O2. They offered to divert the flight, but for many reasons I opted just to get back to CA ASAP. I had them arrange to an ambulance to take me to the nearest HB chamber...and that was about all the presence of mind I had!
While in the hospital, I learned that scar tissue holds nitrogen like nobody's business...which the dox figure is why/how I got bent even after having been quite cautious - and yes, they did basically give me my own more suitable guidelines for someone who's had as many falls as I have.
Here's the question: I never really had any follow up after I got out of the hospital after about a week and 5 or 6 HBC dives. I was feeling about as good as I ever feel, so meh! Now it's hitting me and I'm questioning, though. I've clearly got some ongoing memory issues that can't be attributed to much else and I think that's understandable. Some of the physical issues that I have anyway (and were severely exacerbating during my 'bending'!) have gotten substantially worse over the last couple of years, though. There's no good explanation. (Mostly joint pain, including back pain right along my spine) My primary care doc sees no way that this could have anything to do with getting bent and seems to think that psych/memory/brain-type issues make some sense, but he doesn't see how I could have lingering/permanent physical effects (maybe since I sought treatment? don't know.) I had asked him if this was something that maybe I should look into/follow up on/see if anything might be done....but, like I said, he seems to think there's no way and thus, no point. Is it worth me getting back in touch with the dive med dox who treated me? Is my primary doc right? Can anything be done even if my primary is wrong and I go back to the dive med folks? (I know ya'll aren't M.D.s, I'm merely looking for the experiences of others or stories or ??? Nothing will be construed as medical advice.
I run a legal advocacy program, so I get it. No disclaimers needed, just looking for lay opinions and thoughts! )Thank you!
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