residual narcosis ? . . . or what ?

[knotical]

In another thread about nitrogen narcosis, pilot fish said:

“ . . . my first dive on that trip and it was to 105 ft, 25 minutes, water temp 73.* I have a faint memory of the top of the ship after we descended but remember NOTHING about this dive, not coming up, or safety stop . I assume I did one since I would have been told by the person I buddied with on that dive if I did not, I guess. “

This is fascinating. The books say narcosis doesn’t work this way, but I once had a buddy who, like pilot fish, didn’t remember much of the dive, the ascent or even our boat moving to the next site. At the time I shrugged it off, but now here’s another person with a similar experience. I wonder . . . has anyone else experienced something like this? Anyone have any idea what could cause this?

 

[jbd]

In another thread about nitrogen narcosis, pilot fish said:

“ . . . my first dive on that trip and it was to 105 ft, 25 minutes, water temp 73.* I have a faint memory of the top of the ship after we descended but remember NOTHING about this dive, not coming up, or safety stop . I assume I did one since I would have been told by the person I buddied with on that dive if I did not, I guess. “

This is fascinating. The books say narcosis doesn’t work this way, but I once had a buddy who, like pilot fish, didn’t remember much of the dive, the ascent or even our boat moving to the next site. At the time I shrugged it off, but now here’s another person with a similar experience. I wonder . . . has anyone else experienced something like this? Anyone have any idea what could cause this?

I had something similar during my first trip to Mackinac Straits. There are only some parts of that dive that I recall. Strangely enough the part that I do recall most vividly was the the deepest portion of the dive near the bow of the William Young Not very long after the dive I could only very vaguely recall the approach to the wreck. I remember during the deepest part of the dive being fascinated by a couple of small wormlike creatures crawling around on the bottom. The bottom looked like it had been molten rock at one time. I also recall noting the distinct thermocline at 50 feet(I was wearing two 3 mil wetsuits) Other than that most of that dive is lost to me. Max depth 116 run time 28 minutes according to the computer. I was diving air. I have the water temp at the bottom as 46 deegrees.

 

[verona]

Had it once but not after i had surfaced. That sounds odd. I regained conscious memory still in the water as I ascended.

 

[Diver0001]

In another thread about nitrogen narcosis, pilot fish said:

“ . . . my first dive on that trip and it was to 105 ft, 25 minutes, water temp 73.* I have a faint memory of the top of the ship after we descended but remember NOTHING about this dive, not coming up, or safety stop . I assume I did one since I would have been told by the person I buddied with on that dive if I did not, I guess. “

This is fascinating. The books say narcosis doesn’t work this way, but I once had a buddy who, like pilot fish, didn’t remember much of the dive, the ascent or even our boat moving to the next site. At the time I shrugged it off, but now here’s another person with a similar experience. I wonder . . . has anyone else experienced something like this? Anyone have any idea what could cause this?

I once executed a rescue of a free-falling diver on a wall at a ridiculous (reckless) depth. I had never been down that deep and I was so narced that couldn't remember what my metres were saying 2 seconds after I looked away. The whole thing is still a blur. I remember catching the diver, I remember realizing that he was free falling because he was tangled up in a huge mass of discarded fish line, I remember that my buddy looked very agitated (but I didn't make the connection with *why*) and I remember having trouble thinking of what to do next. Somewhere around 10 metres we started with deco and I remember that our tanks were basically empty when we surfaced but there are no more details. It's almost as if I saw it from the point of view of an observer.

R..

 

[H2Andy]

yes, it is strange. narcosis is supposed ("supposed" being the key word) to aleviate
with evey foot you ascend, so... by the time he got to the safety-stop depth
(i am assuming 15-20 feet) he should have been over the worst of his narcosis for quite a while.

i am guessing his loss of memory is probably due to stress, fatigue, and whatnot,
and not to narcosis?

 

[COVCI]

I have recently began looking at how divers may be affected by toluene (after product of compressor oil breakdown) at depth. Not unlike nitrogen narcosis, which is the direct result of the body's reaction to the increased partial pressure to the gas, toluene "poisoning" can easily cause "narced" like conditions at shallow depths.

Unfortunately, toluene is not a contaminant that is normally tested for when compressor/fill station gas quality tests are done.

Just one other option for the reaction/behavior.

If you are interested in an article that was recently prepared by a MD about toluene reaction, pm me with an email address and I will send it to you.

Chris

 

[pilot fish]

In another thread about nitrogen narcosis, pilot fish said:

“ . . . my first dive on that trip and it was to 105 ft, 25 minutes, water temp 73.* I have a faint memory of the top of the ship after we descended but remember NOTHING about this dive, not coming up, or safety stop . I assume I did one since I would have been told by the person I buddied with on that dive if I did not, I guess. “

This is fascinating. The books say narcosis doesn’t work this way, but I once had a buddy who, like pilot fish, didn’t remember much of the dive, the ascent or even our boat moving to the next site. At the time I shrugged it off, but now here’s another person with a similar experience. I wonder . . . has anyone else experienced something like this? Anyone have any idea what could cause this?

It occurs to me that I have no idea if any of the other divers on the boat were effected by the same malady as me -loss of memory of the dive. I never told them,[ I was unaware of it till I thought about what I'd write about the dive in my log later on], so it is possible that the other divers had the same reaction? After those two dives I never saw those guys again. Is it possible I had a bad tank of air? I remember no bad taste or smell. Someone mentioned toluene from degraded oil in the air compressor when they filled the tank. I never heard of this stuff till somone mentioned it.

 

[String]

"residual" narcosis cannot and does not exist. Its purely partial pressure related.

More than likely if the not remembering symptoms are true it could be stress, fatigue, CO2 retention caused by odd breathing patterns while narc'd and so on.

Nausea can result after narcosis due to altered breathing patterns and CO2 retention.

Whatever it is, its definately NOT narcosis.

 

[Diver0001]

"...snip.... it could be stress, ....etc....

I believe that's what it was in the case I mentioned above.

R..

 

[pilot fish]

"residual" narcosis cannot and does not exist. Its purely partial pressure related.

More than likely if the not remembering symptoms are true it could be stress, fatigue, CO2 retention caused by odd breathing patterns while narc'd and so on.

Nausea can result after narcosis due to altered breathing patterns and CO2 retention.

Whatever it is, its definately NOT narcosis.

I was not stressed at all on this dive. I did probably feel some fatigue since I did not sleep well the night before. It is possible C02 retention due to irregular breathing but i don't think so, since I don't skip breath or hold my breath. My nausea was due to 3 to 5 ft chop, which abatted when I go in the water for second dive. I have a clear memory of the boat ride inbetween dives.