I recently had occasion to visit a local chamber due to being able to rule out DCS. While after the fact, it appears that I really was not bent, my chamber experience turned out to be quite the experience.
Background:
Dive Profiles: Saturday - night dive to max 45 feet approx 60 minutes.
Sunday morning - Dive 1 - 77 feet approx 24 minutes (total dive time) - EAN36
1 hr 46 min SI, Dive 2, 109 feet - 24 minutes (total dive time) - air
2 hr 7 min SI, Dive 3, 94 feet, 45 minutes - air
All dives were well within computer limits (Oceanic ProPlus2).
All dives were at Gilboa Quarry which at depth was about 42-44 degrees. During the last dive my hands were very cold. After the dives and all the way home my hands ached badly. Also the next day I had some very mild pain in my elbow and my hands still ached the next day.
Knowing that I had done 3 deep dives and that extremity pain is a symptom of possible DCS, I called DAN. Although they thought I was probably not bent (my guess was that the cold just left some residual irritation and the elbow pain was from lugging tanks and gear around all weekend), DAN still wanted me to be checked out by a local Doc and referred me to my local hospital. After talking to the dive medicine expert there and learning that his chamber was not in operation, he referred me to chamber in another city. He provided my history to the doctor there and I was told to report to the chamber for a Table 5 dive the next day.
I left my house the next morning and told my wife I would be back in the afternoon.
I got to the chamber (glass coffin style - single place chamber) and was descended to 60 feet on pure O2 with no problem. After 20 minutes or so I was told to take an air break by breathing regular air from a mask. When I attempted to breathe from the mask, it didnt seem to be delivering any air (kinda like the feeling of sucking on a regulator underwater when the air has been turned off). I told the tech it was really hard to breathe from the mask and she told me to try it again. This time I tried to suck really hard from the mask but still wasnt getting any air from it. Then the lights went out... I had a grand mal seizure in the chamber.
The next thing I remember is the chaplain standing over me telling me I had a seizure. Apparently I became combative when coming out of the seizure and the gave me a large dose of ativan.. They kept me over night for observation, did a CAT scan and EEG both of which were normal and I was sent home the next day with no problems.
I never saw the chamber tech again to discuss whether there was a problem with the air regulator or not.
I know from enriched air diving that O2 can cause seizures at PO2 of 1.4 and above so the siezure didnt seem like a big deal to me, but I'd sure hate to go through that again should I ever need a chamber (which hopefully I won't)...
By the way, all my symptons went away - my hands stopped aching, etc by the next day and I am completely fine.
I don't know anything about how recompression chambers work but it seems that something wasnt right with the air regulator and that may have contributed to the seizure.
Any thoughts.
Background:
Dive Profiles: Saturday - night dive to max 45 feet approx 60 minutes.
Sunday morning - Dive 1 - 77 feet approx 24 minutes (total dive time) - EAN36
1 hr 46 min SI, Dive 2, 109 feet - 24 minutes (total dive time) - air
2 hr 7 min SI, Dive 3, 94 feet, 45 minutes - air
All dives were well within computer limits (Oceanic ProPlus2).
All dives were at Gilboa Quarry which at depth was about 42-44 degrees. During the last dive my hands were very cold. After the dives and all the way home my hands ached badly. Also the next day I had some very mild pain in my elbow and my hands still ached the next day.
Knowing that I had done 3 deep dives and that extremity pain is a symptom of possible DCS, I called DAN. Although they thought I was probably not bent (my guess was that the cold just left some residual irritation and the elbow pain was from lugging tanks and gear around all weekend), DAN still wanted me to be checked out by a local Doc and referred me to my local hospital. After talking to the dive medicine expert there and learning that his chamber was not in operation, he referred me to chamber in another city. He provided my history to the doctor there and I was told to report to the chamber for a Table 5 dive the next day.
I left my house the next morning and told my wife I would be back in the afternoon.
I got to the chamber (glass coffin style - single place chamber) and was descended to 60 feet on pure O2 with no problem. After 20 minutes or so I was told to take an air break by breathing regular air from a mask. When I attempted to breathe from the mask, it didnt seem to be delivering any air (kinda like the feeling of sucking on a regulator underwater when the air has been turned off). I told the tech it was really hard to breathe from the mask and she told me to try it again. This time I tried to suck really hard from the mask but still wasnt getting any air from it. Then the lights went out... I had a grand mal seizure in the chamber.
The next thing I remember is the chaplain standing over me telling me I had a seizure. Apparently I became combative when coming out of the seizure and the gave me a large dose of ativan.. They kept me over night for observation, did a CAT scan and EEG both of which were normal and I was sent home the next day with no problems.
I never saw the chamber tech again to discuss whether there was a problem with the air regulator or not.
I know from enriched air diving that O2 can cause seizures at PO2 of 1.4 and above so the siezure didnt seem like a big deal to me, but I'd sure hate to go through that again should I ever need a chamber (which hopefully I won't)...
By the way, all my symptons went away - my hands stopped aching, etc by the next day and I am completely fine.
I don't know anything about how recompression chambers work but it seems that something wasnt right with the air regulator and that may have contributed to the seizure.
Any thoughts.
