Take charge of your own diving

[Shipwreckscanada]

I just came back from a vacation at San Pedro, Belize. I signed up at a popular dive shop and went out to the local barrier reef. I did two multilevel dives, one at a max of 83 feet and the other was at a max of 65 feet. About one hour after we made it back to the hotel, I got a sharp pain in the abdomen, 45 minutes later I started to see a small rash below my chest. I waited another hour and just as I was about to call for medical help the pain quickly went away, so I took a chance and waited. Within an hour everything was gone. No side effects and no other symptoms. At first I thought I had the bends, but looking things up on the internet, I came to the conclusion that I must of swallowed air and it simply tried to get out. Two days later I went diving the blue hole, I dropped to 138 feet, yes it was a mistake, we stayed down for eight minutes and then made a safety stop for eight minutes. Only one hour later we did our second dive, another multi-level dive with a max depth of 77 feet, my dive computer shouted to get out of the water, it gave me an Er message; back on the boat I told the divemaster that I will skip the scheduled third dive. He said, you can still go, but simply stay shallow. Needless to say, I stayed on the boat. Please note that the divemaster that told me this stayed aboard for the third dive as well. Then before we got back to the hotel, I got that abdomen pain again, I thought, can I possibly have swallowed air two times in a row. I went diving one more time, six days later, I did a similar dive profile as the first two dives I mentioned at the beginning. Yes, the pain came back.

When I got back home, I consulted, a doctor that specializes in scuba diving and airplane pilates, she confirmed to me that I indeed had the bens; it was called, skin bens or cutaneous decompression sickness.

Skin Bends or Cutaneous Decompression Sickness - Skin Bends Information for Scuba Divers

In my case, it was not dangerous and if I had gone to the hospital in Belize, they would have simply given me pure oxygen. The reason why I got the bends. My doctor concluded after consulting my dive computer that I exceeded the dive limit permitted for the depth I was at. My time interval was also too short.

I'm posting this because I learned that we should never rely on others, not even the dive master in charge of the group. His advice about my abdomen pain was wrong, he said that if I had the bends, it would get worse and it could not just disappear on its own, I believed him, and his advice about diving a third time even when my computer said no was another mistake. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had made that third dive.

The lesson for me is, take charge of your own diving, do what you think is best for you, if you have doubts, abort, missing one extra dive won't kill you, one extra dive could. In the end, if you get sick, or worse, if you die, the dive master will simply move on and leave you with the bill.

I’m not blaming the divemaster, I'm simply saying, get educated and take charge.

 

[toddthecat]

Two days later I went diving the blue hole, I dropped to 138 feet, yes it was a mistake, we stayed down for eight minutes and then made a safety stop for eight minutes. Only one hour later we did our second dive, another multi-level dive with a max depth of 77 feet, my dive computer shouted to get out of the water, it gave me an Er message; back on the boat I told the divemaster that I will skip the scheduled third dive.

You did NOT get properly certified. Using the dive tables, at least with PADI, you will find the following:
"If a no decompression limit is exceeded by no more than 5 minutes, a 15 foot decompression stop of no less than 8 minutes is urged. Upon surfacing the diver must remain out of the water for at least 6 hours prior to making another dive".

Also, there is something VERY wrong with your dive computer. It should have been screaming at you during that dive, not the one after it. Most computers lock out for 24 hours after that sort of violation due to what I quoted above.

And yes, your DM absolutely sucked.

At the end of your post you say "I'm simply saying get educated and take charge". That's very good advice. You should be the one who decides if you dive or not. Not anyone else. Just YOU. If you aren't comfortable with a dive for any reason NO ONE (who has half a brain) will blame you for aborting. In addition, that education part is indeed very important. There is NO certifying agency out there that would let that dive profile slide. If you are certified, your instructor did you a HUGE DISSERVICE by either not properly training you or letting you slide on dive planning material you did not understand.

Consider yourself lucky to have walked out of that with what you did.

 

[doctormike]

Just so you know, abdominal pain is a classic sign of spinal cord DCS. Here's my story: http://www.rothschilddesign.com/dcs/

 

[Lopez116]

One thing I learned from reading SB is that it is all to easy for novice divers to rely on DMs and other dive professionals as if they were still students getting certified. The DM is often viewed as an authority figure and the infrequent diver gives way too much deference to him/her.

The labels the industry itself gives to certain people ("masters") are probably somewhat responsible for instilling a false sense of confidence in the casual, infrequent diver. After all, there are many divers who have no certifications whatsoever or only a basic OW cert who may have much more experience and wisdom than the "master." I think this issue is at the heart of the "badge collecting" criticism.

Also, even if the dive professional knows what he/she is talking about and has lots of experience, ultimately they are individuals with their own individual level of risk aversion - which may not be the same as yours. Only you can make the call for yourself.

 

[cbm32]

I am not a medical doctor and far from an expert on DCS. However, I believe there are cases of undeserved hits and that no one really knows why they happen. It sounds like the first dive was within his computers tolerances and so that may have been an undeserved hit.

The other problems with the DM not responding in a different fashion to the OP's computer screaming is a whole different matter.

 

[TSandM]

One of the biggest problems with DCS is that the symptoms are so incredibly variable that it can be very hard to know whether what you are experiencing (or someone is reporting) is DCS or not. Symptoms generally have to be interpreted in concert with the dive profiles, but no unusual pain in a diver should be simply dismissed. You are correct that the dive pro you talked to gave you bad advice. On the other hand, I would be willing to guess that the majority of strange aches and pains divers experience after submersion are NOT DCS, so I can understand why the pros wouldn't get terribly concerned.

Although it sounds highly likely that you did have some significant decompression stress, it is still unclear whether you had full-blown DCS or not. It is true that severe DCS doesn't get better without treatment, and often gets worse. But some mild episodes probably do resolve on their own.

My advice would be to learn a great deal more about nitrogen dynamics and why your computer says the things to you that it does. Deco for Divers, by Mark Powell, is an excellent resource for this. Greater understanding will lead to more prudent decision-making.

 

[Panama Jones]

It was two days from his last dive before he dove to 138 for 8 minutes. My computer on DSAT give me 9 minutes at 140ft according to the manual. On PZ+ it gives 7 minutes. DSAT is supposed to be based on RDP I think so his computer would not have put him in violation on the first dive long. However, he certainly pushed the limits. I am not an expert but I thought most computers even the liberal ones, were conservative enough to avoid DCI. I like T&S' comments on the variability. The OP may be physiologically more disposed to DCI, nor does he state what type of physical condition he is in. Or also, no offense to the OP, but it is not mentioned if there was hard partying, drinking, fatigue, dehydration etc. All contributors.

 

[billt4sf]

Thanks for posting this.

- Bill

 

[Gren]

The other problems with the DM not responding in a different fashion to the OP's computer screaming is a whole different matter.

I see this a lot locally, DMs and divers make the assumption that everyone did the same dive and that if your computer is screaming and theirs isn't it is overly conservative etc. It doesn't seem to occur to them that maybe you descended to 138ft while they stopped at 120ft or you stayed 2 extra minutes(Multi deco gives me 5:20 of extra stops for 2 minutes extra at 138).

 

[Lorenzoid]

Unless it malfunctioned, your computer didn't just "shout" at you to "get out of the water" before giving you an error ("Er") message. Normally, the error message indicates that you failed to follow the ascent profile that your computer displayed for you. Didn't the computer count down the no-deco time during your dive the way it normally does? Normally, if you accidentally let it count down to zero no-deco time, it displays a depth ("ceiling") that you're supposed to stop at and wait until it tells you to ascend to another depth. I may be misinterpreting what happened, but it sounds like you don't know how to use your computer.

Also, many computers have a planning mode that will tell you how many minutes of no-deco time you have for a subsequent dive. So you can ask the divemaster what the average depth will be and use the dive planning mode to try to estimate how many minutes of no-deco time you will have. If it's not enough time, you can choose not to do the dive.