Teenager with DCS, mother in denial, treatment delayed

[Stoo]

Forget all the other stuff. Let's go back to the boat and the dive.....one of the first things you learn in open water training is to NEVER try to recompress a diver by sending him back under water. O2, transport to ER. Sounds like someone eventually realized they effed this up from the start and are now trying to justify their actions.

That's pretty good advice for new divers, but I'd hate to tell you how many of my friends have dodged a chamber run by doing exactly this.

 

[Gone for diving]

That's pretty good advice for new divers, but I'd hate to tell you how many of my friends have dodged a chamber run by doing exactly this.

And in older dive stories like hard hat divers it seemed alot more common,
Also thinking about Richard Pyle's story...

Also it's kinda hard to proof if it helped or didn't,

Kinda like using o2,
did it fix it?
Was it in your head?
If it was not used would I be in a chamber?

 

[Esprise Me]

one of the first things you learn in open water training is to NEVER try to recompress a diver by sending him back under water. O2, transport to ER.

Really? What agency is that? There's no mention of this procedure at all in my PADI OW manual. In fact, there's no discussion of what to do if you suspect DCI.

 

[Wibble]

Really? What agency is that? There's no mention of this procedure at all in my PADI OW manual. In fact, there's no discussion of what to do if you suspect DCI.

ISTR it being mentioned on the Rescue Diver course. Was a few years ago though. We had a discussion about it and it appeared that in-water recompression requires special skills, is difficult, hard to monitor the diver, CYA, etc.

But then again PADI people frequently utter the "no deco" mantra.

 

[Ayisha]

That's pretty good advice for new divers, but I'd hate to tell you how many of my friends have dodged a chamber run by doing exactly this.

Yeah, but did they do in-water recompression when things had already gone "south quickly"? That's what his Mom posted, although she didn't expound on what symptoms he was exhibiting.

It's a little different if you have more training/experience/knowledge and attempt in-water recompression preventively within 5 minutes due to an omitted or shortened stop and have no symptoms, especially far from a chamber. I know you know that, but people who might not consider themselves to be "new divers" might not...

Whatever was happening to this young man seemed to already be severe enough that Mom wrote that it "went south quickly" and she "put him back down in the water" to "simmer down".

 

[Kay Dee]

And in older dive stories like hard hat divers it seemed alot more common,
Also thinking about Richard Pyle's story...

Also it's kinda hard to proof if it helped or didn't,

Oh, it works alright and in all the case I am personally familiar with, not hard to prove it does.

Have used it on myself and treated other divers with relatively severe / severe symptoms in remote locations. It WORKS, but you better, ideally, have the right kit and know how to use it. (I carried a full IWR rig - dual surface supplied hoses for o2 and air with surface switch block down to 9m / 30ft, FFM with surface coms - a bloody nuiscence at times - drop line with seat harness for patient so ascent can be contoled from surface, laminated sets of run time tables, etc - in a Pelican case to remote locations, even to Bikini when I went there before it officially opened.)

I also ran a self treatmeant - without the above kit - at a Florida cave site back in the day. By the time I had walked up some steps and to the car, and doffed my twin set, I wanted to pee badly but couldnt, within another minute or so my legs gave out and, by my own choice, had to be carried back into the water by Larry Green and ?. And then ran a full IWR table from my head (missed total run time by only about 5 mins) while others ferried o2 botles down to me, with Larry being my watchdog.

Why IWR you may ask in Florida when chambers are avaiable? Not that day, nearest open one was five hours away. And when I did go to a chamber the next day for a check up was told - off the record of course - that if I hadnt done the IWR and delayed treatment driving the five hours to the chamber I would have most likely ended up with at least paraysed legs, given the rapid onset of my symptoms. (Although I wasnt there, something similar happend to a friend on a liveaboard outta Singapore, but he didnt want to do IWR, and because of the delay in getting him to a chamber is now, AFAIK, stiil using a wheel chair, unfortunately.)

But IWR is certainly NOT something to be done on a whim by untrained divers!

 

[Stoo]

Yeah, but did they do in-water recompression when things had already gone "south quickly"? That's what his Mom posted, although she didn't expound on what symptoms he was exhibiting.

I wasn't suggesting that that would have been a better approach with this incident. I was commenting regarding the blanket statement that in water recompression isn't a viable option ever.

And yes, I agree with your comments regarding when it might be a viable option.

 

[Tracy]

Forget all the other stuff. Let's go back to the boat and the dive.....one of the first things you learn in open water training is to NEVER try to recompress a diver by sending him back under water. O2, transport to ER. Sounds like someone eventually realized they effed this up from the start and are now trying to justify their actions.

I don't remember ever teaching or hearing that in any open water course.
It may not be standard, and probably shouldn't be done here, but it is a very real thing. There are classes taught about how to do it. There are even tables made specifically for it.

 

[Miyaru]

There's a big difference between everybody commenting on the IWR and the mother:

• You are all talking about recompression with oxygen, a tender, a plan and equipment; with the goal of reducing/eliminating bubbles formed during ascent.
• The mother was talking about hearsay-IWR with the goal of simmering down.

She is however right that DCS is no exact science. At least that's a positive thing in her story.
Does anyone still have screenshots of the posts that are now no longer visible on FB?

Really? What agency is that? There's no mention of this procedure at all in my PADI OW manual. In fact, there's no discussion of what to do if you suspect DCI.

ISTR it being mentioned on the Rescue Diver course. Was a few years ago though. We had a discussion about it and it appeared that in-water recompression requires special skills, is difficult, hard to monitor the diver, CYA, etc.

But then again PADI people frequently utter the "no deco" mantra.

The "no deco" mantra is used by all agencies at Open Water level. It's an ISO certification (ISO 24801-2 Diver Level 2 - Autonomous Diver) for diving within the NDL. Although "every dive is a decompression dive", decompression theory and IWR theory are way beyond Open Water level.

 

[Centrals]

IWR mentioned in OW training?
Not for me.
I suspect a lot of instructors would not know anything about it.