Teenager with DCS, mother in denial, treatment delayed

[kaylee_ann]

Hi @kay_ann ,

Decompression illness is a sports injury, just like a torn ACL or sprained ankle. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and coupled with the machismo and ego culture that surrounds diving, it's easy to get the impression that somebody who got bent is somehow incompetent did something wrong. I've even heard personal stories from patients about their buddies giving them grief for getting bent, as if they were somehow less of a "man". That's complete hogwash and it increases the likelihood that divers won't report symptoms until they're more severe, which unfortunately decreases the effectiveness of the treatment once they do seek help.

Best regards,
DDM

wow, does that break my heart. those kind of remarks can hit hard and really hurt someone mentally. they may feel like a crappy diver at best, or have long-lasting effects at worst.

 

[ginti]

Decompression illness is a sports injury, just like a torn ACL or sprained ankle.

The comparison with a sprained ankle is exactly what I heard from a very (VERY) accomplished explorer. It obviously depends on the severity of the symptoms, but he told me that if I am serious about exploration, a DCS hit in my diving career is likely and by far not the worst thing that can happen.

 

[formernuke]

It is sad that we have this macho culture thing that says if you get this your a (insert here).

Been a long issue with our species. Look at the black death plaque. One would think with better technology we would get over it, we are a lost species.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

The comparison with a sprained ankle is exactly what I heard from a very (VERY) accomplished explorer. It obviously depends on the severity of the symptoms, but he told me that if I am serious about exploration, a DCS hit in my diving career is likely and by far not the worst thing that can happen.

Thanks for that. I hope that people who read this can move forward with treating it just like any other injury. It's almost paradoxical to me that the same people perpetuating the misconception would probably stop and help an injured person under other circumstances, say a bicycle accident, without judging them.

Not to you directly because I know you're familiar with this, but for general readership, this is not to say that the risk of DCS can't be mitigated. We can do things like not dive the computer to the edge of the algorithm, stay warm on decompression, modify decompression profiles after heavy underwater work, and learn to use higher pO2 breathing mixes where appropriate. It's just not 100% preventable, and the deeper and longer the dive, the higher the probability of DCS. Just like increasing your running mileage too quickly when you're an older person can increase your probability of plantar fasciitis (personal story!)

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

wow, does that break my heart. those kind of remarks can hit hard and really hurt someone mentally. they may feel like a crappy diver at best, or have long-lasting effects at worst.

That's why we work to educate people on DCS! You can be part of the solution

Best regards,
DDM

 

[kaylee_ann]

That's why we work to educate people on DCS! You can be part of the solution

Best regards,
DDM

I'd love to spread awareness to others. I've actually read up a bit on DCS and am kind of a nerd about it. Haven't talked to anyone really though because I feel they're not quite as interested as me. LOL

 

[boulderjohn]

Not to you directly because I know you're familiar with this, but for general readership, this is not to say that the risk of DCS can't be mitigated.

I was just thinking along those same lines. The last few pages can lead people to believe that because DCS can happen to divers who dive well within limits, then diving within the limits is of no value. In actuality, the risk of DCS for people who dive within limits is extremely low. The overwhelming majority of divers who stay within limits will never experience DCS.

A recent European study illustrates the confusing mature of these statistics. In the dives they studied, by far the greatest number of cases of DCS came to divers staying within limits. But that does not mean that it is especially risky to dive within limits, just as the fact that the over 90% of the people who die each year in Germany are Germans does not indicate that it is particularly dangerous to be a German in Germany. Probably close to 99% of people dive within accepted limits, so you would expect that most of the DCS cases would be among people diving within limits.

You sometimes see a similar confusion with statistics regarding cave diving. People who do not understand statistics see a report suggesting that half the cave diving fatalities are certified cave divers and assume that means there is no benefit to cave diving certification. That would only be true if an equal number of certified and uncertified divers were doing equally challenging dives in caves. In reality, only a tiny percentage of people diving in caves are not certified, so the fact that this tiny percentage makes up half the fatalities shows instead how important it is to be certified.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

I'd love to spread awareness to others. I've actually read up a bit on DCS and am kind of a nerd about it. Haven't talked to anyone really though because I feel they're not quite as interested as me. LOL

You are in good company here. The geek shall inherit the earth.

Best regard,
DDM

 

[ofg-1]

A dive that you made 20 years ago could very likely bend you today.

A dive you did 20 days ago could bend you today.

 

[tursiops]

A dive you did 20 days ago could bend you today.

Yeah, he is making the mistake that it is all due to being older/fatter/lessfit/etc, as opposed to it being due to the chance on ANY dive that you might get bent.
One hit in 10,000 dives sounds pretty good...but the statistics don't wait 9,999 dives before you get hit....