Uncontrolled ascent

[DandyDon]

The guy is no longer experiencing DCS....The post originated 2.5 years ago.

Yep - I'm goofy here, even though I was following a recent post.

Hope he's doing well.

don

 

[jplacson]

In this kind of situation... how many hours after the dive can these symptoms be less likely dcs related?

 

[Krisscuba]

Shame on you for grabbing your buddies fin.

In 97 my wife and I did two back to back 60' drift dives in the Gulf Stream. When we were out of time I signaled her to surface with me. She refused, having a lot of air left and continued with the group. We were first in on both dives and last out on the last, and one of the other divers had a computer. This is why you don't share computers

When my wife surfaced some time After me, she became bent.

If someone wants to jump off a clif, don't hang on

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello John:

DCS, briefly

“The bends” that is joint pain usually appears within an hour of surfacing. It can appear up to several hours, but the limit is roughly 24 hours. If you are on an airplane, Subclinical problem can appear because of the lower pressure in the cabin.

Neurological problems likewise have an upper limit of about 14 hours. However, many of these neurological signs and symptoms appear within a few minutes of surfacing.
Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[jplacson]

Thanks Doc! You've really helped this paranoid hypochondriac diver rest easy 36 hours after my very first uncontrolled ascent... my buddy and I basically missed our safety stop cuz we got caught in a MAJOR upcurrent (not only was it an upcurrent, but it was a spinning one at that!) .... I was able to control both our ascents to within 1 bar of my Suunto... up until the last 15 feet (which I know to be the worst) ... then the current just spat us up to the surface! This was my first dive for the day (previous day, I had 2 dives... 18 hours SIT) I didn't do anymore diving that day since I read that repetitive dives after such a dive accelerate the growth of microbubbles. My Suunto freaked and wanted me to go back down to 15 feet to finish the stop, but the current was too strong. It didn't go into Error mode, it just gave me an extended SIT... which I decided to do a 'no more diving today' thing.

I had no symptoms of any kind upon surfacing... no fatigue, no pain, no tinggling, no aches, pains or anything at all... in fact, I felt like I dove on trox. But just the same, I was trying to observe myself for any possible signs... and now 36 hours later, I felt a small twinge in my shoulder for about 30 min then it went away... I was worried it was some type of delayed microbubble thing.. since I don't know anything about the physiology of it all, my paranoid side kicked in...I started itching, and suddenly, I felt tinggling in my left arm! (you know how that goes when your paranoid) Anyway, I think I was just leaning on my arm rest the wrong way cuz its almost gone now.

So basically, if I'm symptom free for the first 24 hours, it's highly unlikely that any symptom beyond this time frame (assuming I'm not at altitude) isn't DCS related... and my previous profile is well within limits.

Thanks. Now I can sleep.

 

[gj62]

Hello John:

DCS, briefly

“The bends” that is joint pain usually appears within an hour of surfacing. It can appear up to several hours, but the limit is roughly 24 hours. If you are on an airplane, Subclinical problem can appear because of the lower pressure in the cabin.

Neurological problems likewise have an upper limit of about 14 hours. However, many of these neurological signs and symptoms appear within a few minutes of surfacing.
Dr Deco :doctor:

I was talking to a woman recently that had been diving with a computer (UWATEC) and said she experienced a mild "achiness" in her joints similar to what you would have with the flu a few hours after 2 dives that day. The computer never went into deco (which I know isn't a sure thing). She was told that given her profile (never within 5 minutes of a deco on the computer) and the fact that she did a 5 min stop at 20fsw, it was likely something other than the bends. I'm not so sure. However, it has been about 6 weeks since the event.

Is there any way for her to know what is was?
Do the bends leave any type of trace?

She indicated that the pain came on about 1 hour after the dive, and was gone by that evening. She continued to dive the next day (3 dives, first over 100') and never saw a recurrence of the symptoms.

If this could have been a mild case of DCS (at least it does not sound more than mild...) should she take any special precautions in the future?
Is there any data to point to a difference in susceptibility based on gender?

Thanks...

 

[jplacson]

I've heard that recent studies show that women are more prone to DCS than men. Something about the way the female body stores fat.

AFAIK, Uwatecs are a bit more liberal than Suuntos... on my incident a couple of days ago, I was far from my NDL limit since my buddy developed a strong leak in her SPG, so we had to surface... during our ascent, my computer was reading about 1/2 of the N2 loading graph, and a lot of bottom time as we ascended since we aborted our dive early on.

A friend of mine was saying that Suuntos really cut your bottom time over other computers... he said that Oceanics give you about 8 min more bottom time over Suuntos, and Uwatecs about 4-5 min more.

All I know is, I'm thankful for my buddy's OOA incident, and my "conservative" computer... had she not run out of air, we would've been closer to our NDL, and an uncontrolled ascent might've resulted in the bends. And because Suuntos ascent rate freaks out quite easily, I usually stay below 2 bars during ascent. I know it's not a sure thing... but at least inspite of the incident; my computer, my buddy's leak...all contributed to what was a safer dive...so the ascent, as bad as it was, wasn't as bad as it could've been.

 

[jplacson]

Oh, btw... with regards to my incident... was it better that I just stayed out of the water? Or should I have gone back down to 15-20ft to complete my safety stop?

 

[fins wake]

I've heard that recent studies show that women are more prone to DCS than men. Something about the way the female body stores fat.

There is specific discussion of this very assertion in Diving and Subaquatic Medicine (4th edition, page 610). The authors argue that reputable studies to support this assertion are conflicting and discuss possible weaknesses pertaining to each study.

 

[fins wake]

Oh, btw... with regards to my incident... was it better that I just stayed out of the water? Or should I have gone back down to 15-20ft to complete my safety stop?

Second-guessing you, for what it's worth, I think you did exactly the right thing.

The currents were a clear problem this day, and that raises the stakes considerably. Currents, fatigue, stress. Drowning is a very real risk if you return under these conditions and it is pretty terminal ...

... as for any possible flip side, well, you are almost symptom-free. Even assuming you actually did feel some delayed type 1 DCS in your shoulder (which I think is not very likely), I'd venture (and please note that I'm speculating) that most hyperbaric medical personnel would take no further action as it turned up 36 hours after the event and only lasted 30 minutes ...

Now, if you had experienced this very same symptom immediately or shortly after the dive, I'd venture that the same doctors would react completely differently and treat you immediately. There are in fact two almost identical case study discussions just on this very topic (!) in the afore-mentioned Diving and Subaquatic Medicine tome.

Please note, folks, these are my private opinions second-guessing and thus concurring with John's actions in this particular case.

Anybody who feels bad after a dive should of course seek immediate medical attention.