Undeserved hit to inner ear

[vjongene]

That makes it a bad dive site.

If you want to have a look at the dive site from both topside and underwater, follow this link. The text is in French, but I guess you'll get the gist of it (lots of pictures). It is one of the nicest sites on the entire lake shore, and one of our club's favorites.

 

[DiveGolfSki]

If you want to have a look at the dive site from both topside and underwater, follow this link. The text is in French, but I guess you'll get the gist of it (lots of pictures). It is one of the nicest sites on the entire lake shore, and one of our club's favorites.

Qui Qui ... That's the extent of my french. Nice place. How deep? Cold?

 

[padiscubapro]

No one talked about booze. I am not even sure whether they were having a glass of wine or a cup of tea, and this was after the dive anyway. Yes, it was a deco dive. The victim was trained to do them, and followed proper protocol. Regarding the exercice, yes it could be a contributing factor. The fact is that at this site one has to lug one's equipment back up from the lake shore - no way to avoid it.

If there is no way around it a period of inactivity should be planned.. Peak bubbling for a nitrogen based mix generally starts about 30 minutes post dive strenuous activity will make this worse..

Also if you are doing deco dives I hope you guys are using the right gases and not decoing off your back gas.. While you are correcting the controlling tissues you are on gassing the slower tissues..

If possible do a real slow ascent for the last 3m/10ft ~1m per minute (3 minutes ascent from 3 ft)
Hang ou on the surface for 5 to 10 minutes, breathing your deco gas if you can...

If its that strenuos.. break up your gear to lighter proportions and make multiple trips.. a few easy trips is better than one really hard trip..

I have been in 6ft+ seas on the ocean and still hang out on the surface at least 5-10 minutes before climbing the ladder..

Just because they are "instructors" doesn't make them experienced at deco diving.. most of the accidents I see are from instructors who think they know more than they do... I would recoomed that if they are going to continue to deco dive find an experienced decompression instructor and take a class..

 

[Web Monkey]

If you want to have a look at the dive site from both topside and underwater, follow this link. The text is in French, but I guess you'll get the gist of it (lots of pictures). It is one of the nicest sites on the entire lake shore, and one of our club's favorites.

It's a beautiful place, I just don't like going back up 75 stairs carrying all my equipment after a dive.

It looks like a good place for a boat dive.

Terry

 

[Santa]

I learned this past Sunday that a buddy of mine had a "freak" accident the previous week. Here is what happened (second hand I am afraid):

This is a reasonably experienced diver, and one I know to be very serious about planning the dive and diving the plan. He was diving with three other guys from the club, two of them instructors, and buddied up with one of the instructors. The dive was one of our favorites: a swim along a wall, whose top is sloping down from about 6 m near the entry point to well over 30 m. Reach the top of the wall at 30 m, where a local dive club has erected a small memorial. Then follow the top of the wall back to the entry point, which makes for a nice gradual ascent with places to do deco stops if necessary. The profile of the buddy team included a descent to about 45 m on the wall, with a gradual ascent to catch the memorial. We have done this dive dozens of times without any problems.

The divers has some deco obligations at the end, which they followed rigorously. In fact, because one of them was diving with a Suunto computer, the deco stops were reasonably long (I do not know the actual times, but the Suunto showed about 5 min more than the Aladdins worn by the others). They returned to their cars, which involves climbing about 80 steps from the entry site to a fly bridge over the railway line (read relatively strenuous exercise). They put away their gear and repaired to a local cafe for a drink. While sitting in the cafe, my friend suddenly fell from his chair. He was very badly dizzied, and unable to maintain a sitting or standing position. He also started vomiting. One of the guys dragged him into his car and drove him to the hospital, which is only about 20 min away. He had two rides in the chamber, and was released on Tuesday. He apparently is still feeling a little dizzy, but has regained control over his posture. He was told not to dive for at least a month.

The most likely diagnosis for what happened is that a bubble formed in or near the inner ear. CAT scans at the hospital were unable to pinpoint the bubble. Doctors will be checking my friend for a PFO that may have allowed a bubble to travel into the arterial circulation and block the blood supply to the inner ear. There were no other symptoms of DCI. Scary...

I'll not be the one to determine whether it was caused by nitrogen bubble formation but I will say that extreme vertiogo may be brought on by abrupt pressure changes causing a kind of squeeze. I've tried a milder hit at a safe 10 metres which wore off in a matter of minutes, a friend of mine had a more severe one at 22 metres following a very rapid descent. symptoms were extreme dizziness and complete loss of directional sense.

Cold water rushing the inner ear after a ruptured eardrum may have similar effects

Unplesant granted but only lifethreatening in the sense that you may loose orientation and panic.

sincerely, santa

 

[Santa]

Extreme dizziness or vertigo may be brought on by squeezes due to abrupt pressure changes - if one decends very rapidly for example, the ear may not have time to equalize properly until you stop at the bottom or whereever. That sudden change can seriously affect the inner ear.

A similar thing can happen if you rupture an eardrum and cold water rushes the inner ear.

I've tried it at ten metres upon raising my head too quickly, and a buddy of mine at 22 metres because of either a too-rapid descent or possibly a hood squeeze.

That particular phenomenon wears off after a bit, for me it was a matter of minutes, but it is very unpleasant while it lasts, if you don't know what it is. There's a complete loss of directional sense, and I do mean complete - so the danger is in loss of orientation, nausea and possible panic, which may be handled if you are mentally prepared.

Note: I'm new to this forum and may have posted this, once already - I'm just trying to make it work

Sincerely Santa.

 

[pickens_46929]

I don't think there are any "bad dive site" per se. If we label dive sites as such, then some very interesting locations will never be explored. Case in point, I hear that "Hal Watts' Forty Fathom Grotto" in Ocala, FL is such a place. You have to go down at least 40 steps (here's an interesting article in ScubaDiving that covers it: http://www.scubadiving.com/travel/eastern_usa/great_spring_diving/3/) but the grotto has become a premier instructional facility. I've never been there but I'm certain there are more areas like it around the world.

Hal and crew (eg. Dan Patterson) emphasize taking it easy after an extended range dive. There are docks, benches and fill whips down to the dock. We did 2 days of training there last July. Left our gear on the benches, rested, changed and when we were ready to go finally schlepped the gear up the steps. It's not a bad climb -- everything is well designed.

 

[lamont]

The divers has some deco obligations at the end, which they followed rigorously. In fact, because one of them was diving with a Suunto computer, the deco stops were reasonably long (I do not know the actual times, but the Suunto showed about 5 min more than the Aladdins worn by the others).

Suuntos are not full RGBM, do not give deep stops, and are not recommended for doing planned decompression diving. Even though the Suunto gives a much longer 10' stop, it is still a 'bend and mend' algorithm which doesn't do deep stops. I'd be interested to know how they got deco training using their Suuntos.

 

[LavaSurfer]

This is a really interesting thread. I had not heard of PFO until now and so I did some searches on this anomaly of nature.

I have a small leak in my Arial valve that was found a few years back after a Doppler test and echo cardio. I also get Migraines with Aura probably 6 or 7 times a year.

The Doc never mentioned a PFO and maybe there isn't one but after reading several articles and the correlation between PFO and Migraines with Aura, I would be curious to know if I have one. Not that I would do anything about it but maybe some added precaution and a longer safety stop is in order. I did call the Doc and ask him to re-evaluate the echo tapes and see, just thought it would be interesting to know.


I guess it goes to show that a little rest and relaxation on the boat or beach is a good thing after a dive

 

[james croft]

In 1987 made a dive to 110 feet, staying within 110 fsw. I experienced no DCS symptoms, or pressure related problems with my ears, etc. Within a week or two I noticed I was having trouble hearing telephone conversations with my right ear and experiencing tennitus in both ears. Out of the blue I was hit by a vertigo attack that made me feel like I was in a centerfuge. These spells would often last 12-18 hours and I would become extremely dizzy with vomiting, etc. These episodes would occur 8-10 times a year, with no warning. It was pretty hairy at times, especially when it occurred driving down the highway. I do not know why I did not assosciate this with diving. I guess too much time had elapsed from my dive and the onset of these symptoms. I also blamed the ringing in my ears on exposure to loud noise. ( I was a police firearms instructor back in the day when there was not a lot of emphasis on wearing hearing protection). At about the time I started the medication my vertigo basically stopped, I did continue to have ringing in both ears and had a hearing loss in my right ear. I later went to a ear, nose, throat specialist and was diagnosed with Meniere's Disease. I was prescribed Meclazine, which was a diuretic and told I would be on it the rest of my life. A couple of years later a diving physician with Duke University diagnosed that I had taken a hit to my inner ear. He told me to discontinue the prescription. I have not had any more vertigo, since the first year. The lesson to be learned here is to be suspicious of any ear problems with assosciated vertigo, or ringing in the ears, call DAN and get to a physician who understands diving medicine. A chamber ride might have saved some of my hearing. Some symptoms may not be noticable or may be attributed to other causes.