vertigo the next day after diving

[IndigoBlue]

The dive plan:

Originally intended to do 2 dives both shallower than 25 ft with a 1 hour surface interval in between.

The dives:

Dive #1 max depth 25 ft, aver depth 20 ft, dive time 35 mins.

Surface interval 1 hour.

Dive #2 max depth 40 ft, aver depth 35 ft, dive time 20 mins.

The situation:

Buddies wanted to go dive deeper on the second dive than we had originally planned, so I let myself get pressured into it. Normally I would not have otherwise violated my own rule against reverse profile repetitive dives. I had read on this board and others that there was literature questioning the validity of avoiding reverse profile repetitive dives, and I thought maybe there might be something to it.

The aftermath:

The day after diving, I awakened with an incredible bout of vertigo, which lasted several minutes, while the room spun around me. This has never happened before, not in 30 years of diving.

The recovery:

It has been 2 weeks now, since the incident. No recurrences. No other indications as to what may have caused the unexpected vertigo, other than the reverse profile dive.

The conclusion:

Since the only unusual thing was the reverse profile, that may have led to the vertigo the following morning. I will therefore never dive a reverse profile dive again. I do not care what some other people may say about the risk being overblown.

The moral:

Choose your standards wisely, and stick with them, no matter what you may read otherwise on scuba boards.

Dr Vikingo, any thoughts on this matter? I know I did not give you a lot of facts, but then, I do not have a lot of facts either.

 

[stefo2]

Quote:
"I do not care what some other people may say about the risk being overblown."

Sounds like you don't really want to hear any opinions here, but I'll give mine anyway: With two short dives to shallow depths like the ones you describe (we're talking feet here, right, not metres?) I cannot possibly imagine that your feeling of vertigo the following morning (no other symptoms) had anything to do with the dives, let alone with the reverse profile, unless there was something else that you didn't tell or didn't notice.

 

[IndigoBlue]

Quote:
"I do not care what some other people may say about the risk being overblown."

Sounds like you don't really want to hear any opinions here, but I'll give mine anyway: With two short dives to shallow depths like the ones you describe (we're talking feet here, right, not metres?) I cannot possibly imagine that your feeling of vertigo the following morning (no other symptoms) had anything to do with the dives, let alone with the reverse profile, unless there was something else that you didn't tell or didn't notice.

I have dismissed the opinions here that reverse profile diving is safe.

 

[TechBlue]

I have to go with Stefo2 I don't think the dive profiles would have caused that single occurence of vertigo the next morning. As far as reverse profiles it has been established that it can be done safely (I have done it many times, crewing on dive boats you do what you have to do.) I think you should look elsewhere for the cause of the vertigo though.

 

[Charlie99]

With the dive profiles you listed, either some sort of ear barotrauma, or a non-dive related problem (flu, sinus problems from a cold, food poisoning, ....) would seem more likely.

 

[IndigoBlue]

With the dive profiles you listed, either some sort of ear barotrauma, or a non-dive related problem (flu, sinus problems from a cold, food poisoning, ....) would seem more likely.

I am currently quite healthy, Charlie, no flu symptoms of any kind. No problems clearing my ears during the dives either. Totally non-eventful dives except for the reverse profile aspect, and the vertigo the morning after.

I normally watch symptoms after diving and during the following day carefully. I am prone to think that this episode of vertigo the next morning was related to the dives somehow. My hydration was good too, as it always is when I am diving.

CONVENTID. It strikes me as a DCS hit. Even though the dives were almost insignificant, other than the nice long duration of the first dive, combined with the reverse profile of the 2nd. I am hoping to hear if Dr Vikingo has heard of anything like this in his career.

 

[rmediver2002]

It strikes me as a DCS hit.

A one time bout of transient vertigo is not indiciative of DCS or POIS.

I doubt it is related to the previous days diving.

Is there any other conditions you are aware of that may have contributed to the vertogo? (blood pressure, hydration, mild barotrauma (hearing effected at all)...)


Jeff Lane

 

[DocVikingo]

I'd like to open by commenting upon a prior poster's remarks about your dive profiles making it unlikely that this bout of vertigo was associated with scuba per se.

Given improper equalization upon descent or ascent, the depths of these dives were far greater than necessary to sustain barotrauma. While the profiles do render it unlikely that you sustained DCS-related involvement of the ear, this cannot be entirely ruled out.

What does make it improbable that your complaint was dive related are the time frame & symptom picture. Vertigo secondary to barotrauma of the ear is expected to occur at or very near the time of injury. While it can be somewhat delayed if a symptom of DCS, its appearance the following morning would be unexpected.

Secondly, a period of intense vertigo lasting only several minutes and then resolving completely & permanently in the absence of other preceeding or subsequent signs/sypmtoms (e.g., pain, abnormalities of hearing) is not the typical picture in either barotrauma or DCS involving the ear.

While the final word on the relative safety reverse profile diving may well yet not have been written, it is very unlikley that your dives caused this incident of vertigo.

This is educational only and does not constitute or imply a doctor-patient relationship. It is not medical advice to you or any other individual, and should not be construed as such.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[Wreckie]

Sounds like a bit of alternobaric (changing pressure) vertigo to me.

Ive experienced it on a number of occasions while diving:

Blowing a little hard to clear left me feeling like i was spinning around in circles on the bottom.

Reverse block after a 3m (15ft) dive left me unable to remain upright on the surface.

Both instances (and a few others) were releaved with either my ears popping (no not literally), or a squeeling of air back through my eustachean (sp?) tubes.

You could possibly have had a slight overpressure in your ear which had remained trapped throughout the night, then an early morning yawn/streatch and as the pressure is releaved your inner ear is affected causing mega vertigo until it can compensate.

could even have nothing to do with diving, a morning sniff, sneeze, cough, nose blow could all couse the same effect and are so much a part of morning routine you probably wouldnt even know you did it once distracted by the vertigo.

Sudden onset of vertigo, no other symptoms, then a sudden clearing with no repeat of the symptoms. You dont need cold or flue to have a sticky ear.

Mike