What does DCS feel like?

[wolf eel]

[BlueDevil

If you have information which is contrary to the often quoted stats that the majority of DCI cases are within accepted limits of tables/computer I would be really interested to know the source.

Cheers, BD]

Hi I am doing everything I can not to respond but. Diving within the tables (REC) is not the only thing that will stop the DCS hits. Opionon girl has a valid point. Hydration is everything. Most I think anyhow of the underserved hits come from vacationers that being said most drink a fair amount the night before and are in a rush to get out the door. So they are not ramdom at all. Most DCS hits are from poor diving health. If you are slammed the night before you can expect to be dehydrated but if you start to slam two bottels of water on your way to the dive site is not hydrating at all. And if you then get out of the water and go straight to the bar twos hours later then you have not off gassed enough. The tables are a general rule everybody is different how you off gas is a personial thing. We do not all off gas at the same rate. As for bends we would bounce to 120' 18 times a day before lunch and again after lunch and we would get skin rashes all the time at that time in life skin bends was not a real big deal as it is today. If it was a mild rash we would do the table thing with your feet up hi and your head down low it seemed to work. Today however they have more and better information about the body and how the skin bends can become a major problem.
Derek

 

[Diver0001]

The majority of the data in the Dan accident report (this is somewhat of an interesting and awakening read) is from cavalier divers, pushing the limits, or rocketing through them.

Although this by no means is a 100% accurate report, as it is only based on reported injuries, the # of diver error hits outweighs the "out of left field" hits.

Probably the knowledge that most hits are diver error give it the stigma...as for the training, I guess that would depend on the instructor, but I think the manuals do give an accurate warning.

Really? You don't read like I do then. What I see is a testamonial to what happens when you task load inexperienced and/or infrequent divers who don't have their buoyancy control sorted out. I'm sure there are some cavalier dives in there but most seem to be mistakes and/or problems that snowball out of control.

R..

 

[wolf eel]

[Diver0001

Really? You don't read like I do then. What I see is a testamonial to what happens when you task load inexperienced and/or infrequent divers who don't have their buoyancy control sorted out.]

This is not in defence of anybody but the testimonials in this thread say nothing about bad bouyancy control or task loading or infrequent diving. It seems they did it all by the book. But they must have done something wrong ? Maybe. And I think that is hydration.
Derek

 

[Diver0001]

This is not in defence of anybody but the testimonials in this thread say nothing about bad bouyancy control or task loading or infrequent diving. It seems they did it all by the book. But they must have done something wrong ? Maybe. And I think that is hydration.
Derek

Hmmm..... maybe I am the one off base here.

I don't know if you can draw conclusions about real DCS incidents based on what you see in this thread but from what I've seen about DCS incidents from teh reports I don't have the impression that most of them are caused by dehydration. I'm sure that's a contributing factor in some of them but the overwhelming impression I have is that most DCS incidents are caused by skipped stops and/or rapid ascents.....and skipped stops/rapid ascents aren't the root problem either. You have to look deeper than that. Who is making skipped stops and why? Who is making rapid ascents and why? That's what I'm trying to get across.

R..

 

[wolf eel]

[Diver0001
I don't know if you can draw conclusions about real DCS incidents based on what you see in this thread but from what I've seen about DCS incidents from teh reports I don't have the impression that most of them are caused by dehydration.]

Ok again Tec divers are not rec divers on a party to the carib. Unless you have away to get others to tell you the truth about what they where doing the night before you have no idea. I have been out diving and had people step from the water to the bar. And then look at me like I think I am above them because I will not drink. Then after a dive they feel sick. As I am typing I have never heard of Vacationing divers not drinking ? It's normall from what I understand. The other fact is we really know nothing about DCS and how it effects different people.

[ DCS incidents are caused by skipped stops and/or rapid ascents.....and skipped stops/rapid ascents aren't the root problem either.]

Their not it is mostly vacationers as you read here most do nothing wrong I could be wrong but I think that is what they are saying. I know for me the skin bends came from lack of hydration and bounceing up and down. And Smoking cigarettes they will induce all kinds of grief. I unerstand that part about why and so on but I still say that most of the WORLDS DCS hits are not any of those. More and more people seem to get bent even when less and less are getting certs. I think it comes from lack of diving instructors getting the health point accross. Where I live that could cost you your life as there is no chamber near here at all. And we seem to have more trouble with gear rentals failing then anything else. But thats another point on a different thread somewhere.
Derek

 

[lragsac]

Hmmm..... maybe I am the one off base here.

I don't know if you can draw conclusions about real DCS incidents based on what you see in this thread but from what I've seen about DCS incidents from teh reports I don't have the impression that most of them are caused by dehydration. I'm sure that's a contributing factor in some of them but the overwhelming impression I have is that most DCS incidents are caused by skipped stops and/or rapid ascents.....and skipped stops/rapid ascents aren't the root problem either. You have to look deeper than that. Who is making skipped stops and why? Who is making rapid ascents and why? That's what I'm trying to get across.

R..

I agree. While hydration is an important variable, I think it is incorrect to suggest, as wolf eel seems to do, that dehydration alone caused most of these DCS cases. I find quite a number of incidents in the BSAC report that are, in my opinion, due to diver error, i.e., an inability to properly and calmly deal with an equipment malfunction or emergency. I think skipped stops (or stops done at the wrong depth) and rapid ascents (regardless of what brings them about) are even more key here, as more current decompression physiology theories (and also evidence-based practice) indicate that the name of the game is controlling bubble formation and size. This is why the statement in the DAN report: "Research by Divers Alert Network(DAN) reveals that two out of every three divers being recompressed for symptoms of decompression illness were diving within recommended no-decompression limits" does not tell the whole story.

 

[wolf eel]

[lragsac I agree. While hydration is an important variable, I think it is incorrect to suggest, as wolf eel seems to do, that dehydration alone caused most of these DCS]

Thats not it at all. Diver health is what I am saying Hydration falls in that area.

[i.e., an inability to properly and calmly deal with an equipment malfunction or emergency.]

I think this still comes from diver health.

[I think skipped stops (or stops done at the wrong depth) and rapid ascents (regardless of what brings them about) are even more key here, as more current decompression physiology theories (and also evidence-based practice) indicate that the name of the game is controlling bubble formation and size.]

Skipped stops and such are a cause but why did they skip the stop and so on.

[This is why the statement in the DAN report: "Research by Divers Alert Network(DAN) reveals that two out of every three divers being recompressed for symptoms of decompression illness were diving within recommended no-decompression limits" does not tell the whole story.]

I don't think it tells the whole story either but it also say's there is more to it then skipped stops and rapid accents.
Derek

 

[lragsac]

Thats not it at all. Diver health is what I am saying Hydration falls in that area.

I think this still comes from diver health.
Skipped stops and such are a cause but why did they skip the stop and so on.
I don't think it tells the whole story either but it also say's there is more to it then skipped stops and rapid accents.
Derek

Diver health issues are predisposing factors to DCS. In my view, the more influential underlying cause of many of these incidents (from the BSAC report) is missed stops and rapid ascents. This is not a health issue. It is a skill and experience issue. This is not to say that there are not some cases in the report where health of the diver (say, presence of a PFO or asthma) most likely played a role.

 

[wolf eel]

[lragsac Diver health issues are predisposing factors to DCS. In my view, the more influential underlying cause of many of these incidents (from the BSAC report) is missed stops and rapid ascents. This is not a health issue. It is a skill and experience issue. This is not to say that there are not some cases in the report where health of the diver (say, presence of a PFO or asthma) most likely played a role.]

Mental health is your health. If you feel great about your health you will respond better to problems that you mentioned even with out loads of experience. The only point I am so very gingerly trying to make is that your health is important. If you are out drinking all night diving the next day may not be the best for you. Also if you do not take care of your hydration the second you have any trouble you are now dehydrating that will cause you grief that is going to be the starting point of your body failing you.
That all I am trying to say.
One thing is for sure we have no idea
Derek

 

[flw]

Going back to the original question, can only speak from my own experience of type1, deserved it, entirely my own fault - upper arm muscle, didn't feel like a sprain type ache, somehow different, nagging and dull rather than sharp, and a bit difficult to localise/ characterise in general - but still _sore_. Gradually faded over a space of 7-10 days or so