What is narcosis and why does it happen?

[psychocabbage]

There people go assumiung again..

Being your uber geek, I can safely say I am doing a hundred times more in my mind that most people around me do all day.. I dont stop thinking and being analytical.. I would welcome any test at depth.. I love tests! (Im the guy in school that not only finished his tests first but aced them)

I dont over check my guages. I will look.. get the number then try and estimate what it will be at the next time I look.. now to add for fun.. because I just have to (really, I HAVE TO) have stuff going on in my mind, I will look at my wifes or daughters and then start working on guessing theirs.. Often just glancing at theirs as I swim by to check.. Why? because I love DATA.. I sit in front of a computer as often as possible.
I love looking at number.. gathering more data than most people could tolerate and then playing sagain with the information to get more information out of it..


As for playing with my BC.. nope.. When I started I just thought it was fun.. now I find I dont touch my BC unless I am on the surface.. Deflate to go down.. Inflate once I am at the top.. I dont inflate to come up. I swim up. I find its way easier to maintain my chosen depths this way.

by the way.. this is how geeky I am.. This is my MPG for my car.. I bought it new and continue to update it to this day.. The only times I have missed and entry have been when someone has borrowed my car and filled it up without writing down the information or it was washed and turned into nothing in the washing machine..
Google Docs - 2002 Camaro Miles per Gallon Chart

 

[TSandM]

Me too ... but in my case that can happen at 30 feet ...

Glad to hear I'm not the only one. We're not narced, Bob, we're just old . . .

Nitrous oxide abusers show some liver toxicity and some neuropathy

If I hadn't just gotten off an airplane (and weren't so lazy) I'd look up the citation, but in the Rubicon Archives is a study of recreational liveaboard divers, showing that they developed liver enzyme abnormalities after a week of diving, whether or not they consumed alcohol on the boat. Whether this is evidence of bubble-related liver damage, or something nitrogen-related, is not known.

Psychocabbage, I'm glad you are completely convinced that you are never under the influence of narcosis, especially because I would hate to think of you down there waving your knife at potential regulator-snatchers while narced out of your gourd

 

[InTheDrink]

One aspect of narcosis that might have been forgotten to be mentioned in this thread so far (and I could be wrong, perhaps it has) is dark narcs. Whilst people generally associate narcosis with feelings of elation, undue carelessness, etc. it is also possible to have the reverse of these: a feeling of morbidity/dread/fear etc.

Just worth keeping an eye out for: if you start getting these kinds of feelings check to see whether depth is common factor (e.g. whenever you go deeper than 25m you start having these feelings). It is somewhat reassuring to understand that there is a purely physiological reason for these feelings and that they can be, to a degree, discounted. Again, rising a few metres will typically clear the narcosis.

J

 

[vtxkev]

There people go assumiung again..

Being your uber geek, I can safely say I am doing a hundred times more in my mind that most people around me do all day.. I dont stop thinking and being analytical.. I would welcome any test at depth.. I love tests! (Im the guy in school that not only finished his tests first but aced them)

I dont over check my guages. I will look.. get the number then try and estimate what it will be at the next time I look.. now to add for fun.. because I just have to (really, I HAVE TO) have stuff going on in my mind, I will look at my wifes or daughters and then start working on guessing theirs.. Often just glancing at theirs as I swim by to check.. Why? because I love DATA.. I sit in front of a computer as often as possible.
I love looking at number.. gathering more data than most people could tolerate and then playing sagain with the information to get more information out of it..


As for playing with my BC.. nope.. When I started I just thought it was fun.. now I find I dont touch my BC unless I am on the surface.. Deflate to go down.. Inflate once I am at the top.. I dont inflate to come up. I swim up. I find its way easier to maintain my chosen depths this way.

by the way.. this is how geeky I am.. This is my MPG for my car.. I bought it new and continue to update it to this day.. The only times I have missed and entry have been when someone has borrowed my car and filled it up without writing down the information or it was washed and turned into nothing in the washing machine..
Google Docs - 2002 Camaro Miles per Gallon Chart

Holy cow man all I have to say is WOW!

 

[princessaprilia]

....

Psychocabbage, I'm glad you are completely convinced that you are never under the influence of narcosis, especially because I would hate to think of you down there waving your knife at potential regulator-snatchers while narced out of your gourd

Okay. That's funny.

 

[Diver0001]

My most obvious sign of being narc'd is looking at my SPG, putting it back, and then immediately having to look at it again because I forgot what it read.

Yeah. When I was a relatively new diver I made a rescue of someone in at a depth considerably deeper than we're trained to dive. The situation was very confusing and weird..... It was at the very beginning of dive. Me and my buddy were decending to 130ft when we saw a diver who had decended right ahead of us start "acting weird" and sinking along a deep wall.... It turns out he was wrapped up in a big AS$ ball of fish line and couldn't reach his inflator when he started to sink..... I went after him and by the time I caught him. My depth gauge was pinned at 200ft (this much I remember) and I remember picking up my spg, looking at it and thinking *FK* and putting it back down and thinking "huh"... then picking it back up and thinking *FK* and dropping it again and thinking "huh????" .... only after the 2nd or 3rd time did I think to myself "FK the details.... just get the *FK* out of here".... My buddy, meanwhile, had come after me and was giving the thumbs up like he was having some kind of seizure.....

Thankfully it happened at the beginning of the dive because given how I acted when the **** hit the fan, I ran a pretty serious risk of becoming victim #2.....

So yeah.... getting to the point.... your short term memory is the first thing to go....

... but what I DO remember is that that guy still owes me a beer .....

R..

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yeah. When I was a relatively new diver I made a rescue of someone in at a depth considerably deeper than we're trained to dive. The situation was very confusing and weird..... It was at the very beginning of dive. Me and my buddy were decending to 130ft when we saw a diver who had decended right ahead of us start "acting weird" and sinking along a deep wall.... It turns out he was wrapped up in a big AS$ ball of fish line and couldn't reach his inflator when he started to sink..... I went after him and by the time I caught him. My depth gauge was pinned at 200ft (this much I remember) and I remember picking up my spg, looking at it and thinking *FK* and putting it back down and thinking "huh"... then picking it back up and thinking *FK* and dropping it again and thinking "huh????" .... only after the 2nd or 3rd time did I think to myself "FK the details.... just get the *FK* out of here".... My buddy, meanwhile, had come after me and was giving the thumbs up like he was having some kind of seizure.....

Thankfully it happened at the beginning of the dive because given how I acted when the **** hit the fan, I ran a pretty serious risk of becoming victim #2.....

So yeah.... getting to the point.... your short term memory is the first thing to go....

... but what I DO remember is that that guy still owes me a beer .....

R..

Holy moly ... I'd say he owes you one of these ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Diver0001]

Holy moly ... I'd say he owes you one of these ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Well Bob, the rescues get more amazing than this too.... the last one we pulled out of the water was one of those stories you hear about on "I should be dead".

The family asked me not to talk about the status of the victim at this point because the media can't let it alone.... but I can safely say that it was one of the most meaningful experiences of my adult life.

R..

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Well Bob, the rescues get more amazing than this too.... the last one we pulled out of the water was one of those stories you hear about on "I should be dead".

The family asked me not to talk about the status of the victim at this point because the media can't let it alone.... but I can safely say that it was one of the most meaningful experiences of my adult life.

R..

Wow ... dunno how I missed that thread. But if you don't mind, it's an excellent learning opportunity for my next Rescue class ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Diver0001]

Wow ... dunno how I missed that thread. But if you don't mind, it's an excellent learning opportunity for my next Rescue class ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Of course. I posted it for precisely this reason....

R..