What to do if you ascend too quickly?

[Seaduced]

So to recap... the prudent actions are... if you do a rapid/uncontrolled ascent from 90fsw, with no deco obligation, you should call it a day ? Use O2 if available and watch for DCS symptoms? If there is a deco obligation, use O2 and seek medical attention immediately?

 

[DCBC]

So to recap... the prudent actions are... if you do a rapid/uncontrolled ascent from 90fsw, with no deco obligation, you should call it a day ? Use O2 if available and watch for DCS symptoms? If there is a deco obligation, use O2 and seek medical attention immediately?

Assuming that decompression was required and the decompression stop was 20' or less (which was the case with a 15 foot safety stop) the U.S. Navy Diving Manual suggests that if the diver has been on the surface for less than 1 minute (which was the case) that the dive be continued. One minute is added to the decompression obligation. If the diver did not have a decompression obligation, s/he could exit the water and be observed for one hour (without the need for oxygen therapy). As the diver in this case arguably had a decompression obligation (safety stop), he did the right thing by descending to complete his profile. If he took the position that he didn't have a decompression obligation, he could have just left the water.

 

[Scott L]

Paralysis and Death come to mind as two potential downsides...

The events he probally was most anxious to avoid. I realize it is far too risky to suggest for the public at large but who is to say he did not prevent a DSC event with his crude IWR. His likely PPO does not look too far off from what would have occured top-side after the onset of symptoms and posiable physical damage.


http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/dspace/bitstream/123456789/5865/1/SPUMS_V30N3_9.pdf

 

[Scott L]

So to recap... the prudent actions are... if you do a rapid/uncontrolled ascent from 90fsw, with no deco obligation, you should call it a day ? Use O2 if available and watch for DCS symptoms? If there is a deco obligation, use O2 and seek medical attention immediately?

Good summation. My question is who is the definative source for such information as it relates to more experienced divers and opertations?

 

[lowviz]

So to recap... the prudent actions are... if you do a rapid/uncontrolled ascent from 90fsw, with no deco obligation, you should call it a day ?

Yes.

Use O2 if available and watch for DCS symptoms?

Yes.

If there is a deco obligation, use O2 and seek medical attention immediately?

Yes.


What would I do if asymptomatic? Consider my dive profile up to this point (including how long on surface), consider the ocean conditions, check my gas(es) for content and amount remaining, tell somebody what I'm doing, and start a 5 or 10 minute USN missed stop procedure. Flame away...

If exhibiting symptoms, much too big of a problem to go it alone.

 

[DCBC]

My question is who is the definative source for such information as it relates to more experienced divers and opertations?

If I understand your question, I suppose that would depend upon to whom you are responsible to: for a Navy Diver it would be the Naval Code of Practice and diving regulations, Commercially it would be to follow the company safety policies and the IMCA D014 Code of Practice for Diving Operations.

As a Recreational Diver, it's largely up to his/her judgement and after-the-fact, the Physician / Hyperbaric Physician that is in-charge of patient management.

 

[The Chairman]

If there is a deco obligation, use O2 and seek medical attention immediately?

Yes.

Negative. You do not need to seek medical attention if you are asymptomatic.

 

[Madacub]

I think the OP (and myself) were just asking general "what if" questions in order to further our edukayshun. It's always good to ask questions of those with more experience.

Texasdivechick: FWIW, I'm not sure it's always a good idea. In general, be careful when getting medical advice (or any other advice that affects what you hold dear) from strangers in a quick answer scenario. In particular, on the internet, be very careful.

I'm sure we've all noticed original questions that are really incomplete and don't paint the full scenario. Then responses come in that make assumptions to fill out those scenarios, often without really stating those assumptions. That's problematic. Then poster # 10 introduces a slightly different scenario, and poster 15 responds to this scenario without being clear, then poster 20 responds to the OP without being clear about scenario. Just be very careful.

I'm not sure my education has been advanced by all of the posts on this thread. Some yes, some hardly. At least one has a typo that I think changes the intended meaning.

I understand that new divers are interested in this question, but it still belongs in the Marine Science and Physiology section. It says "Post all medical questions related to decompression or diving here."

 

[Madacub]

As a Recreational Diver, it's largely up to his/her judgement and after-the-fact, the Physician / Hyperbaric Physician that is in-charge of patient management.

DCBC, for recreational diving, why not DAN? The question from Valhalla was "My question is who is the definitive source for such information as it relates to more experienced divers and opertations?"

 

[Diver0001]

Can you help me understand this? What should the diver have done? If you ascend too quickly, does diving back down and ascending properly helpful?

I haven't read the other responses yet so forgive me if I'm repeating.

1) prevention is better than cure. a fully competent diver CANNOT and WILL NOT make a 90ft uncontrolled ascent. The first issue here is training and/or the handling of the individual diver. Before the next dive, someone has to take THIS bull by the horns.

AT the very most if it was a no-ndl dive I would send them back to 10 metres to do 1 min at 10, 1 min at 8, 5 min at 6 and 10 min at 4.5 metres. That's more decompression than any ndl dive would need. If they got symptoms after that, then I would be amazed.

2) I'll admit that I don't have any direct experience with what you're describing but *assuming* it happened I would have the knee-jerk reaction of putting the diver on 100% O2 and watching their status for signs of DCS.

R..