why do I keep getting narked

[s7595]

I seem to need some help .the last 3 dives I have done down to 90' fresh water ,I have gotten narked.now I have been to 105' on several ocasions and no problems.the first time I did not get a lot of sleep the night before the dive.the last 2 dives lots of sleep,lots of water .the dives were on air .the thing that bugs me is I want to go tech and I see this as major problem.does anyone have any ideas?I have 67 dives to date,nitrox cert,aow,ssi wreck cert.cold water most of the time,these dives in warm water spring.
thanks for all your help

 

[Derek S]

I'd venture to say that each dive is different, and that they all effect our bodies differently. For as much as we know about diving's effects on the body, there is probably that much more we don't know.

I hope things work out for you though.

 

[NauticalbutNice]

Narcosis is a tricky issue.

To quote wedivebc:

"There are some who believe that is true [that you can build up a tolerance to narcosis], including the president of a very well known technical training organization however there is no accurate way to quantify narcosis. It's like does a drunk actually drive better or has he just adapted to the impairment?
Most people believe narcosis is going to affect everyone below about 80ft but the degree to which it does is very subjective. It also affects people differently on different days."

And to quote Dr Deco:

"Narcosis is a highly variable effect. It is for this reason (among others) that an individual is always constantly present when inhalation anesthetics are being administered. There is not a set dose for every given body weight. It is so variable that an anesthetic dose for one patient could kill another.

In a similar fashion, nitrogen (really just another anesthetic gas) is variable from diver to diver in the effect that it will produce. I suspect that much of the “accommodation” that is noted is simply a reflection of the ease of a repeated procedure."

Factors that some people think may contribute - speed of descent, stress, exertion.

Narcosis can appear at any time, but the effects can be slightly compensated for by diving lots. The more experience and relaxed a diver you are, the better you will (probably) be able to compensate for narcosis.

However EVERYONE gets narked at some point, and it can be dangerous. You can't avoid it, no matter how good or experienced a diver you are.

Good luck and happy diving

Nauticalbutnice :fruit:

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Your body is going to react to each dive day differently. I understand your concern, I was so narced on the final certification dive (I was just following along while they ran their dive plan) with a pair of students one day that I couldn't figure out why they were just hanging out by a boat in the quarry shallows and not moving. Time passed, they surfaced and I continued to hang there beside the boat watching them and wondering what was going on when one of them gives me a sharp up signal (basically yelling at me to get up there) and I wandered on up still in a fog. I surfaced and asked what was wrong and I felt like a real idiot when he said the dive was done and he was wondering what was wrong with me. That's when it dawned on me they had been doing their safety stop by the boat DUH! That narcosis is sneaky.

Getting enough rest and plenty of water is definitely a step in the right direction. Making sure you don't end up building up excess CO2 in your system is another, pay attention to your breathing. I know when I'm cold, especially if my hands are cold, I tend to take shorter shallow breaths if I'm not paying attention.

Tech training is most likely going to involve mixed gas and that should help with the narcosis.

Read "Shadow Divers" it has some good advice about recognizing and dealing with the narcosis when it does appear.

Good luck!
Ber

 

[H2Andy]

yeah... narcosis is going to vary from dive to dive, depending on a variety of
factors, including cold, stress, fatigue, carbon dioxide retention, and prior use
of alcohol or sedatives.

also, as it has been said, how fast you descend and how much effort you
make below will affect how narced you get.

here's a page from Diving Medicine OnLine:

http://www.scuba-doc.com/nitronarc.html

 

[Uncle Pug]

I don't know why you are picking up on the narcosis more in warm clear spring water... a possibility is work swimming against a current causing CO2 retention which exacerbates narcosis and gives what I call a dark narc... not the pleasant warm nitroglow but a feeling of impending doom.

Still, most everyone is narc'd at 90'... many just can't feel it. Switching to EAN50 for deco at 70' after being on trimix is an eye opener.

 

[mempilot]

The deeper you go, the more narced you're going to get. It's a simple fact of science and physiology. You say you are going tech. Take a trimix course and eliminate a fraction of the N2 to bring your equivilent narcotic depth to a level that is reasonable for you. Many divers like their END to be no deeper than 100 fsw, but if you don't like what you feel at 90, then you may want to shoot for an END of around 60. It's all a matter of safety factor and money.

 

[skeet]

I made my deepest dive, 102ft, in a slow process going down along some coral towers in Cozumel. No problems and I was telling myself this feeling has got to be narcossis and I kinda like it. The next day we did the shipwreck dive, worst current I ever experianced, went very quickly down the bouy line to get on leeward side of ship. Touched sand at 81ft and it hit, felt strange, panicked. No trouble equilizing and no pain at all. Tryed to talk myself through it, focused on my computer, closed my eyes, nothing helped untill I rose 10ft headed for the railing and it instantly quit with no recurrance for duration of dive.

 

[Mako Mark]

I understand your concern, I was so narced on the final certification dive (I was just following along while they ran their dive plan) with a pair of students one day that I couldn't figure out why they were just hanging out by a boat in the quarry shallows and not moving.

That's when it dawned on me they had been doing their safety stop by the boat DUH! That narcosis is sneaky.

Rabbit... are you saying you were narked at a safety stop???


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you can reduce the impact of narcosis (note you cannot reduce the effect) by descending slower, and doing everything at half the speed that you normally would. Narcosis does not really affect whether you can do things or make good desicions, but rather the speed at which you can do them.

A good example is; how long it takes to look at your watch. Normally about one second is sufficient for your brain to absorb the information it is giving you, so you arm is trained to hold it in front of you face for about that amount of time. When you are narked, it could take twice as long for the nerve cells to react, so id you take it away at the normal time, the information hasnt had time to be processed yet.

THe effects of narcosis are very subtle, but being aware of them is the first step. Focus, concentrate on only one thing at a time and leave nothing to chance. Do not let yourself wander from your dive plan as you planned it while not narked, with the exception of when you cut it shorter or shallower.

Dive safe.

 

[mempilot]

I was at 185 feet one time when a large jack once told me about the affects of narcosis. I started to take notes.