Anyone had experiences and symptoms if nitro/narcosis at 90 feet.

[oszillodrom]

Well, the easiest way to find out would be to stay at depth (have buddy close by), stop swimming, relax and take deep and slow breaths. If it resolves, it's CO2 buildup, if it doesn't, it's narcosis.

 

[AfterDark]

I've been narc'd in 80FSW a cold dark 80fsw but I've been narc'd enough to know what it was especially this type, a dark narc. I had a real sense of fear for no apparent reason and was very light headed, almost but not quite to the point of dizziness. I do what I always do for a dark narc, pause, check my depth, time, gas pressure, and direction; then compare it to the dive plan. If everything checks out then IMO I'm fit to dive, nothing is wrong, buck it up and enjoy the dive. Works for me every time. If I have a buddy I'll give him my signal for narc'd the finger pointing towards my head rotating round and round then the OK. Other dives 100+fsw no apparent narc but there must be some. When in NC I didn't have but a handful of dive above 100fsw in clear warm water, not once did I "feel" narc'd on the dives below 100fsw. It all depends on you.

 

[tstormdiver]

I know exactly when I hit 85 ft at my local quarry, because I feel the Narcosis come on. Cold can also bring on Narcosis quickly & the quarry is 42 degrees year round below 50 ft. I do not even have to look at my computer any more to know when I have reached that depth,... almost like clock work.

 

[EastEndDiver]

This will maybe be a long thread with a lot of well intended opinions, the reality is it is different for everybody, like you mention your partner in crime did not feel anything, aldo, you may read comments that she was dramatically narced, we have something in common we both have a few hours on the clock diving, but I went to 130' and didn't feel any different actually little more relaxed, that suppose to be narced, still I had not any problems, remember everything, cordinate exercices accordenly, did all my rutine checks and see some fish, but accordenly to some experd all that was BS and I dreamed all that, and you can't remember whay you can't remember, I guess they were there with me during the dive but I didn't know they were there because it was a dream, at least they make sound their explanation like that, the curios part is that me and the instructors commented the dive in surface and saw the same things but it had to be that all 3 of us where dreaming the same thing.

As I have said before about your diving experience.........."You don't have a clue what you don't know."

 

[AfterDark]

This will maybe be a long thread with a lot of well intended opinions, the reality is it is different for everybody, like you mention your partner in crime did not feel anything, aldo, you may read comments that she was dramatically narced, we have something in common we both have a few hours on the clock diving, but I went to 130' and didn't feel any different actually little more relaxed, that suppose to be narced, still I had not any problems, remember everything, cordinate exercices accordenly, did all my rutine checks and see some fish, but accordenly to some experd all that was BS and I dreamed all that, and you can't remember whay you can't remember, I guess they were there with me during the dive but I didn't know they were there because it was a dream, at least they make sound their explanation like that, the curios part is that me and the instructors commented the dive in surface and saw the same things but it had to be that all 3 of us where dreaming the same thing.

Remy B. It is not possible to be at 130' and not be narc'd. You can not feel / know it during the whole dive and remember everything you did and saw but you were narc'd none the less. Usually when you find out how narc'd you are is when you need to do something that you don't do so well, at 130fsw it becomes nearly impossible. For me it's math at 120fsw I can't do simple addition or subtraction of simple single numbers, go to 80FSW no problem. Now if any skill you may not do well needs to be done at 130fsw you may be in for quite a learning experience.

 

[Storker]

I've heard the "you don't get narked above..." quite a few times. The most memorable example was when my son discovered he'd been narked at 29m on a guided dive ("hey, something's beeping... Uh, that's probably my computer... Uh, maybe I'd better check it?... Oh, yeah, check computer, uh..."). When we talked about the incident later, the guide summarily dismissed the story with "you don't get narked above 30m". Yeah, right.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/basic-scuba-discussions/362711-narcosis-insidious-subtle.html

 

[Akimbo]

Can you be impaired and suffer these narcosis symptoms for a brief period. I noticed mine went away as soon as I stopped for a moment and then slowly started to go upwards for a few feet as it got better. I am trying figure out if this could be CO2 build up caused by initially swimming to hard at that depth or possibly symptoms of narcosis because it went away when I decided to go up.

Which do you think? Should I just treat both CO2 build up and narcosis in the same manner. Thanks in advance.

Divers are “impaired” before we even get in the water due to all the gear and anticipation. Any distraction or stress impairs our ability to react the same, which is the basis of “normal”. So now you have to think about what level of impairment begins to compromise our ability to function without excessively greater risk than just being underwater in the first place.

That is where experience comes in. This is not a criticism to new divers, it is a reflection of how our brains are wired. We learn to cope. Stress is reduced as surroundings become more familiar. A diver might have hundreds of hours underwater in one environment less than 60' and get stressed on their first dive to 100' — due in no small part to unrealistic stories about Nitrogen Narcosis. Fear of the unknown is a powerful stressor.

Yes, different people do react to Narcosis differently and there are minor inconsistencies for the same diver day-to-day. Part of that is biochemical and part is mental, which is where coping mechanisms come into the picture. The biochemical component is Narcosis but the mental component is the difference between acceptable and excessive risk.

Part of Narcosis management is learning to limit the complexity of the task. For me, I have never had a problem with tying off a line with a bowline in 130', but I will use a shackle at 180' and won’t leave the surface unless there is a safety hook on the line for a 220' dive. The same is true in dive planning. You have to script and review the dive as depth increases. A dive plan of “meander around until I run low on gas or NDL time” is fine in 60' at a benign dive site. That’s not what I would do on the Andrea Doria.

We know that some symptoms of elevated CO2 mimics and exacerbates Narcosis. Fortunately we react to changes in CO2 very quickly. Narcosis tends to stay with us at depth. People can also experience short-term equilibrium distortions with rapid pressure changes. It can all be very disconcerting which adds to stress.

How do you tell the difference? Slow down, relax, and breathe deeply. What’s left after a few minutes is Narcosis. What’s left after a few more dives to that depth is you automatically coping with Narcosis.

In my experience the vast majority of Narcosis symptoms begin with, and radiate around, diminishing sensory function. Most people can compensate with greater concentration… to a point. The hard part is discovering where that “point” is. Progress to greater depth slowly, concentrate, and plan. You will find your own comfort level.

Narcosis is directly related to depth. It subsides with a lessening of depth…

I thought that would be accepted as a given. I hate to think what life would be like if it didn’t go away after returning to a shallower depth... like the surface.

 

[Diver0001]

Has anyone had this kind of experience. I was a wondering if any of you have ever felt this. My dive buddy felt nothing and she was doing the same thing I was. Is this normal? Have to admit it was a little scary. If anyone has some advise on this subject I would greatly appreciate it.

At these depths you should expect narcosis to start to play a role.

I know that they told you in your OW course that you can't adjust to narcosis but that's the "official word". In reality your body is always subjected to the effect, but you'll be able to handle it better one time than the other.

For example, I've been narced to the point where we needed to ascend at 36 metres, but I've been able to function normally at 46 metres ... and probably could have functioned fine at much deeper depths.... on other occasions.

See it as a snap shot. Today this happened. Tomorrow it might not.

R..

 

[Remy B.]

Remy B. It is not possible to be at 130' and not be narc'd. You can not feel / know it during the whole dive and remember everything you did and saw but you were narc'd none the less. Usually when you find out how narc'd you are is when you need to do something that you don't do so well, at 130fsw it becomes nearly impossible. For me it's math at 120fsw I can't do simple addition or subtraction of simple single numbers, go to 80FSW no problem. Now if any skill you may not do well needs to be done at 130fsw you may be in for quite a learning experience.

I'm not saying that I'm not narced, it is just that I don't feel the issues that most mention, when I did the 130ft dive, the instructor had make a math test adding and then dividing, and I did good, becuase I ask the instructor at the surface, in another class were I did search and recovery with another instructor we spend a good 5 to 10min at 37.4m taking pictures of a sting ray of good size and then loosing the knots of the lifting bag, getting all the air out of them and handeling the anchor we relocated, and most of my dives I had spend between 25 and 35m, I really don't notice any differences, maybe I'm narced since I hit 15ft because after I pass that mark I relax, at shallow water I'm very unconfortable I breathe a lot faster don't know why, maybe that is my effect on narced, I feel more relax at depth, don't feel bad or unconfortable at depth, I have also to mention all the dives were at caribbean waters 27 to 28C, no current as well, for what I read temp have a big influence, I did a night dive were we spent most of the dive at 25m, not actually deep but did not feel any different that the other dives, since as well they mention that darkness may have in influence as well but I never had a comment of my instructors if I did something wrong during my dives, like slow motion , careless, or in lala land, because I always ask them how I did, so if I did a mistake I can take it in account reviewed and corrected for the next dive, so far all good.

What can I feel later different of what I was feeling when I did my dives, honeatly don't know, maybe one day I really get narced and I will say uhmmm this is what they were talking about, it is said some days you get it some others not.

Like it had been mentioned nitrogen narcosis is a kind of grey area between individuals, it suppose to be present at all times, but individuals have different perceptions of it.

 

[100days-a-year]

Subjective,non linear and variable topic,I can do math in my head at 50m/164',difficult math.At the surface though I can do more complex problems,same with tasks.I have videos at various depths that show me the loss of speed and fine coordination in my movement.More constrictive wetsuits,cold and exertion exacerbate the effect.To say that anyone or everyone will have a specific reaction is silly.