Bent!

[Splitlip]

Maybe you can print and scan then post?

 

[Prof Diver]

Thanks for sharing this. It has really made me think how I go about getting ready for my dives and to go about these situations. As a young diver, the more I read and the more I see will led to better prevention. However as stated it can happen and will likely continue. But with people such as yourself sharing experiences like this, it will lead to people knowing more. And for that we thank you

 

[Teamcasa]

Tobin, I'm so happy you are doing fine now and I want to thank you very much for sharing your ordeal. Threads like this will, without a doubt, help others. Again, thank you and I hope to see you diving again soon.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

I had occassion to accompany a student diver to an ER once ( as a Diver-Medic, I was the most qualified on scene ); I was convinced he had suffered some form of pulmonary baratrauma in the pool. After assessing him ( he presented with both type 1 & Type 2 symptoms, though he was alert, w/ good vitals ) & placing him on O2, I called the local hospital, which had a recompression facility, & staff on hand trained in HBT. The Doc on call listened to the list of S&S, then ordered the patient taken to the nearest ER for assessment. I asked why we couldn't run him straight to his facility as I felt he needed recompression a.s.a.p. ( I'm not suggesting here that I knew more than the good doctor, it just seemed to be a waste of precious time to make a stop at a hospital with no chamber & no diving docs...). I rode ( in a 3mm wetsuit! ) with the lad in the ambulance & briefed the receiving ER Docs as to the incident & my assessment findings. They seemed a bit miffed that a relative lay-person was holding forth on hyperbaric medicine, thanked me for my time, & ushered me out. The lad's father showed up then & I filled him in with all that had transpired, then made my way back to the pool.


He called me about 5 hours later to tell me the lad had just arrived at 60' in the chamber & had significant relief upon arrival at depth. He completed a Table 6 & emerged with complete resoloution of symptoms.


I reckon hospitals have their protocols to follow & their tests to run before they committ to a specific course of action, and that very often takes time. Lots of time, at times. Thing is, as a Diver-Medic in the offshore oilfields, we routinely used a "test of pressure" to try & reconcile if symptoms were pressure-related. No Doctors immediately available, so in most instances of bends-like symptoms or suspected baratrauma, that was our protocol. We would get a phone-patch to a doctor a.s.a.p., but the t.-o.-p. was done immediately.


In retrospect, I liked our way better!


Regards,
DSD

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

I reckon hospitals have their protocols to follow & their tests to run before they committ to a specific course of action, and that very often takes time. Lots of time, at times. Thing is, as a Diver-Medic in the offshore oilfields, we routinely used a "test of pressure" to try & reconcile if symptoms were pressure-related. No Doctors immediately available, so in most instances of bends-like symptoms or suspected baratrauma, that was our protocol. We would get a phone-patch to a doctor a.s.a.p., but the t.-o.-p. was done immediately.
In retrospect, I liked our way better!
Regards,
DSD

Dan,

The test of pressure is the brainchild of the late Dr. Eric Kindwall. Dr. Kindwall's stated purpose for the TOP was to reinforce the decision NOT to treat in cases where a diagnosis of DCS was questionable. If a diver presented with post-dive symptoms and DCS was ruled OUT, he/she would be placed in the chamber and taken to 60 feet on O2. If the symptoms did not resolve, the decision not to treat was validated and the chamber surfaced. If the symptoms DID resolve, the diagnosis was changed to DCS and the remainder of the treatment completed; however, with the TOP, that was not the expected outcome.

Dr. Kindwall was a Navy diving medical officer in his early years, and retired from the Navy Reserve. Commercial and military divers are pre-screened physically and are typically in good physical condition, so in a symptomatic diver, the diagnosis is more likely to be DCS. In those cases, the TOP was considered by some to be appropriate, though it is now rarely if ever used and was never a widely accepted intervention.

Recreational divers, including tech divers, come from a wider variety of backgrounds, are more likely to be older, and are not as rigorously screened. In general, nebulous symptoms (like Tobin's) in this population are more likely to have a non-diving etiology, so general use of a TOP as you seem to be advocating would not be appropriate.

The case of your diving student is interesting, since Type I symptoms are not associated with pulmonary barotrauma. Perhaps this is why the receiving ED chose to work him up instead of sending him straight to the chamber.

Best,
DDM

 

[openmindOW]

I had occassion to accompany a student diver to an ER once ( as a Diver-Medic, I was the most qualified on scene ); I was convinced he had suffered some form of pulmonary baratrauma in the pool.

DSD,
The incident you reference is interesting. Would you be willing to start a Thread, perhaps in the Instructor Forum, on your incident? Did the student in fact suffer from a lung over expansion injury?

 

[t-mac]

The case of your diving student is interesting, since Type I symptoms are not associated with pulmonary barotrauma. Perhaps this is why the receiving ED chose to work him up instead of sending him straight to the chamber.

Good to hear there is a medical rationale for this. My first impression was that there was a fiscal motivation here. I'll take my cynic's hat off now.

 

[Scuba-Dog]

Hi and thankyou for posting your story I think I had a bend but it was during my open water in Cuba after finishing my exam we all went on a wreck dive it was a boat dive and looking back on it now with meny more years exp under my dive belt things didnt go well we exited the boat in choppy open water and were told to rapidly decent we all did there were 6 of u's in total we got to the sand at 19m and I became narced it subsided we dove for around 40 min and the assended to do our 5m 5min safety stop I could hear beeping computers all around me I was nex to the dm following him little did I know he was going after a girl who was ascending rapidly we got to 5 m and I didn't feel good I was dizzy and my nose was hurting we waited my dm could see I didn't feel good and after the stop serfaced to find no boat my nose was bleeding witch stoped after the long hour wait in choppy sea we got back I felt tired put it down to diving and went to sleep day later I was fine apart from a red blotch on my shoulder and a stiff neck day after returned to the Uk things got worse now all of my body was stiff and the blotch had spred went to the hospital explained I had been diving they gave me medicine fir a sting and told me I would be fine a week past still not good now had more red almost a band around me went back got told shingle,s and set home a month later I felt fine can't help thinking this was dcs I still think about this at times now I'm rescue d and efr I know we shouldn't have been at 19 m and lots more mistakes were made , what do you all think ?

 

[ermaclob]

Wow, scubaboard would ban me if I would right out every bad word I said as I read this.... I take it u had coverage...