Dci

[Walter]

Do you mean DCI or DCS?

DCS is decompression sickness AKA the bends.

DCI includes DCS along with mediastinal emphysema, subcutaneous emphysema, pneumothorax and arterial gas embolism.

 

[Lawman]

treatment essentially the same?

 

[Walter]

Yes, but the discussion was not about treatment.

 

[Norm]

I had a mild case of the skin bends once. I have had lots of niggles down through the years. (Deep dives and coldwater)
Norm

 

[Drew Sailbum]

I had tingling in one leg which began about 40 minutes after a rather long and deep dive. I assumed DCS and got on the oxygen.

Further evaluation by a diving doctor ruled out DCS. The tingling did not respond to oxygen and I also developed a rather odd symptoms - cold drinks tasted hot and vice versa. That made the diagnosis easy for the doc - ciguatera poisoning. Just rather unfortunate in timing.

 

[LUBOLD8431]

Drew Sailbum once bubbled...
...ciguatera poisoning...

What the he!! is that????

 

[scubaroyster]

from eating reef fish that feed on a certain type of algae in and around the reefs or fish that feed on reef fish that feed on it. Some of the toxins build up in the fishs' tissues. It is heat stable and water soluable, so eating something else in a restaurant that gets cross contaminated is also highly likely.

 

[Genesis]

poisoning is caused by eating contaminated fish.

Its NASTY and can have residual neurological symptoms for a loooong time. The "signature" symptom is that the sensations of hot and cold reverse (yikes!)

Any predatory saltwater fish in tropical (80F+) water can have it, with the odds going up with the size of the fish, as it is bioaccumulative. It is not destroyed by cooking as its a toxin, not a biological thing (like a bacteria or virus), so there is no way to make a contaminated fish safe (other than not eating it!) There is a field test for the toxin but its relatively expensive "per-use", and thus is not often used.

This, by the way, is why people say not to eat barracuda, but reality is that any predatory - AJs, wahoo, grouper and snapper along with others - fish from warm enough water can be contaminated with it as well. It is NOT limited to reef fish; anything that EATS reef fish can be contaminated too!

Dolphin (Mahi), due to their extraordinary growth rate, are less likely to be dangerous (they get big fast enough that they usually don't accumulate enough of the toxin to be dangerous before someone catches and eats them.)

 

[Gr8fldiver]

I recently had a conversation with my diving doctor about whether or not you could take a hit and not know it..ie tingling fingers but nothing else. He said that incidence of DCS in recreational divers is VERY rare and that you would for sure know that you were bent. I have never been bent (1000s of dives), have never seen anyone get bent, and only personally know 2 people that have ever been bent. One was a commercial diver.