Hello All:
I had a dive accident a couple of weeks ago and wanted to be sure to post it so that others can learn from it. First, a little background on me as a diver. I have been diving for about 15 years and have almost 500 dives in my log book. I own all of my own equipment, have it serviced annually and tested it in the quarry before actually diving it in the ocean.
Two weeks ago I was diving the ledges off of the Wilmington coast on a spearing/lobstering dive trip. The weather was very good as the winds were minimal, waves were in the 2' range and it was very hot. The dives were excellent, although visibility was limited on the bottom and a 10 degree thermocline existed at about 75' for all dives during the weekend.
Saturday we did two dives, both in the 110' range, and stayed within the limits of my computer. The dives went normally and no problems were detected. After an early night, Sunday's dives went off without a hitch. Depths were about the same, I stayed within the limits of the computer and had no problems during the dives. About 10 minutes after surfacing from the final dive on Sunday, my fingers began to tingle. After another 10 minutes, my arms started to go numb from my finger tips to my elbows. At about that time, I figured out something might be amiss.
I put myself on 100% Oxygen and informed the captain that I was experiencing a probable DCS hit. After about 30 minutes on Oxygen my symptoms eased, however when I discontinued the Oxygen the symptoms returned confirming my self diagnosis. To resolve the DCS, I spent 4 hours and 48 minutes in the chamber at Duke on a Navy Table 6 treatment. My symptoms cleared completely and I am cleared to dive in another couple of weeks.
Analysis of my dive computer profile showed I did everything right. My ascent rate never exceeded 30'/minute. I did a 1 minute deep stop halfway up, did a 5 minute hang minimum on both dives. From everything I could look at from a dive performance analysis, I did the dive correctly. The problem wasn't with my diving, it was on the surface I had my problem.
It was very hot (over 100F) that weekend and I was having problems staying hydrated. Additionally, I was taking a new medication for BPH which caused additonal vaso-dilation which exacerbated my tendency towards additional dehydration. Dehydration has been implicated in many cases of DCS and was the primary culprit behind my event.
Lessons learned: 1) drink plenty of liquids, 2) use sports drinks to kick start hydration (I don't typically like these, but they do work and I will use them in the future) 3) check your medications to make sure that that new medication your taking doesn't have a dive implication (you will have to look carefully for this, most medicaitons are not tested for effects of hyperbaric environment so you probably will have to work at it). For additional information on medications and diving I would like to reference the following:
http://home.um.edu.mt/med-surg/mmj/17_01_3.pdf
For additional information on hydration I would like to reference the June 2008 of Dive
Training Magazine, Q & A section on page 101 which discusses hydration and diving. It has a very good explanation of the mechanics of hydration and its relationship to decompression sickness.
I was very lucky that my symptoms were minor and were completely resolved by recompression. Not only will I continue to dive within the limits of both my computer and training, I will also make sure I stay as hydrated as possible.
I had a dive accident a couple of weeks ago and wanted to be sure to post it so that others can learn from it. First, a little background on me as a diver. I have been diving for about 15 years and have almost 500 dives in my log book. I own all of my own equipment, have it serviced annually and tested it in the quarry before actually diving it in the ocean.
Two weeks ago I was diving the ledges off of the Wilmington coast on a spearing/lobstering dive trip. The weather was very good as the winds were minimal, waves were in the 2' range and it was very hot. The dives were excellent, although visibility was limited on the bottom and a 10 degree thermocline existed at about 75' for all dives during the weekend.
Saturday we did two dives, both in the 110' range, and stayed within the limits of my computer. The dives went normally and no problems were detected. After an early night, Sunday's dives went off without a hitch. Depths were about the same, I stayed within the limits of the computer and had no problems during the dives. About 10 minutes after surfacing from the final dive on Sunday, my fingers began to tingle. After another 10 minutes, my arms started to go numb from my finger tips to my elbows. At about that time, I figured out something might be amiss.
I put myself on 100% Oxygen and informed the captain that I was experiencing a probable DCS hit. After about 30 minutes on Oxygen my symptoms eased, however when I discontinued the Oxygen the symptoms returned confirming my self diagnosis. To resolve the DCS, I spent 4 hours and 48 minutes in the chamber at Duke on a Navy Table 6 treatment. My symptoms cleared completely and I am cleared to dive in another couple of weeks.
Analysis of my dive computer profile showed I did everything right. My ascent rate never exceeded 30'/minute. I did a 1 minute deep stop halfway up, did a 5 minute hang minimum on both dives. From everything I could look at from a dive performance analysis, I did the dive correctly. The problem wasn't with my diving, it was on the surface I had my problem.
It was very hot (over 100F) that weekend and I was having problems staying hydrated. Additionally, I was taking a new medication for BPH which caused additonal vaso-dilation which exacerbated my tendency towards additional dehydration. Dehydration has been implicated in many cases of DCS and was the primary culprit behind my event.
Lessons learned: 1) drink plenty of liquids, 2) use sports drinks to kick start hydration (I don't typically like these, but they do work and I will use them in the future) 3) check your medications to make sure that that new medication your taking doesn't have a dive implication (you will have to look carefully for this, most medicaitons are not tested for effects of hyperbaric environment so you probably will have to work at it). For additional information on medications and diving I would like to reference the following:
http://home.um.edu.mt/med-surg/mmj/17_01_3.pdf
For additional information on hydration I would like to reference the June 2008 of Dive
Training Magazine, Q & A section on page 101 which discusses hydration and diving. It has a very good explanation of the mechanics of hydration and its relationship to decompression sickness.
I was very lucky that my symptoms were minor and were completely resolved by recompression. Not only will I continue to dive within the limits of both my computer and training, I will also make sure I stay as hydrated as possible.
