Drink and Dive... With what your describing, no big deal. But no one you hire with any common sense will assume the liability. So the answer most likely will be no. And drinking afterwards may have its own complications... I'd be more curious to know the effects of marijuana at depth I here of alot of people doing it... Not sure why anyone would think its ok, maybe because the boat captain only said no to drinking...
Drinking & Diving
- Thread starter billmosel
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phillybob
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Bubbletrubble
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What kind of data would you need in order to demonstrate that alcohol does not increase the risk of DCS?
Do you think that the DAN scuba accident database contains such data?
Rather than a retrospective observational study (case-control?), why not conduct a study that's more convincing? From a scientific perspective, it would be more convincing to do a prospective, controlled experimental study where you have age-/gender-/weight-matched volunteers randomly assigned to "drink" or "no drink" (need to decide how much alcohol to administer, duration of administration, time of last meal), sampled for BAC, and then subjected to aggressive dive profiles. Assessment could be in the form of Doppler bubble detection or clinical signs/symptoms of DCS -- the latter being more clinically interesting but potentially more dangerous for the volunteers. If desired, repeat trials could be conducted after sufficient alcohol "wash-out" (several days?).
It might not be too difficult to obtain funding from the beer industry to do this work.
Depending on where you conduct the study, you might not have a problem finding volunteers either.
I don't know if a link exists or not. For all I know, having some alcohol in the bloodstream might be protective against DCS.
Without evidence either way, people have to decide whether a lunchtime beer is worth whatever effect (positive/negative) it might have on DCS risk and the proven negative effect of diminished cognition and slowed reaction times (at least on humans at 1 ata).
By the way, thanks for sharing the African hunter story.
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I'd be happy with some good animal studies, for a start. DAN does not have the data and the more I think about how multi-variate statistics were used in the study that was cited the less I think that it has any meaning.
I don't know why you want to make it so complicated... if consuming alcohol <24 hours before a dive had a significant impact on DCS incidence, then the bend rate at Puerto Galera, Cozumel & etc would be double or triple that of LOBs or the Red Sea or wherever else alcohol intake is restricted
You go get some lab rats drunk & torture them, I'm going diving
You go get some lab rats drunk & torture them, I'm going diving
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It is somewhat frustrating that you continue to fail to understand what it is that I am talking about. Perhaps it is my failure to communicate clearly. I will try again.
I doubt that there is mouch problem with having one beer at dinner and then making a physiologically easy dive the next day. I expect that there is a major problem polishing off a fifth or rum and then making a cold, deep and arduous dive that takes you well over the no-D limits. In the latter case I suspect that any model yous choose to use is no longer valid.
It is quiet possible to plan to make a physiologically easy dive yet have it turn into a cold, deep and arduous because something goes wrong. I suggest that every time one enters the water one should do so as prepared for this possible as it is possible to be. While alcohol consumption may have little or no effect on the planned dive, it may put the diver at significant risk if things go wrong.
I don't think that the pleasure of an alcoholic beverage is worth the possibility of being physiologically compromised in case of an emergency, but then all of the diving that I do involves a level of responsibility for at least one other, not just for myself.
I think there is a point in Tortuga's post in that if alcohol consumption, three or four beers even, the night before a dive was a problem, then the chambers would have a waiting list.
But - as Thalassamania says, it does depend to some extent on the type of diving you are doing.
For the resort-type flopping about in the water that I do, all I can say is I know it happens, but without taking a blood sample from every diver every morning it's impossible to say how much alcohol a diver has consumed the night before... so this is clear water generally easy maximum 30 metre (but not for long) diving, super conservative, and even if no exact research exists, millions of tourists to holiday resorts go diving every year. In these locations, for sure half of them were less than sober the night before.
I am not advocating this behaviour, but I like to have a couple of deco beers after work with my customers, who - often being very boisterous Germans - insist on buying me beers after work - as is the case for hundreds of thousands of recreational dive guides and instructors worldwide... and we don't seem to have a queue for the chamber.
On the other hand - a beer between dives? No way. Nobody really understands "the bends", but we know that the relationship between gas dissolving out of solution and the function of the circulatory system is related, and alchohol, even in small doses, affects the entire body, including the brain.
Also - if the dive planned for the next day is going to be deep, cold, physically or mentally demanding, then for sure maybe a beer with dinner but preferably no alcohol at all.
I know that some people are going to read this and think that I am somehow unsafe but, like most of my customers, I like to have a few beers after diving. I therefore drink a few beers pretty much every day - I also dive 2 or 3 times every day. I am not alone!
And to put an edge on this post - a friend of mine, who has been doing this for more than 20 years, has had to deal with four fatalities. In each case, during CPR, the beer came up first. Moderation, folks.
This Sakara's on me...
Crowley.
what is meant by the term 'multi-variate statistics' as it pertains to this study. Sorry but even google couldn't splain it to this retard... so speak S L O W & C L E A R please.
Thanks in advance
I lost my Dad and brother to alcohol abuse, and two other brothers have ruined their lives because of it. My best friend Jeff has not dived with me in two years, as my fiancee is so afraid of a lawsuit should anything happen to him. If drinking before or soon after a dive is so important to you, I will be diving as far away from you as possible.
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