My first experience with Nitrogen Narcosis!

[charlesml3]

Gang,

I've been diving since 1981 and have well over 400 logged dives. Never experienced narcosis until this past week. Very strange feeling!

Anyway, we were in Cozumel and diving Palancar Gardens. Nothing really unusual. Current was light to none and visibility was 80 feet or so. Diving with a group of six divers, most of them new to diving. I was on EAN-32. This was the 10th dive or so for the week.

Most of the group was spread out anywhere from 45 to 75 feet. I was at 85' and basically just floating past a huge coral head. This is when things went a little weird. I noticed that I just wasn't enjoying the dive. I tried to figure out why I wasn't having any fun but nothing really popped out. I felt disconnected and almost as though I was watching someone dive on television instead of being there myself. I also remember feeling very sad and depressed.

At any rate, I knew the dive just "wasn't working for me" so I decided to abort it and head for the surface. Started finning up and passed 75', 65' and then at about 60' everything got magically better. It was as though someone lifted a blanket off my head. I drifted along for a minute or two trying to figure out what happened before it dawned on me that this was narcosis. I just stayed at around 60' or less the rest of the dive without any further symptoms. I then remembered that this same thing had happened a year or so ago and I never pinned it down to narcosis.

Pretty interesting experience...

-Charles

 

[bruce119]

Hey Charles

Thanks for the post I haven't experiacned it yet only been to 65' so far. This Saturday I will be doing my AOW and I'm curious to see how I handle it. I did grow up in the 60-70's and did a bit of partying so it dosen't scare me. Perhaps I will post my exsperiacne.

 

[charlesml3]

Hey Bruce,

I'm still sorting through the details. I think there were a number of things that contributed to this:

1) I had been doing a LOT of repetitive dives. Two a day at least. Sometimes three or four.

2) I had a little bit of a upper respiratory infection prior to the trip. It had pretty much gone away. Still the occasional cough but that was about it.

3) A somewhat fast decent. Not rocketing to the bottom but I was headed to that depth from the beginning.

At any rate, I'm not looking to make this happen again but I'm glad I know what my reaction feels like. I think next time I'll recognize the problem sooner and take steps to get out of the situation.

-Charles

 

[Petedives]

I would think that you were closer to oxygen toxicity than nitrogen narcosis.

EAN32 maxes out at what... 120'? EAN31 is good to 110, I have a tank I did the
math on right outside in the carport. I've done 80' on air and not even been close
to narcosis, although physiology, repetitive diving, hydration, and even sleep can
all have an effect. Still, I've never heard of anybody getting narc'd at 85',
especially on 68% nitrogen. I've also heard that oxygen toxicity in the earlier
stages can resemble nitrogen narcosis.

Peter

 

[Dive-aholic]

Oxygen toxicity doesn't come across that way. It happens pretty quickly and just puts you into a seizure.

The MOD for 32% is 110. Charles wasn't even close to this depth. What he experienced was probably nitrogen narcosis and I'm sure it wasn't the first, second, or even third time.

Nitrogen narcosis isn't always immediately evident to people, especially if it's subtle. I take students to 65-60' on training dives on a regular basis. We do some skills at that depth and every one is effected - everyone. It's kind of like drinking, you can get a mild buzz or completely wasted. At 65', you're just buzzed. The dangerous part of this is that most divers don't think they're buzzed. But your reaction time is slower. Your thinking ability is also affected.

Last week I was on a dive where I spent about 45 minutes with an average depth of 95', which gave me about 77' EAD. Well about 1/2 way through the dive, I unclipped my camera as planned and tried to turn it on. I kept hitting the button and the stupid thing wouldn't turn on. I thought maybe the batteries were dead. They had been in the camera a couple of weeks and I had taken some photos and they are a couple of years old (rechargeables). I thought, maybe I'm hitting the wrong button, so I shine my light on the housing and hit some more buttons, still no power. After a couple of minutes of messing with it, I just clipped it back to my harness and continued the dive. Later that night back at home, I grab the camera to take it out of the housing and notice the on/off button. I did not notice this button on the dive. I pushed several buttons, directed my light on the housing, and still missed it! I depressed the button (with the camera still in the housing) and the camera powered up. I had no other indication of being narced. No other feelings.

On another dive (this time to 140') I also had a similar experience, but at 80'. The plan was to drop down, run in a reel, check out conditions, ascend back to 80', recalculate 1/3s (signalling the new turn pressure to the team) and drop back down. I had 2700 psi left in my tanks and for some reason didn't think that was divisible by 3, so I dropped the number to 2400 and divided by 3 to come up with a turn pressure of 1900 instead of 1800. Simple mistake, but I'm a human calculator. I shouldn't have made that mistake.

Nitrogen narcosis comes in many forms. For some people it's a simple delay in reaction or thinking. For others its a euphoria (I've had these moments too ). For others its a disconcerting feeling that they don't want repeated. Fortunately I've never experienced the latter kind.

 

[mislav]

Pretty interesting experience...

Thanks for posting this Charles. I've heard that you could get narcosis at shallower depths, but never heard of anyone actually getting it. And thanks for your second post because it clarifies how you got there.

I only felt slowness once and that was after some extensive finning in a slow decent from 30m (98ft) to 40m (131ft). I didn't get much sleep the night before that dive and it got to me. Not an experience I'd like to go through again. I like my head clear while diving.

EAN32 maxes out at what... 120'? EAN31 is good to 110

According to you then, the larger percent of Oxygen - the deeper you can go? Might wanna re-read the Nitrox manual.

 

[charlesml3]

Peter,

I was nowhere near the oxygen toxicity level. This was the first dive of the day and I'd just served about a 20 hour surface interval.

Diveaholic,

How do you know this wasn't the second or even third time? Not that I'm refuting you, but I sure don't remember this ever happening before.

Mislav,

I wasn't terribly upset at the incident. I always wondered how it would feel to me since everyone has a different reaction. Now that I know what to look for, I'll be even better prepared to deal with it next time. The really interesting reaction was the overwhelming feeling of sadness or depression I was feeling. I felt like the dog had just died.

-Charles

 

[PerroneFord]

What an interesting discussion. The only time I can remember being narced was on the Oriskany at 120ft. I was swimming like a FOOL, trying to keep up with captain Ahab, and felt myself getting winded. Held the dive... And started to get "that feeling". The one that says you shouldn't be here and this is all wrong. I'm sure my Co2 production wasn't helping things.

On the other hand at 95ft in a cave early this month, I felt sharp and in control. That's not always an indicator, but I wasn't really having any problems managing my team or problems.

 

[Ocean One]

Okay, I'm new to this ScubaBoard, but is it a joke or am I missing something that you show "Logged Dives: None - not certified", yet you dove the Oriskany and caves. You're listed as a "ScubaBoard Veteran". You have almost 3000 posts! Please clarify what your real status is!
Ocean One

 

[DennisW]

You have experienced Nitrogen Narcosis before. You just were not aware. Most of the time we are not aware of the effects. If you dive below 30 ft (actually shallower) you are experiencing Nitrogen Narcosis. Go back to your OW text and read the part about Nitrogen Narcosis. If I am feeling Narc'd, I get an uneasy and almost paranoid feeling. I sometimes feel like I can't get enough air. Once, I actually saw something that was not there. If this happens, I ascend slowly to about 60 ft where the feeling goes away. After a couple of minutes, I can continue the dive. Contrary to popular belief, Nitrox does not lessen the effects of Nitrogen Narcosis.