narced

[scubadude79]

It is possible. We had a diver (16yo boy) that got narced at 35 ft (roughly 10.7 meters). This was his 3rd dive of the day and he showed no symptoms before at the same depth.

 

[Drewski]

Oh joy, another narcosis thread.

As I've mentioned before, and just to keep this educational for those who are interested in the topic, I always suggest reading the information presented in this link and this DAN article...

There's always plenty of opinion and misinformation floating about out there.

Food for thought...

 

[samaka]

I am a real believer that nitrogen begins to fog the brain at shallow depths (the Martini rule), but the effect is usually mild about the 100 fsw or so level.

Here is something that I totally agree with. I read an article by the famous Swedish Hyperbaric Physician Hans Örnhagen where he describes the observations from thousands of chamber treatments. He's got statistics hinting that Nitrogen Narcosis starts to show (you won't necessarily feel anything) already at depths like 8 metres. With some people really strong, making them slow and lose judgment. This is interesting and could be an explenation to some of those "randome unexplainable" dive accidents in shallow water.

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[Riger]

Very interesting, could this also be a part of why, for some people, just being underwater is enjoyable irrespective of the amount of scenery? I know that for me I have no "perceived" effect down to 30m (felt yucky on the one occasion I went to 42m, but not "drunk"). I do however feel euphoric under the water when I am there.

Regards

Richard

 

[toefa]

Hi guys..

Thought i'd throw in my first post here..

I was wondering about the feeling after a dive? I havent had the feeling of being narced as yet, but after every dive - or after a day of diving i am usually feeling pretty euphoric and after a beer, feel drunk. Is that a common thing?

I would also agree with one of the posts above, having been under the influence of pot and alchohol for a good part of my early life, i feel that my tolerance to nitrogen build up may be better than others?

Sorry for the hijack

 

[samaka]

There is no such thing as building up a tolerance to nitrogen narcosis. This is like saying that if you boil the same water 20 times it will reach the boiling point later and later. Nitrogen narcosis is a physical law. If you imagine how a water hose in your back yard being squeezed makes the water flow slower. This is what happens to you on depth. Your nerves get "squeezed" by nitrogen the signals to and from your brain are slowed down. This is not something that you can build up tolerance to. It's also not possible not being narced. Everybody get it without exception. When I teach an AOW course or a Deep Specialty I always say "we make this dive to make sure you realize that you are narced, not to see if you are." Any one coming up saying I didn't feel a thing and we have to do it again!

I think this is a little bit like "I'm not drunk"... For some weird reason it's cool and manly not to get drunk from drinking beer... (it's not economical that's for sure) and the same thing goes for nitrogen narcosis. It's almost like you are admitting to be weak if you admit you are narced on 30 metres. I say: if you can't feel the narcosis you have nothing to do on that depth. Being unaware of it is exactly what makes it dangerous! The narcosis itself is absolutely harmless but the effect of it in combination of ignorance is potentially dangerous for you and more importantly, your buddy!

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