NO more headache when using Nitrox

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Remy B.

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Since I have been using Nitrox my headaches disappeared after diving, I had them all the time, maybe once not from all my previous dives with air, does this have to do with some physiognomy difference of my body, compared to others ???

I have tried, different rates of breathing, normal, and slow, good intake with show exhale, good intake with fast exhale, same results with AIR, end up at surface with headache.

At the end I opted for slow breathing and when my body request more air I just breath I don't pushed in order to extend my tank time, I'm happy with 1hr average dive and end with 80% of the time with 900-1000psi in the tank, between 16m and 23m depth, I believe it is a normal rate or maybe a little high.

With Nitrox I had been in more demanding conditions with a lot of work load due to current, a lot of more fast breathing for the same reason, and didn't have any headache.

Actually I notice Nitrox makes me feel normal ( same as before the dive ) and not as ****y at surface when using Air after the dive, but this ****y feeling is short, the headaches last between half to one hour.

I know we are not build the same, but does this condition need to be checked more profoundly with a doctor ??

On my Medical checks, I pass them all good.

I have done breathing tests and lung function and capacity are normal.

My heart rate is very slow I guess, as in different occasions the machine was not able to picked up, different machines different doctors, they had to run the test like 3 times in all occasions, because it came out as inconclusive until the machines were able to picked up.

I had one time an old Chinese Doctor ( Chinese medicine ) in Singapore telling me that I have a weak heart, ( didn't went to have my heart checked, I went for acupuncture due to pain in my spine ) he make an overall examination of my health and told me that.

does slow heart rates may have an effect in oxygen and CO2 exchange in my blood ???, and there for it give me headaches with diving with air, and not with Nitrox when oxygen is at 32%, maybe this higher O2 PP helping me ???

It seems to me that other divers don't suffer from headaches after diving with air, even the ones that breath at lower rates than me, nor the ones that breath at a Higher rate, at least I don't hear the comments to put them in that context, not that I'm asking around.
 
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Is it a side effect of something else? IMO (brainfart) its more a factor of CO2 retention and how physiology plays into gas equilibrium allowing you to more easily eliminate per breath as the % of O2 would cut down the potential CO2 partial pressure from straight air. No matter the O2 content you will metabolize it at a constant rate based on activity regardless of depth so I'm leaning to a displacement theory. I think Cozumel is running 600ppm CO2 currently, and Houston hovers around 400ppm where I live.

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago as I want to build a pre CO2 filter to my compressor to lower my partial CO2 ~100ppm so I'm at 1ATA CO2 equilibrium at my ~1.4 PO2 depth as CO2 is massively more narcotic than N2. I'd like to know if that helps the narcosis as much as the retention. Sensitivity to CO2 varies just as it does with N2. Maybe you notice such a difference because you are just sensitive to CO2?
 
I still would not rule out the possibility that despite your efforts to have breathed normally, slow, deep, etc., on air, you weren't truly able to achieve it and so were still retaining too much CO2, while when you are diving on Nitrox you feel more relaxed because you THINK Nitrox might be beneficial, and because you are relaxed you actually do breathe normally, slow, deep, etc. If you begin a dive on air with a sense of dread that you might get a headache, you might just be more likely to get a headache.
 
CO2 retention. What they^^^^^ said.
 
Hey Remy, ever get migraines?
I know it sounds like a classic CO2 issue, but I just reviewed another paper that links PFO's to migraines.

Regards,

Claudia
 
I have certainly heard lot of anecdotal evidence to the same effect. No idea what the physiology is or might be, but I know a lot of believers.
 
I still would not rule out the possibility that despite your efforts to have breathed normally, slow, deep, etc., on air, you weren't truly able to achieve it and so were still retaining too much CO2, while when you are diving on Nitrox you feel more relaxed because you THINK Nitrox might be beneficial, and because you are relaxed you actually do breathe normally, slow, deep, etc. If you begin a dive on air with a sense of dread that you might get a headache, you might just be more likely to get a headache.

Not the case Lorenz, the only benefid is the NDL time, and repetitive dives intervals, it is not a magical gas.

Actually the most extenuating and unrelaxed dive I had so far was with Nitrox, and it was my first dive with it.

---------- Post added April 23rd, 2015 at 10:07 AM ----------

Hey Remy, ever get migraines?
I know it sounds like a classic CO2 issue, but I just reviewed another paper that links PFO's to migraines.

Regards,

Claudia

No Claudia, thanks God I don't suffer from that
 
I have certainly heard lot of anecdotal evidence to the same effect. No idea what the physiology is or might be, but I know a lot of believers.

It's less anecdotal and less of a believe than you think. Here is the link of one if you care to read it :)

Wilmshurst PT, Pearson M, Nightingale S – Reevaluation of the relationship between migraine and persistent foramen ovale and other right-to-left shunts
Clin Scien 2005; 108: 365-367
http://www.clinsci.org/cs/108/0365/1080365.pdf
 
Not the case Lorenz, the only benefid is the NDL time, and repetitive dives intervals, it is not a magical gas.

Did I misunderstand your post? I thought you were reporting getting fewer headaches when diving Nitrox than you got when diving air? We all know it is not a magical gas, but my understanding is that you are reporting an effect or apparent benefit that is not normally associated with Nitrox.

Actually the most extenuating and unrelaxed dive I had so far was with Nitrox, and it was my first dive with it.

This is just my wild speculation, but it might be possible that in some instance in which you were very "unrelaxed" you might actually have been breathing in a way that eliminates more CO2 than when you are diving the way you normally do when you are diving on air (anxious about getting headaches). Maybe moderate exertion and moderate relaxation seem like opposites at first glance but could actually both result in a person breathing in a way that eliminates CO2 effectively enough to avoid headaches? In other words, maybe not thinking at all about your breathing because your focus is on a challenging dive has a similar effect to thinking TOO much about you breathing when you are diving on air and concerned about a possible headache? Who knows--this is wild speculation, and I'm just throwing it out there for consideration. Please don't interpret it as argumentative or anything more than it is.

I don't have the medical knowledge that some others here do, but absent some unknown condition like a PFO, and based on the common knowledge about Nitrox that we all have, I will speculate that the headache (or absence thereof) has something to do with what is going on in your head when you dive on air versus when you dive on Nitrox.
 
I do not remember ever feeling the difference that so many people claim there is, all my post-dive drowsiness seemed to have more to do with getting cold than Nitrogen loading. After my repeated nagging, my wife finally agreed to take a Nitrox class, and on the first two dives with Nitrox, she got bad headaches. She promptly concluded Nitrox is bad for her. ( Even though the headaches, according to DAN, were in fact due to barotrauma, she easily gets allergic, and it was in the middle of the Spring allergy season. )
 

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