Question about DCS

[bleeb]

Some hopefully useful responses here, but may I also suggest asking a Moderator to move this thread to the Dive Medicine forum. The medical types that hang out there would be more likely to see your question than if it's lost in the noise of the Basic forum.

To contact a Moderator, either PM one directly (better to pick one that's been online lately), or I *believe* is also a currently acceptable practice, hit the

in your original post and attach the request.

 

[DCBC]

Happy belated birthday! As I'm sure you have realized that it's very unlikely you have suffered DCS. Asking a Physician may do little good, as many are not aware of the subtleties of DCS. In other words, don't go to a Dermatologist to remove a brain tumor. A Hyperbaric Physician is what's required, so I'd keep that in-mind if the situation ever presents itself. If you haven't done so already, I'd join the Divers Alert Network (DAN) and keep their number handy at the dive site.

 

[Reg Braithwaite]

There is such a thing as a Pulmonary Shunt. Persons with this condition can get bent on dives that seem conservative by every normal standard. It is also highly unpredictable, one dive can be fine, another can bend the afflicted.

I am not saying anything about your particular situation, just pointing out that if you have any question about whether you suffered from DCS, a professional diagnosis is the safest course of action.

 

[Blackwood]

On that note, maybe it's a good idea to let you see the graph in question. Does this look like an unsafe ascent?

http://media.offcentric.com/dive_graph.png

That's like 20m for 30 minutes. Very benign dive. It's not how I would have done the ascent, but it would be hard to justify calling it "unsafe".



Your description of the symptoms don't sound like anything I (NOT AN EXPERT) have ever heard of relating to DCS, particularly the connection to eating.


The problem with asking DAN or a hyperbaric MD is that, like many specialists, they'll see what they know. The only way I'm aware of to diagnose DCS (aside, maybe, from doppler) is to compress you and see that the symptoms subside, and that's a subjective and expensive diagnosis. I'm not dissuading you from going to the doctor, just suggesting that while a hyperbaric doc may see DCS, an allergist may see allergies for the same set of symptoms, etc..

 

[boulderjohn]

Don't get too excited about ascent rate warnings on a computer like this. You can have a perfectly acceptable ascent rate and still get one.

First of all, Suunto's ascent rate is 30 FPM. This is currently considered the best ascent rate, but 60 FPM was the norm for a long time and is still considered acceptable.

Next, if you check your profile, you may find that the rapid ascent was only for a very brief time, maybe only a second or so. In many cases that could be because you lifted your computer quickly to look at it while ascending. In other words, the computer might have ascended too quickly even though you were OK.

Even if you were briefly ascending too quickly, a few seconds of a rapid ascent is not going to cause you a DCS problem.