Rule on hot showers after diving

[Bob DBF]

So, if your body temperature is only 2 degrees C (about 4F) too low and you want to drink hot soup to get it back up, you need to drink more than 10L (about 3 U.S. gallons) of the hottest soup you can take to bring your body temperature back up to normal.

If you were heating a rock it would work that way. People generate their own heat, the soup bringing some heat to the core lets the body direct its own heat elsewhere. If the heat loss the person is experiencing us not stopped it will make little to no difference.


Bob

 

[Storker]

If you were heating a rock it would work that way. People generate their own heat, the soup bringing some heat to the core lets the body direct its own heat elsewhere.

The amount of heat from the warm soup or drink is so small that it makes no difference. You're providing maybe 2-3% of the heat needed to re-read the patient's body, so the effect is, for all practical purposes, psychological.

Not that psychology isn't an important factor. Making the victim comfortable and minimizing stress is extremely important in first aid.

If the heat loss the person is experiencing us not stopped it will make little to no difference.

"Passive warming" is just that: stopping the heat loss. If you don't stop the heat loss, you're not helping.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

My two PSI on a subject I am totally unqualified to comment on...When going into decompression, the deco is based on the slowest tissue to off gas (I.e. the least oxygen requiring tissues absorb gasses absorb the slowest and will off gas the slowest). The deco models we follow were created by human experimentation on Navy personnel. There are real limits to how a twenty something seaman is going to react versus a paunchy fifty something. Add in additional factors, like water temperature, depth, breathing mix and a bunch of uncontrolled factors (cardiac health, body fat, circulatory health and suit fit, scar tissue, surgical history, joint replacement etc.) and you have to accept riding the NDL is a bit of a crap shoot. A warm diver will shunt Nitrogen to the periphery much faster than a cold dive. Cold divers off gas much slower than a warm diver. This seem like a perfect description of how to get skin bens to me.

There have been a couple interesting threads recently concerning the use of heated vests during dives and their effect on DCS.

I think my parents would have pulled the plug on my dive career if I had gotten skin bends at 16.

Did you just give another reason tropical diving is safer? Serious question, it almost sounds like safety stops should be longer than 3 min in colder waters.

 

[CT-Rich]

Did you just give another reason tropical diving is safer? Serious question, it almost sounds like safety stops should be longer than 3 min in colder waters.

Diving is probably safer now than any time in the past. But safety comes with trade offs. People are more willing to push the envelope. Computers track your dive far more accurately than a watch and depth gauge ever could, wetsuits and dry suits are cheaper, more comfortable and better insolating than ever before. How safe diving is really depends on the diver. I wouldn’t recommend doing too many near deco dives where you come out of the water near hypothermic and not just because of skin bends after a hot shower.

 

[Storker]

Did you just give another reason tropical diving is safer? Serious question, it almost sounds like safety stops should be longer than 3 min in colder waters.

Depends on your exposure protection. I'm just as warm when I'm diving at home in my trilam and 200 gsm undersuit as I am when I'm on vacation, wearing a 5 mil one-piece. Maybe even warmer back home. It isn't the water temperature, it's how cold you are.

I've never had an issue with a 3 min safety stop, even during winter with 4-6 degrees (C) water.

 

[TMHeimer]

On my wet winter dives (very shallow, so really miniscual chance of DCS), I am careful not to jump right into a hot shower. Let fingers / toes warm up first (let the pain subside) and use warm water only. You learn that stuff after years living in the -40 weather of Northern Manitoba.

 

[mcohen1021]

Wow, never thought about this... Never heard of it... 22 dives on the Red Sea Aggressor I this summer and 22 hot showers... I guess the soap and conditioner really counteracted the nitrogen bubbles

 

[flyboy08]

DAN Medical Frequently Asked Questions

BACK TO MEDICAL FAQ LIST

Hot Tubs after diving

Is it safe to go into a hot tub or jacuzzi after diving? Is it also safe to take a hot shower?
Getting into a hot tub immediately after diving does alter decompression stress. As with many factors, the net response can be positive or negative depending on the magnitude of the inert gas load and the heat stress. A cold diver will have impaired peripheral circulation. The hot tub (or hot shower) will warm the extremities and restore circulation faster. If the inert gas load is small, this will facilitate and increased rate of elimination because of the improved blood flow (perfusion-based benefit). Larger inert gas loads can produce more problematic responses. Since the solubility of gas is inversely related to temperature, tissues will hold less in solution as they warm. Warming tissue with significant loads can promote bubble formation. Since the warming of the superficial tissues precedes the increase in blood flow, such bubbles can become problematic before the circulation can remove them harmlessly.

There is no simple formula to compute what constitutes a minor, significant or substantial peripheral inert gas load. The actual conditions vary as a function of the individual, thermal protection, physical activity and dive profile. Accepting the difficulty of computation, I encourage a simple rule of thumb - delayed gratification. Enjoy the thought of the hot tub or shower for a while instead of jumping in immediately. The period of delay will likely be driven by human nature. Those unwilling to wait will likely jump in regardless. These would be the best candidates to practice more conservative dive profiles. Those with more restraint may delay five to 30 minutes with slightly less concern over the dive profiles. Another compromise would be to employ a lower hot tub/show temperature. Much comes down to the thoughtfulness of the diver. Decompression safety, as with many things, is a matter of balancing strings of decisions so the net outcome is in your favor. My approach is to stack as many factors as feasible in my favor to compensate for the Murphy effect or chance that we see frequently in decompression sickness.
Neal W. Pollock, Ph.D.

 

[Kharon]

You learn that stuff after years living in the -40 weather of Northern Manitoba.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would not go outside at -40°F let alone even think of getting wet. When you get out of the water, don't you freeze solid?

 

[TMHeimer]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would not go outside at -40°F let alone even think of getting wet. When you get out of the water, don't you freeze solid?

No, I didn't DIVE in that air temp..... But yes, you would hear on the radio that "exposed skin will freeze in 30 seconds" occasionally. Car tires get flat on the bottom ("square wheels") and block heaters are needed to keep the engine from freezing. The coldest I saw was -48C (-54F), but it has been below that a few years ago. Fortunately, the Northern forest keeps the wind away a lot. If there is a wind the wind chill can approach -100F.