UW narcosis monitoring...do you use it?

[String]

I tend to find exertion and rate of descent affect the rate/depth/amount i suffer, hydration doesnt seem to come into it.

If ive had a quick kitting up and effort then into the water and descend quicker i'll notice my usual narcy feeling shallower than normal.

If i then have to exert myself chasing someone at depth the symptoms get more noticable again.

Tiredness doesnt appear to affect it at least with me.

 

[simbrooks]

I tend to find exertion and rate of descent affect the rate/depth/amount i suffer, hydration doesnt seem to come into it.

If ive had a quick kitting up and effort then into the water and descend quicker i'll notice my usual narcy feeling shallower than normal.

If i then have to exert myself chasing someone at depth the symptoms get more noticable again.

Tiredness doesnt appear to affect it at least with me.

That seems to be the common cause for me too. If i did the same dives in terms of depth, BT etc, but went down quicker, had a higher CO2 load from a surface swim or exertion UW then i will feel more narc'd (and probably am more) on the quicker descent, higher work dive.

In February 04 I dove the USS Duane in Key Largo. It was my first dive on that trip and it was to 105 ft, 25 minutes, water temp 73.* I have a faint memory of the top of the ship after we descended but remember NOTHING about this dive, not coming up, or safety stop . I assume I did one since I would have been told by the person I buddied with on that dive if I did not, I guess. When I go up on the boat I felt a bit sea sick after a few minutes, 3 to 5 ft chop. After a 1 hr SI I did the second dive on Molasses Reef, 29 ft 36 minutes, only because I felt I would be less tossed around down there than on the boat. I was right. So, why did I get narc'd on that dive and not on other dives at the same depth and approximate duration? NO clue.

Narcosis shouldnt last the whole length of the dive, a little ascent should be enough to clear it, slowing down and flushing your system (ie stopping exertion and breathing a second) also might help. I cannot think of how you would have forgotten the whole dive, maybe a few minutes - but the only times i have ever forgotten entire periods of times was being drunk many years ago - not something i am proud of. There is no way you were narc'd to any noticible degree from 60ft back up to the safety stop and during it. I dont know if you were comparing the Duane to Mollasses (which is a reef i really enjoyed) for narcosis, you shouldnt even feel anything on the shallow reef!

 

[pilot fish]

That seems to be the common cause for me too. If i did the same dives in terms of depth, BT etc, but went down quicker, had a higher CO2 load from a surface swim or exertion UW then i will feel more narc'd (and probably am more) on the quicker descent, higher work dive.


Narcosis shouldnt last the whole length of the dive, a little ascent should be enough to clear it, slowing down and flushing your system (ie stopping exertion and breathing a second) also might help. I cannot think of how you would have forgotten the whole dive, maybe a few minutes - but the only times i have ever forgotten entire periods of times was being drunk many years ago - not something i am proud of. There is no way you were narc'd to any noticible degree from 60ft back up to the safety stop and during it. I dont know if you were comparing the Duane to Mollasses (which is a reef i really enjoyed) for narcosis, you shouldnt even feel anything on the shallow reef!

After String correctly, and now you, pointed out that I should not have felt any narcking as I ascended, it would have cleared, it has me concerned. I just chalked it up to being narc'd and thought not too much about it. Now I don't know what the hell happened to me? I was fine on the Molasses reef. Clueless. :06:

 

[Seadeuce]

One thing you may have overlooked, the quality of the air in your cylinder for that dive. Maybe it was a factor.

Seadeuce

 

[pilot fish]

One thing you may have overlooked, the quality of the air in your cylinder for that dive. Maybe it was a factor.

Seadeuce

Is that question to me, Seadeuce? Never thought of that. Everyone else was fine so I doubt it was that.

 

[lamont]

Is that question to me, Seadeuce? Never thought of that. Everyone else was fine so I doubt it was that.

you might have been the lucky one who got a fill after the compressor filter got saturated with water and it pumped toluene into your tanks...

 

[pilot fish]

you might have been the lucky one who got a fill after the compressor filter got saturated with water and it pumped toluene into your tanks...

Wow! Never heard of that. What is toulene? Aside from robbing you of memory, what other ills can it cause? How could you avoid this, tell before you used the tank?

 

[lamont]

Wow! Never heard of that. What is toulene? Aside from robbing you of memory, what other ills can it cause? How could you avoid this, tell before you used the tank?

there's a long and detailed incident analysis here: http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10483

 

[pilot fish]

there's a long and detailed incident analysis here: http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10483

Perhaps we should discuss this in this thread linked below. It it devoted to this topic, "narcosios or what?". I think this comes under the heading of..... or what.

Anyway, I had two of the symptoms, 1- loss of memory and 2 -nausea. The nausea I attrrubute to the coppy seas. Also, while this did happen in Florida, a place reported to have a lot of incidents, it was not during the high temperature period but in winter in February.


http://www.scubaboard.com/t84420-.html

 

[Seadeuce]

Yes, that question was for you. Glad others have taken it up.
A comment on your nausea - if one is feeling nauseated on a boat, they usually get into the water for symptoms to disappear.
Choppy seas, IMO, would only affect you out of the water, not in it. At least, I have never come across a diver nauseated near the surface in choppy conditions.
In a heavy swell, near kelp, now that's another story.
Usually the brain needs a "reference point" to begin confusing it with motion sickness.

I still reckon you could have been the victim of a bad fill, do you remember any bad taste in your mouth afterwards?

Just my .02c


Seadeuce