Doc Wong Getting Bent in Monterey!

Getting Bent in Monterey!

Sunday April 1st (nope, this was not a joke) after a great day of recreational diving, about 2 hours post dive I started getting symptoms of DCS and went to CHOMP (Community Hospital of the Monterey Penninsula.) Symptoms were dizziness, visual disturbances, right arm numbness and skin blotches on my back. Staggering to my van to get to my oxygen deco bottle, the arm numbness and visual disturbances disappear after a few minutes of breathing on oxygen. Getting to the hospital, I contuned on oxygen and the dizziness and skin blotches continue to reduce. After a couple of hours Dr. Hattori, one of the top DCS docs, does a thorough neurological exam and decides that I don't need a chamber ride and I'm released that evening.

That night I go to sleep breathing off an oxygen kit and wake up symptom free and remain so 6 days later as I do this writup.

This was totally unexpected as our profiles were recreational and within NDL aka Minimum Deco with nice slow ascents. The only factor out of the ordinary was that I did a lot of heavy lifting immediately after the last dive.

After the day's dive was over, Alan Studley and I decide to go to Turtle Bay for something to eat. Getting out of my van, I notice a momentary slight tinge of dizziness and a little bit of congestion of my right ear. No concern.

I ordered and ate my meal and then I started getting dizzy. My right ear felt a little congested so I thought, no problem a bit of inner ear squeeze for the congestion and this should clear in about a half an hour.

Then I noticed a slight visual disturbanve in my left field of vision. Hm.... it does go away in the next 5 minutes.

With Alans scuba experience, we were having a great time in sharing stories, but then the dizziness got worse. I moved my head quickly and almost fell over! By this time Alan was noticing that I wasn't looking so good. It's then that I lifted my right arm and it felt heavy and numb. Crap: this is not a mechanical squeeze of my inner iear and I was definitely showing signs of DCS. I took off my hat and Alan said I was pale and clammy looking. We start heading for the hospital.

I could not have walked out of the resturaunt without holding onto him. Throught this ordeal, I had no fatigue and actually felt great. Even still had good situational awareness, being dizzy, I still spotted that Alan was about to run a red light at an intersection. I told him to call the hospital and the Pacific Grove Hyperbaric Chamber ready. I knew it was a chamber run by some dedicated volunteers and would need some warning. I had Alan call Phil Sammet as I knew his wife Kim was a volunteer at the chamber too.

The day's diving was awesome, Tom got to dive in his new drysuit, he was warm and at 44 degrees, that was an accomplishment! I got to try out the Silent Submersion N-19, a 40 lb nickel metal hydride battery powered tow behind scooter. Wow, how many adjectives can one use! And then I got to dive with Phil and Alan on scooters out by the Anchor Farm. No anchors, but we found the shale beds and scootering is always fun and I'm really enjoying the Gavin scooter.

Getting back to K dock, I helped lift the 3 scooters off the boat. No big deal, I've got a very good back. I know a good chiropractor. ;-)

Lesson learned: Even though I thought I was conservative in my diving behaviour, I wasn't. I was first on the boat. I usually relax and hang out on the surface for a bit. Then I lifted 3 scooters out of the water (probably holding my breath doing it) and post dive helped get them off the boat. I was complacent and had the thought that since this was a recreational dive, that I didn't have to be as careful as when I do deco dives.

Lesson Learned: DCS is more real than I thought and my overconfidence led me to ignore what I already knew.

Special thanks to Alan Studley who stayed with me thru this ordeal and followed me home, making sure I was ok. Oh yea, he also brought 2 scooters on the dive that I got a chance to play with, that was a treat!

And thanks to Beto Nava who drove down to my house to lend me his oxygen kit so I could sleep with oxygen that night. And to Tom with his Sea Turkey (boat), ever being more conservative and safe!

After about 170 dives this last year, plenty of training and practice, there's always more to learn!

Harry (Doc) Wong
Chiropractor, Nutritionist www.docwong.com
Pres. Northern Calif Oceans Found. www.oceansfoundation.org
California Ships2Reefs www.cs2r.org

Sinking a 500' ship in Monterey is a good thing!

Doc Wong, thank you for sharing that interesting story. If memeory serves me correctly I once started a thread about pre and post dive heavy excercise not being a great idea and the possiblity that it COULD lead to DCS. Most people dismissed that.

It is very interesting that you stayed within the NDL and still got bent because of the heavy excercise/exertion you did post dive. I also found it interesting that the doctor did not give you a chamber ride to be on the safe side? Thank God you are alright, which is the most important thing.

I did a search and could not find any thread I started on that topic. It must have been that the topic came up in another thread and I commented on it? As I recall, divers were saying that they jogged a few hours pre dive and, I think, some said they did some type of cardio stuff post dives and had no ill effects? I know I read it some place, or heard that it was not a good idea, pre and post dive. Your post and story is useful for all of us to read. Thanks.

Could you provide a little more info as to dive profiles, gas used, water temp. These are experiences we can all learn from, but it would be nice to know what profiles within limits can still get us into trouble. Personally, I doubt that the small amount of isometric lifitng could have precipitated this. Glad you are okay.

Doc Wong,
Thanks for sharing your DCS experience.
It can serve as a cautionary tale for us all.
Glad that you are OK.
Mike

Great post, DW, thanks!

My "within-NDL" hit was blamed on post-dive exercise, dehydration and a hot shower (the Undeserved Hit Trifecta). I had raced up a steep hill fully geared up on a mad run to the bathroom. Not having a pee valve and and drinking several cups of dehydrating coffee before the dive will do that to you.

They gave me the full table 6 ride. Glad you are OK to dive another day!

You know - I think a lot still needs to be determined about DCS. I am an active blood donor through apherisis and was very surprised that noone seemed to think that a wait between diving and donating (or vice versa) was necessary. I finally called DAN and even they indicated it wouldn't be a problem to donate. I still don't though.

I am curious about the feelings that you had in your arms though. I have had those systoms after boat diving in the Channel Islands - like my wetsuit had been too tight in the elbow and wrist and caused my nerve to get pinched and numb. I know one of the people onboard was a bit concerned about it - but my dive computer was consulted and I was within all my limits. Coming back to it though after reading your story - the arrangement of the gear on the boat (The Vision out of Santa Barbara) - set ups on the ground and having to heft them onto a bench to get them into a position to get them on, caused all of needless living of alot of weight. Anyhow - if you wouldn't mind giving more information about those symptons, i'd appreciate it.

shakeybrainsurgeon:

Could you provide a little more info as to dive profiles, gas used, water temp. These are experiences we can all learn from, but it would be nice to know what profiles within limits can still get us into trouble. Personally, I doubt that the small amount of isometric lifitng could have precipitated this. Glad you are okay.

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Don't you think the heavy lifting could have been a contributing factor, albeit small? There seems to be a considerable amount of emphirical evidence that some forms of heavy exercise, post dive, and pre dive, can cause DCS?

pilot fish:

Don't you think the heavy lifting could have been a contributing factor, albeit small? There seems to be a considerable amount of emphirical evidence that some forms of heavy exercise, post dive, and pre dive, can cause DCS?

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There is some thought that exercise pre-dive lowers the risk of DCS, but there appears to be no doubt that vigorous exercise 2 to 4 hours after diving increases the risk of DCS. I just question that the amount of effort described here qualifies as the type of exertion that would trigger DCS by itself. Exercise is a relative term and depends on the degree of fitness, the aerobic (met) level and so on. When shore diving, we all do a fair amount of isometric lifting and carrying. When I trained, the instructors would carry a dozen tanks plus other equipment fifty yards or more after diving. Many factors are not known here that could be just as problematic: history of diving the day before, level of hydration, obesity, fitness level, recent alcohol consumption, the precise dive profile, how cold was the water/air, how much exertion was put forth underwater, gas used. We all know that NDS limits can be severely affected by a number of factors, known and unknown, beyond the depth and bottom time.
Assuming Doc to be a fit person, non-smoker, diving within limits with no dehydration/alcohol/illness issues, then the lifting might have done it. But if that's true, I think it's kind of scary. I'll need to hire a scuba valet to carry my equipment.

Wow, I'm glad you're OK Harry. Now I know why you wanted an extra O2 bottle for this weekend. I'm wondering if this will change any of your plans for diving in the future?

As for the other comments, especially from shakeybrainsurgeon, "but it would be nice to know what profiles within limits can still get us into trouble", I'm pretty sure if you looked, you will be able to find DCS incidents with almost any kind of profile, short of a 15 minute 20ft dive. We're all playing a probability game here, we try our best to be safe, but then it can never be 100% safe.
Me, I'd be happy if I can get the probability of getting DCS lower than the probability of getting hurt in a car accident on my way to and from the dive site.