Shallow Narc?

fjpatrum · Jul 13, 2011

I just learned*** that it's entirely possible to be narc'd at shallow depths. As such it makes me wonder what are the shallowest depths people have noticed it in themselves?

I made a joke about the fact that I'm grinning ear to ear all the time when diving and maybe I'm just always narc'd but my deepest dive has been to ~75 FSW and I certainly didn't notice any impaired actions on my part or any other sensations of being narc'd.

*** Yes, I probably should have known this already but most of the information I've read or been told implied or specifically stated divers don't start getting narc'd until about the 80 foot depth.

ajduplessis · Jul 13, 2011

My instructor narced in 20ft of of very cold water (45f or 8 degrees) in a 5mm wetsuit without a hoodie or gloves. He wanted to show me valve drills but lost the plot.

Bubbletrubble · Jul 13, 2011

ajduplessis:
My instructor narced in 20ft of of very cold water (45f or 8 degrees) in a 5mm wetsuit without a hoodie or gloves. He wanted to show me valve drills but lost the plot.

@ajduplessis: That's probably not narcosis. More likely, the instructor was so cold (borderline hypothermic?) that he had a very difficult time focusing on relatively simple tasks. Remove the water and the elevated ambient pressure (but keep the same level of exposure to cold ambient temp.) and the same sort of inability to function can be reproduced in humans.

To answer the OP's question, narcosis does manifest at shallow depths in a subtle fashion. Most divers don't realize this. Moreover, humans are notoriously bad at self-determining their level of cognitive functioning -- that's why properly designed scientific studies are needed. In at least one study, the right kind of testing revealed subtle cognitive deficits in divers in very shallow water (15-20 fsw, if I remember correctly). If you're interested in the study, you should be able to find it with a quick search on the online Rubicon Repository.

scubamarketing · Jul 13, 2011

I haven't been narced down past 165', but I've seen people get hit by it around 50'. I think that's the shallowest I've observed.

Crush · Jul 13, 2011

scubamarketing:
I haven't been narced down past 165', but I've seen people get hit by it around 50'. I think that's the shallowest I've observed.

Then you are not human.

On the other hand, you may have been narc'd and didn't realize it or dealt with it well, in which case you are perfectly human.

Cave Diver · Jul 13, 2011

The susceptibility to narcosis and the degree to which it's noticed is going to vary from person to person. I've found my personal tolerances to be much different between warm clear water and cold(er) dark water.

Even shallow dives can reveal impairment in some individuals.

elan · Jul 13, 2011

I start feeling it on every dive around 50-60 ft

TSandM · Jul 13, 2011

I have taken a lot of dive classes, in which we rehearsed on land a sequence of drills and procedures we were going to follow once we got in the water. And although the vast majority of these dives took place in water in the 30 foot range, I have been repeatedly surprised at how often we can't remember the sequence of events once we get there. Things are done in the wrong order, in the wrong place, or omitted altogether. I have often wondered if there is some degree of narcosis operating from the get-go, which we see when the dive requires a bunch of memory and processing, but don't notice on "normal" dives, where the cognitive requirements are much less.

modzs · Jul 13, 2011

Never been narced. I've been down to 130'. I have seen people get narced at around the 85'-90' range.

falcon125 · Jul 13, 2011

Scuba Diving is like drinking beer. If it didnt make you feel good, you just would not do it.

Add slight narcosis to being in an alien enviroment and you have nervana.

But, A lot of people will not admit to being affected. (cause it feels good)

Shallow Narc?

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