Hello experts, I will describe first my dive profile then state my symptoms and timeline ...
I had 4 dives in 2 consecutive days. First day I had very little sleep at night (only 3 hours) and I had a lot of tension before that day. First dive to maximum 14.5m for 28 minutes (average depth 10m), second dive after about 4 hours SI to a maximum of 16m for 35 min (average depth 9.3m). Second day first dive (almost 16 hours SI) to a max depth of 20.5m for 29 min (average depth 11m) and second dive with 3 hours SI to a max depth of 13.7m for 45 min ( average depth 9m). Water temperature was around 24-25 degrees celcius and I was not feeling any cold but air temperature was high (35 degrees) and very sunny, I was drinking lots of water. During the dives I exerted lots of efforts as I was a dive guide to a group of newly certified divers that I needed to care for.
After the last dive I suffered from aspiration syndrome giving me high temperature and bone-ache (but it was gone by medication: paracetamol) and I was feeling ok.
Driving back home my left arm was in some strong sunny conditions for almost an hour and holding the wheel with my left hand specifically my thumb and forefinger.
reaching home about 10 hours after my last dive I was completely exhausted and started to feel some numbness in my left hand thumb. I drank lots of water and slept for 9 hours. In the morning I was feeling fine then started to feel numbness again in my thumb and extended to my forefinger then my thumb was ok after a while leaving my forefinger feeling strange especially the first knuckle near the tip. Meanwhile I felt some strange feeling in my left foot (and in a while it was both feet), it is not numbness but rather something like heat in my foot from below, something like having high uric acid feeling but it comes and goes but no severe pain and it appears usually while I am sitting in my office, once I start moving around it decreases a lot.
I went to see a hyperbaric doctor and he said just to be on the safe side I have to get into the chamber for a couple of hours @ 18m. In the chamber all symptoms disappeared, however as we were ascending I started to feel the heat again in both my feet. and after finishing the chamber I had a feeling in both my hands and feet that you get when you sit or sleep on your hand and you find it asleep and starts to awake, that tingling feeling of blood flowing into them, this lasted for a couple of hours (it didn't bother me as I usually have this kind of feeling after dives) and I was ok. Slept for the night almost 10 hours and feeling much better.
Now in the office I feel minor traces of yesterday's feeling in my forefinger tip but much much better than yesterday and still that heat feeling in my feet (somehow decreased than yesterday). So far it doesn't bother me as it seems to be fading out and related to the way I sit on my chair.
My questions now:
1- Did I get bent? is it the heat? stress? lack of sleep? extra effort done within the dives? my dive computer didn't warn me against anything and I was over cautious doing extra 1-2 minutes over the 3 minutes for a safety stop. Ah, one thing I forgot to mention, in my last dive I was trying a new fin that was tight a little bit on my feet and caused them to tingle a little bit but it was all ok once I took them off. Or is it due to the way I was driving home (4 hours after my last dive and driving for 6 hours) with my left arm in strong sun and mechanically using my thumb and forefinger to steer the wheel so that is why I had this feeling only in these 2 fingers and sitting for 6 hours in the car (minor stops on the way) causing my feet to get this feeling from below?
2- Do I need to go for a second ride in the chamber just to be on the safe side? I am still drinking lots of water to help clear out anything.
Did the chamber ride yesterday really help or was it going to fade away anyway?
3- Can someone advise what not to do so that this doesn't occur again?
Thanks for your help.
I had 4 dives in 2 consecutive days. First day I had very little sleep at night (only 3 hours) and I had a lot of tension before that day. First dive to maximum 14.5m for 28 minutes (average depth 10m), second dive after about 4 hours SI to a maximum of 16m for 35 min (average depth 9.3m). Second day first dive (almost 16 hours SI) to a max depth of 20.5m for 29 min (average depth 11m) and second dive with 3 hours SI to a max depth of 13.7m for 45 min ( average depth 9m). Water temperature was around 24-25 degrees celcius and I was not feeling any cold but air temperature was high (35 degrees) and very sunny, I was drinking lots of water. During the dives I exerted lots of efforts as I was a dive guide to a group of newly certified divers that I needed to care for.
After the last dive I suffered from aspiration syndrome giving me high temperature and bone-ache (but it was gone by medication: paracetamol) and I was feeling ok.
Driving back home my left arm was in some strong sunny conditions for almost an hour and holding the wheel with my left hand specifically my thumb and forefinger.
reaching home about 10 hours after my last dive I was completely exhausted and started to feel some numbness in my left hand thumb. I drank lots of water and slept for 9 hours. In the morning I was feeling fine then started to feel numbness again in my thumb and extended to my forefinger then my thumb was ok after a while leaving my forefinger feeling strange especially the first knuckle near the tip. Meanwhile I felt some strange feeling in my left foot (and in a while it was both feet), it is not numbness but rather something like heat in my foot from below, something like having high uric acid feeling but it comes and goes but no severe pain and it appears usually while I am sitting in my office, once I start moving around it decreases a lot.
I went to see a hyperbaric doctor and he said just to be on the safe side I have to get into the chamber for a couple of hours @ 18m. In the chamber all symptoms disappeared, however as we were ascending I started to feel the heat again in both my feet. and after finishing the chamber I had a feeling in both my hands and feet that you get when you sit or sleep on your hand and you find it asleep and starts to awake, that tingling feeling of blood flowing into them, this lasted for a couple of hours (it didn't bother me as I usually have this kind of feeling after dives) and I was ok. Slept for the night almost 10 hours and feeling much better.
Now in the office I feel minor traces of yesterday's feeling in my forefinger tip but much much better than yesterday and still that heat feeling in my feet (somehow decreased than yesterday). So far it doesn't bother me as it seems to be fading out and related to the way I sit on my chair.
My questions now:
1- Did I get bent? is it the heat? stress? lack of sleep? extra effort done within the dives? my dive computer didn't warn me against anything and I was over cautious doing extra 1-2 minutes over the 3 minutes for a safety stop. Ah, one thing I forgot to mention, in my last dive I was trying a new fin that was tight a little bit on my feet and caused them to tingle a little bit but it was all ok once I took them off. Or is it due to the way I was driving home (4 hours after my last dive and driving for 6 hours) with my left arm in strong sun and mechanically using my thumb and forefinger to steer the wheel so that is why I had this feeling only in these 2 fingers and sitting for 6 hours in the car (minor stops on the way) causing my feet to get this feeling from below?
2- Do I need to go for a second ride in the chamber just to be on the safe side? I am still drinking lots of water to help clear out anything.
Did the chamber ride yesterday really help or was it going to fade away anyway?
3- Can someone advise what not to do so that this doesn't occur again?
Thanks for your help.
