Have you taken a hit?

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MarcusCarr

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I have been browsing some of the horror stories associated with ignorance and panic. I keep seeing comments about people "taking a hit" when they ascend to fast. Can anyone tell me what this means? Also, if anyone has experienced it, what were the circumstances and result?

Thanks,
Marcus
 
I've been diving for over 40 years, and have never "taken a hit." It's a function of training and risktaking.

SeaRat
 
75 hours sub-surface and no hits yet. You kinda eluded to it in your post. Panic or poor planning/ not diving your plan is where most hits occur. Their are a lot of people who take hits within their ndl's but poor fitness is a resault of it. some hits are totally unexplained. that is why decompression is a theory not fact. I am curious to see some posts where people (or people they know) were bent. Hopefully they will share the story so we all can learn a little something. safe diving.
 
taken is when a customer's tank hits me in the head during a crowded safety stop. I keep within recreational (40m/130') limits with customers, but go deeper on days off...waaay deeper...but I will usually spend maybe the last 30 out of 50~60 minutes at less than 10m/33'. I'm actually more concerned with "customer induced" decompression illness...I keep an eye on my divers so that I almost never have to chase THEM up, but I've chased (slowly) cameras more than I like. I had one guy, did 4 dives over 2 days....EVERY dive, his camera got away from him & floated to the surface. I got it every time, but I might reconsider in the future. Especially if it's another *%$( $15 disposable camera!
 
MarcusCarr once bubbled...
I have been browsing some of the horror stories associated with ignorance and panic. I keep seeing comments about people "taking a hit" when they ascend to fast. Can anyone tell me what this means? Also, if anyone has experienced it, what were the circumstances and result?

Thanks,
Marcus

Nope -- knock on wood. When I first started diving I got headaches alot. That's about all I've ever had and it was over by the time I got to dive # 20 or 30. I used to worry that this was DCS because my buoyancy control in the beginning was bad. I was an overweighted, overcompensating "mr. yo-yo guy" and I made a lot of bad looking profiles in the beginning. :)

A saw a student get a lung barotrauma once; case of panic and fleeing to the surface with breath held. I was tagging along with the group but I wasn't associated with the training. It grossed me out to the max.

R..
 
Iruka... do you live underwater?!?!

Regarding the question... I have been diving for 13 years... never been "hit"... here is my philosophy about the issue:

1- Be SMART...
2- Do not dive when you don't feel like it, do not get pressured into diving
3- Bad weather? well you don't have to dive!
4- Nice Weather, but when you descend you find a bad current? ABORT your dive... if there is a chance you are at risk... do not take it!
5- Safety first... Fun Last... if you are safe and conditions are favourable, you will have fun!
6- Use your own gear when you can,,, if you are renting, check the gear and then recheck it! be very familiar with it...
7- If your budy is an underwater Commando... you don't have to be one!
8- Remember that YOUR safety and wellbeing comes first!
9- Be a SAFE Diver(Slowly Ascend From Every dive) ... even if you know you are within the limits, 5 minutes for a safety stop will not harm you...
10- Be SMART (again)

The example of the Diver who died in Palau (or whatever) is to me an unfortunate example of what you SHOULD NOT DO!!!!

Why the hell would a diver want to go down KNOWING THERE ARE STRONG CURRENTS by evidence that the Dive Live Aboard gave them BLOODY HOOKS to keep them pinned to the CORALS???!?!??!?! Are they STUPID?!

1- YOU DO NOT HOOK YOURSELF TO ANYTHING WHILE DIVING!!!
2- DO NOT DIVE IN SUCH CONDITIONS... the Live Aboard people should have known about the conditions... is this the first time they go there?!?!
3- Hook yourself next to corals? You know how corals can SCRAPE YOUR SKIN?!??!
4- Should you go down not knowing that there was a current? ABORT the dive... why take a risk??!

Just my 2Cents worth... all the above are IMHO (in my humble opinion) ... it keeps me alive!

Hope this helps! :)
 
I've been on the boat and witness to divers who have. The symptoms were manifesting themselves within minutes of surfacing. Serious Level II type DCS hits. The divers were varied in experience and training levels. Some were good, experienced divers and some were novices. All were struggling to escape a strong downwelling over a very deep wall and made emergency ascents. I was on the same dive and can attest to how dicey the conditions were.

I don't think DCS picks whom to hit. Therefore I believe in the "Undeserved hit" theory. There are the cases when its easy to detect as to why the diver got hit, and there are other cases where the dive went uneventful and yet the diver still got hit. Undeservedly.

As the saying goes..."Its not a matter of IF you're gonna get hit, its WHEN you're gonna get hit"

Just my 2 cents.
 
I was wondering if (as a person who dives hundreds of dives a year) I should undergo an occasional neurological exam to see If I ever took small unoticable "hits". He said No...in fact he told me DCS hits were VERY VERY rare for recreational dives...most cases being in the commercial diving ranks. Most hits in rec divers were caused by emergency situations or stupidity. In my better than 30 years of diving I've never actually SEEN a confirmed case.
 
I had a probable (but minor) hit a year ago. You can read about here. I didn't panic or make a rapid ascent or exceed the table limits or do anything that upset my computer. My buddy did more dives over the same period and went deeper, and he was fine.

These days I am more careful about the sequencing of my dives. If I want to do a deep dive at dawn, I don't do a night dive the previous evening, and I extend the surface interval after the deep dive. Plus I try to avoid heavy lifting immediately after the dive, although that can be difficult.

Zept
 

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