Is it air quality?

[gaudencio]

When we dived last week. I experienced vomitting during my 3 dives. i thought it was only me that had this feeling of vomitting. But it also occured to my buddy. Vommiting is not accompanied by actual expulsion of food but only the feeling of vommitting. We think it is the air quality, or is there any thing else that could cause that experience. How could you notice the good air if we test it before we dive. What's the smell, it seems very hard to identify.

Jimmy T. azzler1:

[Don Burke]

How could you notice the good air if we test it before we dive. What's the smell, it seems very hard to identify.

Good air has no smell or taste.

[pipedope]

I moved this to diving medicine as it is more a general health question than decompression.

If you can smell or taste anything in your scuba air then it probably should not be used for diving.

There are a variety of ways to test for CO.

What was the water quality?
Was the visability less than what you are used to?
What was the temperature, air, water?

Did you both fill your tanks at the same place and time? If so ask the supplier (LDS) to test the air. You might want to also look at the report from their last air test.

[OceanusDC]

Thought I would move my response too....
I am not a doctor in any strech of the imagination....that said, the evidence is lacking to blame the air. To rule the air in or out, I would ask, "did other divers that day experiance the same thing?" I think it would be unusual to get 1 bad air fill from an assumed otherwise good air station. If others experianced a similar problem then I would suspect the air. Working at a dive shop I have had the occasional person come in and complain about the air. Although we have the air tested quarterly, I always have the air immediatly tested when someone complains. I feel good that I have never had a bad test result. We fill from banks so if one person were to get a bad fill, everyone would. If only one person complains, chances are...its not the air and you should investigate elsewhere.....But... I'm not a doctor and thus, could be wrong.

[pasley]

Good air has no smell or taste.

Unfortunately, neither does carbon monoxide. There are CO2 testers that you can buy, or adapt.

[Don Burke]

Unfortunately, neither does carbon monoxide. There are CO2 testers that you can buy, or adapt.

That is an excellent answer to a question that was not asked.

Here is some information on carbon dioxide:

http://www.hoopersupply.com/msds/co2.htm

If there had been any mention of headache, I would have brought up carbon dioxide.

[Delta_P]

Another possibility is the food. Did you and your buddy eat the same things for breakfast?

Some divers react badly to a greasy breakfast of sausage and eggs, followed by a head down postition during descent. When that grease hits the pyloric sphincter (valve at the top of the stomach) it can give you the sensation that breakfast is going to keep going. Other divers experience the same effect as heartburn and indigestion.

And another possibility: Were you diving in a surf zone? I'm thinking vertigo here.

Disclaimer: I am not an MD, just another bored nerd speculating on the web instead of diving.

[CD_in_Chitown]

That is an excellent answer to a question that was not asked.

Here is some information on carbon dioxide:

http://www.hoopersupply.com/msds/co2.htm

If there had been any mention of headache, I would have brought up carbon dioxide.

And that's an excellent link to information on a gas that wasn't mentioned.

Perhaps the point is, bad air doesn't necessarily have taste/smell either. Doesn't mean it was the air, doesn't mean it wasn't either. Not enough milk for your Cheerios this morning?

[Don Burke]

And that's an excellent link to information on a gas that wasn't mentioned.

Perhaps the point is, bad air doesn't necessarily have taste/smell either. Doesn't mean it was the air, doesn't mean it wasn't either. Not enough milk for your Cheerios this morning?

The initial question was about what good air should smell like.

I answered that.

That generated a reply referring to CO2.

I replied to that.

Now you do not seem to be able to find the reference to CO2. I would suggest you read the message you replied to. I quoted the message I was replying to. Eat your cornflakes first if you need to.

[CD_in_Chitown]

That generated a reply referring to CO2.

The one and the same you quoted referring to Carbon Monoxide (CO) and how you can modify a CO2 detector to detect it (CO) as well?