The Bends

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Messages
1
Reaction score
6
Location
Huntsville, Alabama
# of dives
25 - 49
Last fall, I was vacationing in St. Lucia with my wife (non-diver), and signed up for 3 days of 2-tank dives. After the 5th dive, and using a by-the-book ascent with rest stop, I got on board the boat, and about 5-10 minutes later, my left foot refused to move. In another 5 minutes, I was paralyzed from the waist down. Fortunately, my dive buddy for that trip was formerly a scuba diver for the French Navy (20 years' experience). He helped me get immediate attention aboard the boat, oxygen, feet elevated, lying down, etc. I spent three 5-hour sessions in a nearby recompression chamber, and when I got back to the States, had a battery of tests, including MRIs of my brain, and ultrasound imaging checks for a patent foramen ovale (PFO), which it turned out I had. Fortunately again, Dr. Warren Strickland of Huntsville's "The Heart Center" is one of the nation's most experienced physicians in the procedure that is used to close the hole in the atrial septum. My wife, an RN at The Heart Center, assisted in some of the ultrasound testing - "the bubble study" by name.

I went to the local quarry - Madison Quarry - yesterday, and had a 30-minute dive without incident. Planning to dive off Myrtle Beach, SC next weekend.

Advice to people experiencing weird post-dive neurological symptoms, like mini-stroke, difficulty moving parts of the body, migraines, migraine auras, etc.: Get tested for the PFO. Sometimes they wait a long time to manifest themselves - mine waited 65 years, because the foramen ovale is supposed to close when you're born. Mine didn't, and kept hidden until last fall. PFOs can trigger strokes and, of course, the associated symptom, death. Good diving to you! Jim Gordon
 
Wow, luck was on your side at every point through your ordeal. Glad you're ok.
 
Jim, thank you very much for posting here on ScubaBoard. By doing so you are helping the dive community.

Thank goodness that you are okay.

It sounds like the PFO might have been a contributing factor.

Does anyone know what percentage of the general population is walking around with undiagnosed PFOs?
 
Does anyone know what percentage of the general population is walking around with undiagnosed PFOs?
If we knew, they wouldn't be undiagnosed. :p
But seriously, about 25% of adults have it, some worse than others, for some it only leaks when they cough. It's often undiagnosed because they are asymptomatic.
 
Glad to hear you are back wet!
Just one thing - I'm pretty sure the advice these days is to lay totally flat and NOT to raise the feet. The theory was that bubbles would collect in your feet away from the brain, but I believe that the modern understanding is that they simply get pushed around by blood pressure, and raising the feet can increase brain swelling.
 
Glad to have you back, DAD.

Also glad to see that you registered an account here, guess you forgot about it.

Hopefully after my ankle heals you, Cristabel and I can take a trip to the quarry and log a few dives.
 
Can you share a bit about the procedure involved to close the PFO? I am scheduled to get tested for a PFO on July 31 but my doctor told me that they would most likely not close it if they found one (since i am asymptomatic). Is it major surgery or similar to putting in a stent? I have heard widely varying descriptions of the surgery.
 
It is a catheter-based procedure -- the catheter is threaded up into the heart and the device is expanded in the hole. HERE is a video explaining the use of one of the devices. Physicians who don't dive would probably not be very enthusiastic about doing this to make diving possible, as they would see giving up diving as a very easy solution.
 
In order to warrant closure, the PFO must be large enough to cause problems. Mine is very small and only has shunting on deep valsalva, so no intervention is recommended. Just diving more conservatively will go a long way toward reducing risk.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.
 
I have been diagnosed with a PFO last week and am still trying to get my head around it. I was diving fine for three years without any issues at all and got bent after a decompression dive. I am now advised to only dive once a day on a high percentage mix to a maximum of EAD of 15mtrs. as I am an instructor and a passionate diver I will try to have it closed. I am annoyed and upset but it cannot be changed unless I have the procedure done. Until then I have to dive as conservatively as possible. I would like to hear from other PFO divers to hear how they get on/ live with it.
 

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