aquamarine1
Registered
Following recent DCS, I am quite shocked and surprised at my slow rate of recovery. Having difficulty finding information about the aftermath of treatment, apart from the doctors here, I turned to SCUBA board to find out about the experiences others have had:
- How long they took to recover
- In simple terms, what is happening to my body?
- How can I aid in healing myself? (apart from rest)
Thank you to H20_kat for responding and sharing your progress with me. I have been asked to share my story, so here goes. I will attempt to make the report of the ongoing saga brief!
I was on a liveaboard in Southern Maldives where I completed 17 dives. The deepest dives I had over the week were at around 35 metres and observed required stops. The only unusual thing that happened was a down current that took me from 16m down to 26 very quickly and I had to fight hard to get up to 5 metres, where we surfaced a minute or so later in order to get out of a crazy washing machine. I felt fine afterwards though and went on to complete 2 dives on the next day.
29/3
My second and last dive finished at midday. That afternoon I was a bit lethargic and not too proactive about packing my bags for the flight the next morning. As the afternoon wore on this lethargy increased and I felt numbing down the left side of my face, my left arm and a little down my leg. I put this down to maybe some strain on my neck. When one side of my tongue went numb I started to get concerned. I had dinner but did not have much of an appetite and left quickly with an overwhelming feeling that I needed to lie down. Each attempt to become active and socailise between naps made me feel worse and I began to feel a little disorientated. My dive buddy and room mate called on the boat manager who administered 02 and called DAN, who advised a chamber visit. The problem now was to get me to one.
30/3
Travel Assist and various other people could not get either a sea plane or boat to take me to Male so I ended up taking a 45 min commercial flight in the evening. By the time I boarded the plane the numbing had subsided quite a lot- I was more fatigued and light headed. During the plane ride I felt the numbing come up my face and it felt like there was something moving under the skin of my forehead- creepy.
As soon as I arrived in Male I was taken to a recompression chamber -this was at about 10pm so a good 24 hours+ from when the symptoms started. I was in the chamber for 2 hours-12 meters and told to come back the next morning.
31/3
I was in the chamber for 90 mins at 12m. Numbing was still slight after and I felt incredibly tired and dizzy. Was told I would be fine, the numbing was just the skin healing and I could fly that night or the next day. He even said I could drink alcohol- last thing I felt like. I slept on and off for most of the day, falling into deep sleeps after a few hours of being up.
1/4
After showering I felt incredibly light headed. I walked to breakfast thinking it was because I had not eaten dinner the night before- not much of an appetite. The walk back from breakfast was even worse than the on the way there (like I was not in control of my feet and felt like I was falling to the side) and I went to the clinic straight away. I really did not feel right. He told me it was unrelated and I suggested I was just stressed about flying. The insurance company booked my flight for the next day and I briefly spoke to one of their dive medics who again told me I was just healing.
2/4
Still not feeling great and sleeping a lot. I felt OK on the flight, just the numbing and still light headed. Put it all down to skin being sensitive and being tired and tried to ignore it -put myself on auto pilot to get home. Flew overnight.
3/4
Slept for a few hours in the afternoon when I got home. When I woke up and started moving about I did not feel so great- it was like all of my original symptoms had come back. Again I put it down to stress/healing. Tried a few sips of wine to help me sleep but that just made me feel worse.
4/4
Got on the phone to DAN. Once I got to the doctor and explained my treatment/flights etc he directed me to go back in the chamber. Table6. The chamber was already closed for the day so I was told to come back the next day
5/4
Table 6 treatment. I still quite numb but felt much better straight after treatment. Still exhausted and sleeping a lot.
7/4
Table 5 treatment
8/4
Went to work for a few hours but had a lot of trouble getting my thoughts together and processing information. Getting each sentence out was a big effort and I was getting my words jumbled. Again, slept most of the afternoon. Was told to rest the next day.
9/4
Felt good upon waking so went to work- was home within a few hours as I had the same difficulties as the day before.
10/4
Chamber Table 5
Felt great afterwards- the most clear headed I had been since the beginning. No numbing.
11/4
Felt great- had a massage and numbing came back- think I upset the healing,
12/4
Went to meet friends for lunch- felt good at first but after several hours of conversation was exhausted and light headed again.
14/4
Saw a neurologist who has put me on a combination of vit B1, B6, B12, vit E & folic acid as well as citicoline.
20/4
I have had a few half days back at work, but continue to become easily fatigued. My clarity of thought is continuing to improve, if slowly. Have difficulty focusing when there is a lot of noise and more than a 2 way conversation is happening.
I am getting incredibly frustrated at the time it is taking and really thought I would be back in the water, and/or back socialising this weekend.
Any advice/ information/ personal experiences would be much appreciated.
- How long they took to recover
- In simple terms, what is happening to my body?
- How can I aid in healing myself? (apart from rest)
Thank you to H20_kat for responding and sharing your progress with me. I have been asked to share my story, so here goes. I will attempt to make the report of the ongoing saga brief!
I was on a liveaboard in Southern Maldives where I completed 17 dives. The deepest dives I had over the week were at around 35 metres and observed required stops. The only unusual thing that happened was a down current that took me from 16m down to 26 very quickly and I had to fight hard to get up to 5 metres, where we surfaced a minute or so later in order to get out of a crazy washing machine. I felt fine afterwards though and went on to complete 2 dives on the next day.
29/3
My second and last dive finished at midday. That afternoon I was a bit lethargic and not too proactive about packing my bags for the flight the next morning. As the afternoon wore on this lethargy increased and I felt numbing down the left side of my face, my left arm and a little down my leg. I put this down to maybe some strain on my neck. When one side of my tongue went numb I started to get concerned. I had dinner but did not have much of an appetite and left quickly with an overwhelming feeling that I needed to lie down. Each attempt to become active and socailise between naps made me feel worse and I began to feel a little disorientated. My dive buddy and room mate called on the boat manager who administered 02 and called DAN, who advised a chamber visit. The problem now was to get me to one.
30/3
Travel Assist and various other people could not get either a sea plane or boat to take me to Male so I ended up taking a 45 min commercial flight in the evening. By the time I boarded the plane the numbing had subsided quite a lot- I was more fatigued and light headed. During the plane ride I felt the numbing come up my face and it felt like there was something moving under the skin of my forehead- creepy.
As soon as I arrived in Male I was taken to a recompression chamber -this was at about 10pm so a good 24 hours+ from when the symptoms started. I was in the chamber for 2 hours-12 meters and told to come back the next morning.
31/3
I was in the chamber for 90 mins at 12m. Numbing was still slight after and I felt incredibly tired and dizzy. Was told I would be fine, the numbing was just the skin healing and I could fly that night or the next day. He even said I could drink alcohol- last thing I felt like. I slept on and off for most of the day, falling into deep sleeps after a few hours of being up.
1/4
After showering I felt incredibly light headed. I walked to breakfast thinking it was because I had not eaten dinner the night before- not much of an appetite. The walk back from breakfast was even worse than the on the way there (like I was not in control of my feet and felt like I was falling to the side) and I went to the clinic straight away. I really did not feel right. He told me it was unrelated and I suggested I was just stressed about flying. The insurance company booked my flight for the next day and I briefly spoke to one of their dive medics who again told me I was just healing.
2/4
Still not feeling great and sleeping a lot. I felt OK on the flight, just the numbing and still light headed. Put it all down to skin being sensitive and being tired and tried to ignore it -put myself on auto pilot to get home. Flew overnight.
3/4
Slept for a few hours in the afternoon when I got home. When I woke up and started moving about I did not feel so great- it was like all of my original symptoms had come back. Again I put it down to stress/healing. Tried a few sips of wine to help me sleep but that just made me feel worse.
4/4
Got on the phone to DAN. Once I got to the doctor and explained my treatment/flights etc he directed me to go back in the chamber. Table6. The chamber was already closed for the day so I was told to come back the next day
5/4
Table 6 treatment. I still quite numb but felt much better straight after treatment. Still exhausted and sleeping a lot.
7/4
Table 5 treatment
8/4
Went to work for a few hours but had a lot of trouble getting my thoughts together and processing information. Getting each sentence out was a big effort and I was getting my words jumbled. Again, slept most of the afternoon. Was told to rest the next day.
9/4
Felt good upon waking so went to work- was home within a few hours as I had the same difficulties as the day before.
10/4
Chamber Table 5
Felt great afterwards- the most clear headed I had been since the beginning. No numbing.
11/4
Felt great- had a massage and numbing came back- think I upset the healing,
12/4
Went to meet friends for lunch- felt good at first but after several hours of conversation was exhausted and light headed again.
14/4
Saw a neurologist who has put me on a combination of vit B1, B6, B12, vit E & folic acid as well as citicoline.
20/4
I have had a few half days back at work, but continue to become easily fatigued. My clarity of thought is continuing to improve, if slowly. Have difficulty focusing when there is a lot of noise and more than a 2 way conversation is happening.
I am getting incredibly frustrated at the time it is taking and really thought I would be back in the water, and/or back socialising this weekend.
Any advice/ information/ personal experiences would be much appreciated.