Nitrogen Narcosis: What It Is and How It Affects You - Maluku Diving

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Maluku Diving

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Maluku, Ambon, Indonesia
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I'm a Fish!
Nitrogen Narcosis: What It Is and How It Affects You - Maluku Diving
Anybody interested in diving beyond the 60 foot mark needs additional training that includes information on Nitrogen Narcosis. The cause of nitrogen narcosis is an increase in the partial pressure of the various gases breathed when diving. When it comes to recreational diving, the gas in question is nitrogen. With the partial pressure being high, more nitrogen is able to dissolve into your tissues. It dissolves into your brain’s nerve cells and in your fat tissues cause a disruption in signal transmission where the brain is concerned.

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The result can be a feeling of euphoria such that everything becomes suddenly funny. Along with this comes absentmindedness, which means that you are not able to monitor your diving instruments. On the other hand, you may begin to feel paranoid, which is often accompanied by anxiety. If not managed properly, this anxiety can worsen. Whichever way you lean the following will be true:
  • You will react slower
  • Simple tasks become hard to complete
  • Judgment, memory and coordination will be affected
  • Going deeper will make things worse
Dealing with Nitrogen Narcosis
To begin with, you will need to recognize it and know its effect on you. Other things will include:
  • Before the dive, get lots of rest and drink plenty of water. Exhaustion slows down your brain and narcosis will worsen that.
  • Do not drink alcohol before the dive. Alcohol and narcosis do not mix.
  • Don’t just suddenly go on a deep dive. Instead, build up your tolerance slowly through regular dives that go deeper each time. Even though you can never become narcosis tolerant, you can learn through experience how to cope with its effects on you.
  • Do not overexert yourself just before a dive. Avoid over exertion during the dive as well since accumulating too much CO2 can enhance narcosis.
  • When descending, go slow so that partial pressure increases slowly. It is a good idea to stop every 10 meters for half a minute.
  • If you are cold, narcosis increases so get warm and then ensure that you stay that way.
  • Keep everything simple and do not task load. It is a good idea to carry your slate and use it. Ensure that you have pre-written phrases on it.
  • Practice your emergency skills and other diving skills well ahead of time
  • Don’t be afraid to bring the dive to an end if you are not feeling too good.
To get rid of the narcosis, simply ascend so that you are at a depth that is shallower thus reducing the partial pressure. You should recover almost immediately. Being a diver, nitrogen narcosis is your enemy.
 
60 feet? Seriously? Did the laws of physics change since I took classes? Maybe 120 feet but not 60. And probably more like 140 to 160
 
60 feet? Seriously? Did the laws of physics change since I took classes? Maybe 120 feet but not 60. And probably more like 140 to 160
If you want to dive below 60' you need at least an AOW cert, on that course you will do dives to 100-110 feet so narcosis is covered in the theory.

GUE and UTD won't dive below an END of 100'.
 
Nitrogen Narcosis is such a bad name for this effect. Oxygen is believed to be as narcotic or even more so than nitrogen.
I know a couple agencies that have changed and now call it gas narcosis for that reason.
Bolding mine
 
Boy the garage they allow to be spread on the internet.....

Jim...
 
If you want to dive below 60' you need at least an AOW cert, on that course you will do dives to 100-110 feet so narcosis is covered in the theory.

GUE and UTD won't dive below an END of 100'.
ah, no. if you want to have a training dive below 60 feet then you need to take AOW. OW cert is good to the recreational limit of 130 feet.
 
ah, no. if you want to have a training dive below 60 feet then you need to take AOW. OW cert is good to the recreational limit of 130 feet.

ah, not in RAID. Also not with every dive operator I've used in 4 countries (not a huge sample I'll admit but 100% so far)

The question of how "hard" the limits are on certifications and whether or not an OW diver can go do dives they are not certified for is a different issue. In my case, my life insurance will NOT pay out if I'm killed at 41m if I'm not certified deeper than 40m

From RAID site:
Screen Shot 2017-03-30 at 07.56.28.png


All my RAID cards have a hard depth limit on them.
Screen Shot 2017-03-30 at 08.03.49.png

Screen Shot 2017-03-30 at 08.04.06.png


Screen Shot 2017-03-30 at 08.04.19.png


And then I have different limits on my rebreather diving

Screen Shot 2017-03-30 at 08.04.39.png


And at 131' you get narc'd out of your mind and need to add 20% helium or you'll die... LoL

Jim...

Nope. I've done 40m on air. What I'm saying is that if the WKPP and others strongly advocate a max END of 100' then there may be some fire under that smoke. The fact is that narcosis does occur at depths shallower than 150', but individual tolerances etc may vary. To say that someone diving to 130' does not need to be aware of narcosis is IMO just plain wrong.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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