Rapid Ascent from 20-30 meters. Symptoms of DCI?

[DylDiver]

Hey guys,

I did 2 dives today at Kicker Rock in the Galapagos. On the first dive my mask filled completely with water. No matter how I tried I couldn’t clear it, guess I was panicking. I was pretty much blinded, totally disoriented, just trying to breath and stay alive. My dive buddy, the dive master, was there trying to help. He grabbed my arm was dragging me, to where I had no idea. Turns out he was trying to drag me back down because I was floating towards the top. He got me back down close to the group, where I tried to clear my mask again, couldn’t, got lost in someone’s bubbles, and next thing I knew I was at the surface. I composed myself and went back down to finish the dive for about 10 minutes. FYI, the deepest we got was 30 meters, but they tell me we had ascended to 20m or less by the time I had the incident. Dive time was at most 30 minutes at time of incident. This was around noon maybe a little before.

When I came back up properly and got on the boat, I immediately felt dizzy, disoriented, unable to focus, light-headed. I laid down, said I was feeling bad, and basically everyone on the boat acted like it was no big deal, barely paid me attention. I asked if there was any way I could have decompression sickness and they all said no. I’m confused, if there is no danger in ascending quickly from 20m, then why do we go up slow and take a “safety stop”? They said I was fine to go on the next dive as long as I was feeling up to it. I felt a little better and didn’t wanna waste my day so I did the 2nd dive.

When I got back to town at 4pm I was still feeling unwell. Felt like I might pass out if I stood up too quick. Did a little research, got a little worried, and called DAN hotline. The guy also didn’t seem too concerned, but said I should see a doctor to get checked out.
So I went to the local hospital here on San Cristobal. They took my vitals, gauged my cognitive abilities, looked inside one ear, and said I was fine and just to go rest. Everyone says just go rest it off like this is normal or something. So here I am, resting, still feeling light-headed, wondering what to do. I don’t want to over-react and demand a compression chamber, but I also don’t want to wait if there’s something wrong. Advice?

Thanks guys

 

[Peter69_56]

How long passed from the time of your decent until you hit the surface first time?

 

[Steve_C]

You had an exhausting scary experience. That can be physically exhausting and scary. You may have also inhaled a bit of sea water which can make a person nauseous. I have seen several divers who have had a rough dive that then felt exhausted and needed to just take it easy and rest for a few hours. Also seen divers who swallowed a bit of water that got a bit nauseous afterwards.

Have you really had less than 25 dives? Galapagos seems a bit much for a beginning diver.

 

[Esprise Me]

How long passed from the time of your decent until you hit the surface first time?

OP wrote 30 minutes at most.

ETA: I'm no expert, but the folks at DAN are. If you called them and told them the truth and they weren't concerned, I wouldn't be concerned.

 

[ChuckP]

You spoke with DAN, gave them all the real details of what happened and they gave you an answer correct?

I understand the need to reach out in quest for help but you were seen first hand by a doc and spoke with the diving docs on the phone - I'd take the advice from those two long before any internet advice but I'll give you mine anyways LOL.

Dive computers are a great tool that allows you to analyze what just happened, how fast you truly ascended etc... Assuming your computer has a log - look at it - how fast did you really ascend? From 20m, ideally it's two minutes, how long did it take?

From the ups and downs you did, sounds like a tad bit of panic - I'd totally guess you caught a tad bit of vertigo due to the ups and downs with ears maybe not equalizing the same, vertigo maybe from lost in the bubble cloud and maybe, just maybe a tad bit of excessive CO2 if you were overbreathing.

CO2 gives you a headache, makes your belly hurt

Vertigo makes you dizzy and your belly do flip flops

Get in the water in the morning and do some excessive practice removing and clearing your mask - water on your eyeballs is no big deal and you need to train your body to understand it!!! This is supposed to be fun, not laying in the sack worrying about something!!!

Mask on, mask off, mask on, mask off!!! Get comfortable - you're in one of the diving mecas of the world enjoy it and come back tomorrow and tell us some of the stuff you seen, better yet pictures!

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

This post seems like trolling, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt....

Like Steve C. said, you dove the Galapagos with less than 25 dives? The fact that you panicked with water in your mask concerns me. This should have been a skill mastered in your openwater class. DCI should have been covered as well along with the symptoms, it's not just the rapid ascent, it's time, depth, and an ascent at a rate too fast to allow decompression that will cause DCI. That rate may be seconds or hours depending on your dive profile.

So, your divemaster, who I am sure has seen more DCI issues than most people on this board said it wasn't DCI and wasn't concerned. The other divers on the boat who likely had more experience than you said it wasn't DCI and weren't concerned. The DAN helpline said it wasn't DCI and wasn't too concerned, but gave the cya answer of see a doc if you feel the need. The Doc said it wasn't DCI and wasn't too concerned. Now you post two posts on Scubaboard wanting complete strangers, who haven't seen your dive profile, medical history, or anything else to diagnose you with DCI so you can "demand" a chamber ride? Good luck with that.

Here you go-

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF DCS?

• Joint and muscle pain – this is the most common symptom due to bubbles typically forming in and around joints
• Confusion and unusual behavior
• Coughing up blood
• Difficulty urinating
• Dizziness or vertigo
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Loss of hearing or ringing in ears
• Memory loss
• Nausea
• Rashes
• Sensitive, painful, or itchy skin
• Shortness of breath
• Swelling
• Tingling, numbness, and paralysis
• Unconsciousness
• Uncontrollable shaking
• Visual disturbances
• Vomiting
• Weakness

To answer your other questions, The safety stop is just that...an extra precaution to hopefully avoid any issues. If you are following no decompression diving protocols, the safety stop just provides an additional margin of safety. There are undeserved hits that no one can explain. A PFO or previous DCS hit can make you more succeptable. The reasons for a slow ascent should have been covered in your class as well. The gasses in your tissues expand as you ascend. Ascend too fast and they don't have time to work themselves out. Holding your breath while ascending could result in an air gas embolism. That's even worse. You don't have that either.

The dizziness you feel and fatigue could be a result of some barotrauma but it doesn't sound like the doctor saw anything. Diving air, especially at 90 feet makes some people tired. I can feel it. Diving Nitrox helps me but there are several dozen threads on this site debating that. One thing is certain, Nitrox is safer, especially for multiple dives over a week.

Get Nitrox certified, you may feel less tired after diving.

Most importantly-Panic kills. Kills you, kills your buddy, your instabuddy, and risks others lives you have endangered because you bit off on a dive you were not prepared for. Panic ruins other's vacations because they have to ride back on the boat with your corpse as the crew does cpr in a futile attempt to bring you back. If you continue diving on this trip, consider hiring a private divemaster to help you work on skills and avoid another panic issue.

Having a C-card doesn't make you a good diver, it allows to to learn to be a good diver. Only experience can do that.

Good luck,
Jay

 

[chillyinCanada]

Your mask strap was probably not placed correctly on the back of your head causing your mask to not seat properly on your face. That combined with your growing panic over the inability to clear, made it worse for you.

Remember that you could still breathe. As long as you could breathe, you had time to figure out how to deal with your mask. Don't forget what you were taught, "Stop! Think! Then act".

If you have trouble with clearing your mask again in the future, stay calm and see if you can figure out why you're having trouble with it.

The advice given above by another where they told you to practice practice practice flooding and clearing is a very good idea.

Spend a lot of time breathing off of your reg or snorkel with no mask on at all.

 

[HKGuns]

Thinking about his as a newly certified diver, I wouldn't be diving to 30 meters in the ocean if I couldn't do something as basic as clearing my mask. I don't know enough to comment on DCS, but hope you recover quickly.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Hey guys,

I did 2 dives today at Kicker Rock in the Galapagos. On the first dive my mask filled completely with water. No matter how I tried I couldn’t clear it, guess I was panicking. I was pretty much blinded, totally disoriented, just trying to breath and stay alive. My dive buddy, the dive master, was there trying to help. He grabbed my arm was dragging me, to where I had no idea. Turns out he was trying to drag me back down because I was floating towards the top. He got me back down close to the group, where I tried to clear my mask again, couldn’t, got lost in someone’s bubbles, and next thing I knew I was at the surface. I composed myself and went back down to finish the dive for about 10 minutes. FYI, the deepest we got was 30 meters, but they tell me we had ascended to 20m or less by the time I had the incident. Dive time was at most 30 minutes at time of incident. This was around noon maybe a little before.

When I came back up properly and got on the boat, I immediately felt dizzy, disoriented, unable to focus, light-headed. I laid down, said I was feeling bad, and basically everyone on the boat acted like it was no big deal, barely paid me attention. I asked if there was any way I could have decompression sickness and they all said no. I’m confused, if there is no danger in ascending quickly from 20m, then why do we go up slow and take a “safety stop”? They said I was fine to go on the next dive as long as I was feeling up to it. I felt a little better and didn’t wanna waste my day so I did the 2nd dive.

When I got back to town at 4pm I was still feeling unwell. Felt like I might pass out if I stood up too quick. Did a little research, got a little worried, and called DAN hotline. The guy also didn’t seem too concerned, but said I should see a doctor to get checked out.
So I went to the local hospital here on San Cristobal. They took my vitals, gauged my cognitive abilities, looked inside one ear, and said I was fine and just to go rest. Everyone says just go rest it off like this is normal or something. So here I am, resting, still feeling light-headed, wondering what to do. I don’t want to over-react and demand a compression chamber, but I also don’t want to wait if there’s something wrong. Advice?

Thanks guys

Hi @DylDiver ,

Based only on the information you've provided here, DCS can't be ruled out, but you haven't mentioned anything about your age, gender, medical history, etc. Other things in the differential are alternobaric vertigo (where one ear clears but the other does not, usually happens on ascent and is usually transient but sometimes not), inner ear barotrauma, anxiety, and a lot of other medical issues. How are you feeling now?

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Storker]

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