Nitrox for older divers

[ls1dreams]

Since nitrox came into general use, DCS cases have declined less than one-tenth of a percent. There is only a minuscule reduction of risk. Nitrox does give me more ndl, which is the only reason I use it.

Reported/treated cases are what barely declined. I still firmly believe there is a lot of mild DCS happening regularly that nitrox could reduce overall risk with.

 

[scubadada]

IMO nitrox is a no-brainer for nearly everyone. Why not reduce DCS risk?

I'm convinced that the vast majority of divers have taken some kind of mild DCS hit and not realized it.

Reported/treated cases are what barely declined. I still firmly believe there is a lot of mild DCS happening regularly that nitrox could reduce overall risk with.

You might decrease the risk of DCS if you dive nitrox less aggressively than you dive air. That is not true for all divers/dives.

Out of curiosity, why do you think the majority of divers have experienced DCS, but are unaware of it?

 

[kelemvor]

Do any of you older guys use nitrox based on your age? Thanks.

I use nitrox on every dive. Once I hit 35 I decided the risk was just too great to do otherwise.

 

[Celt]

IMO nitrox is a no-brainer for nearly everyone. Why not reduce DCS risk?

I'm convinced that the vast majority of divers have taken some kind of mild DCS hit and not realized it.

Nitrox won’t reduce your risk of DCS if you dive it as aggressive as your diving air. The risk will be the same. DCS is rare why would you think the vast majority of divers have experienced it. In fact the opposite is more likely, a lot of suspected cases may not be DCS.

 

[rsingler]

Maybe @Is1dreams may have stated it overly agressively, but the notion of subclinical DCS is not at all far-fetched. To take an extreme example, there is clear MRI evidence among divers with significant technical diving exposure (incl. occupational) of brain changes that are NOT present in Recreational divers, in the absence of a DCS history. Therefore, there it is not unreasonable to assume that Recreational divers might have a similarly unnoticed set of DCS-related changes. Although @scubadada 's and @mac64 's comments are spot on regarding the equivalent risk of air vs. Nitrox dived to their respective NDL limits, I still believe that Nitrox may convey an as-yet-unappreciated benefit when dived to similar times as air. The less nitrogen the better, IMO.

 

[ls1dreams]

You might decrease the risk of DCS if you dive nitrox less aggressively than you dive air. That is not true for all divers/dives.

Out of curiosity, why do you think the majority of divers have experienced DCS, but are unaware of it?

So, this is entirely on anecodotal evidence, but after an incident I had, I started asking every diver I met while traveling and at local meetup groups.

Nearly 100% have said they've either had incidents of extreme tiredness, headaches, some shoulder pain, etc at some point in their diving career. They went on to say that they probably had mild DCS symptoms.

Again, these probably don't qualify as clinical cases, but we know that as we ascend, even slowly, there probably is always some bubbling going on.

I don't claim to be any expert or have any stats on this, but just start asking around yourself. I also am not commenting on the severity of these symptoms. I just choose to use nitrox because I believe it decreases risk given the same profile/time.

 

[gbf]

Geezer here.

Can it hurt? Probably not if you dive reasonably.

Can it help? Almost certainly, with something or other.

If somebody offers to tote my tanks or take my fins, I say "you betcha".

Nitrox might help. I'll take it.

 

[Ukmc]

Since nitrox came into general use, DCS cases have declined less than one-tenth of a percent. There is only a minuscule reduction of risk. Nitrox does give me more ndl, which is the only reason I use it.

It definitely maximizes your bottom time

 

[scubadada]

...I still believe that Nitrox may convey an as-yet-unappreciated benefit when dived to similar times as air. The less nitrogen the better, IMO.

It would be great if that is true. I have been diving nitrox, almost exclusively, since 2002. Many of those dives were as aggressive as if dived on air. However, many of those dives resulted in considerably less nitrogen exposure than if they would have been on air.

So, this is entirely on anecodotal evidence, but after an incident I had, I started asking every diver I met while traveling and at local meetup groups.

Nearly 100% have said they've either had incidents of extreme tiredness, headaches, some shoulder pain, etc at some point in their diving career. They went on to say that they probably had mild DCS symptoms.

Again, these probably don't qualify as clinical cases, but we know that as we ascend, even slowly, there probably is always some bubbling going on.

I don't claim to be any expert or have any stats on this, but just start asking around yourself. I also am not commenting on the severity of these symptoms. I just choose to use nitrox because I believe it decreases risk given the same profile/time.

Good, honest reply. There has been extensive discussion of post-diving fatigue following air vs. nitrox. Some divers feel less fatigue with nitrox, some of us notice no difference. Other aches and pains are difficult to interpret, some of these may represent DCS, diving air or nitrox. The key to any increased safety with nitrox is the reduced nitrogen exposure, diving less aggressively than the equivalent air dive.

 

[Celt]

So, this is entirely on anecodotal evidence, but after an incident I had, I started asking every diver I met while traveling and at local meetup groups.

Nearly 100% have said they've either had incidents of extreme tiredness, headaches, some shoulder pain, etc at some point in their diving career. They went on to say that they probably had mild DCS symptoms.

Again, these probably don't qualify as clinical cases, but we know that as we ascend, even slowly, there probably is always some bubbling going on.

I don't claim to be any expert or have any stats on this, but just start asking around yourself. I also am not commenting on the severity of these symptoms. I just choose to use nitrox because I believe it decreases risk given the same profile/time.

What you say is without doubt very accurate but where DCS is concerned divers are very like fishermen, the one that got away is always huge.