Anxiety about DCS

[marineconservation]

Hi,

This may be a dumb question, but I'm worried that I experienced DCS on a dive trip I went on about 3 months ago. It was my first ever dive without an instructor, and I went to a depth of about fifty feet for ~30 minutes. I did not equalize properly and my ears hurt for much of the time. My ascent was controlled and I did a safety stop for about five minutes. When I came up to the surface I could not hear anything, my nose was bleeding, and felt very disoriented. I was nauseous and threw up multiple times while on the boat for the remainder of the trip, skipping the second dive. I don't remember having any pain and my nausea went away after getting off the boat. My ears took a while to return to normal, however.

I'm admittedly a hypochondriac and I've been having anxiety about what happened on that trip. I'm mainly worried that I experienced DCS and did not get treatment. I'm sure I would know by now if it was DCS, right? If anyone could offer any insight about what may have happened it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[NYCNaiad]

I'm not a doctor, but as a non-medical professional, it sounds as if you had some ear barotrauma which a number of us including myself have experienced with no lasting damage. (In my case, it took weeks for my ears to return to normal.) This is different from DCS.

That being said, you should see an ENT with dive medicine experience to check you out. They can help you figure out what happened & hopefully, help prevent this from happening in the future. (Side note: You always need to equalize before you feel any pressure & if there's an issue, you should not proceed. Also, a number of friends swear by vented Doc's Pro Plugs & the IST Pro Mask to help them deal with ears which are slower to equalize.)

Whenever I have dive-related medical questions, I like to contact the Divers Alert Network (DAN) & discuss it with them. They've been helpful for me (as a DAN member) & helpful to others who weren't members. They can also recommend a good ENT in your area who understands dive medicine.

 

[Drone076]

This is not DCS, it looks like barotrauma

 

[KeithG]

To put yourself at rest, do a little research on DCS and DCI. I think that being aware of the causes and symptoms should have been covered by your basic scuba training. Regardless, these are things you should become familar with to help ensure you do not encounter DCS or DCI issues in the future.

 

[NYCNaiad]

To put yourself at rest, do a little research on DCS and DCI. I think that being aware of the causes and symptoms should have been covered by your basic scuba training. Regardless, these are things you should become familar with to help ensure you do not encounter DCS or DCI issues in the future.

Good point that this should have been covered in the OP's training. @marineconservation: I'll add that if these things weren't covered, you should get some additional training to help prevent & recognize such problems. Did you get an Open Water certification?

 

[Diver0001]

Hi,

This may be a dumb question, but I'm worried that I experienced DCS on a dive trip I went on about 3 months ago. It was my first ever dive without an instructor, and I went to a depth of about fifty feet for ~30 minutes. I did not equalize properly and my ears hurt for much of the time. My ascent was controlled and I did a safety stop for about five minutes. When I came up to the surface I could not hear anything, my nose was bleeding, and felt very disoriented. I was nauseous and threw up multiple times while on the boat for the remainder of the trip, skipping the second dive. I don't remember having any pain and my nausea went away after getting off the boat. My ears took a while to return to normal, however.

I'm admittedly a hypochondriac and I've been having anxiety about what happened on that trip. I'm mainly worried that I experienced DCS and did not get treatment. I'm sure I would know by now if it was DCS, right? If anyone could offer any insight about what may have happened it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

It's highly unlikely that what you experienced was DCS.

The chance of developing decompression sickness from a profile of that depth and time, with a controlled ascent and a long safety stop would be astronomically small.

I think the clue is in the pain you had in your ears. Improperly clearing your ears can create a pressure imbalance and the pain is a possible indication of a slight barotrauma. This could easily explain the nose bleeding, disorientation, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Being on a boat could also explain some of these symptoms from simple sea-sickness. Finally anxiety about what you were experiencing could also explain some of the symptoms.

In terms of avoiding a repeat, clear your ears well and clear them often during the descent. Go slower during the descent if you have to and relax. If you are diving beyond your comfort zone then maybe take a step back first and push those boundaries slowly. \

Good luck.

R..

 

[stuartv]

If you check just about any dive table (PADI, SDI, NOAA, etc.), the NDL for 50 feet is somewhere around roughly 90 minutes. So, if you were only down for ~30 minutes, ascended at a reasonable speed, and did a 5 minute safety stop, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that you were experiencing DCS.

 

[marineconservation]

Thanks for all your replies.

I apologize for the bad question. I am certified and I am aware of the symptoms of DCS. Like I said before I'm a hypochondriac, and if any symptom I'm feeling matches a symptom of a serious issue I'll freak out about it. Like a couple of you have suggested, I'm thinking it was barotrauma. Don't think diving is really for me haha.

Thanks again

 

[t-mac]

Sounds completely like barotrauma. The orientation and nausea problems are probably related to the vestibular system in your inner ear, which is responsible for orientation and balance. Everything is consistent with barotrauma, not DCS. Anyway, it sounds frightening and I'm glad you're ok. Not everyone recovers as well as you apparently did.

 

[Steve_C]

Hi,

I did not equalize properly and my ears hurt for much of the time. My ascent was controlled and I did a safety stop for about five minutes. When

Later you say maybe diving is not for you. Nothing in this story says that. What this says is that you did not descend correctly. If you have trouble clearing your ears on the way down. You stop and go back up a bit until you feel no pressure. Then do not go deeper until you clear. Continuing with a dive never makes the ears happy.

Sometimes I can hot drop to 90 ft. Sometimes I have to stop and rest a few times on the way down, maybe go up a bit, to make sure I am clearing. Just pay attention to what the ears are saying and run your dive accordingly. If you cannot get them to clear, thumb the dive.