Chamber dive today

[Marie13]

In my experience you get more narked in the chamber than in water. The first chamber drop I did was to 130 and my voice cracked me up so much. The next one was to 190 for a HeO2 test, we rode to depth on air and were LIT! Constant uncontrolled laughter but it went away after the switch to helium.

My voice was like Minnie Mouse on steroids!

 

[EricTheDood]

More details: woman was in the midst of her OW class at the local YMCA. She and husband were practicing buddy breathing in 5 ft of water. She had a full breath, but when it was her turn, husband refused to give her the reg. She panicked, stood up quickly, and ended up with an AE.

Husband or ex-husband?

 

[Marie13]

@EricTheDood A number of us commented on that!

 

[Birddog1911]

@Marie13, sounds like you had a fun day. Over the years, I have done a number of chamber rides for work, but we always went the other direction. We would start off at the local altitude & and breathe 100% O2 for 30 minutes to reduce our N2 levels as much as possible, then "climb" on a specific profile to a specific altitude. In some cases, we went up to (simulated) 30,000 feet and took our masks off and had to do a test to show us the effects of Hypoxia. (In many people it is similar to the effects of Nitrogen Narcosis, but the truth is that it manifests itself differently in every person.) In other cases, it was an almost instantaneous (less than 1/2 second) "climb" from surface to (simulated) 25,000 feet to simulate explosive decompression. Maybe I am a bit twisted, but I always looked forward to the chamber training and had a fun afternoon. (Spatial disorientation training on the other hand ... not so much fun.)

I, too, used to go up in the chamber. My symptoms were warm and fuzzy. I always thought that it was funny when they'd have someone go full hypoxic, then put them back on the O2. I'll certainly never forget the first explosive decompression!

 

[rhwestfall]

The shop I use here at home requires a chamber ride as part of the Master Diver Certification (NAUI).

It is done in Tobermory over a weekend, and your first dive there. Bummer is, you lose a bit of diving with that residual....

 

[Hoag]

I, too, used to go up in the chamber. My symptoms were warm and fuzzy. I always thought that it was funny when they'd have someone go full hypoxic, then put them back on the O2. I'll certainly never forget the first explosive decompression!

As I understand it, every person has different symptoms for hypoxia. We were told that as soon as you had identifiable symptoms to get back on O2. In my case, my left arm goes numb and tingly. When I get those symptoms, I know to go on 100% O2. (If I am not hypoxic, I might be having a heart attack either way 100% O2 is a good idea.) The last time I did the hypoxia run, we had one person whose hypoxia symptom was that he tasted peanut butter. It was a very easy symptom for him to recognize especially because he HATED the taste of peanut butter.

 

[Birddog1911]

Yep, that's why military aviators go up in the chamber; everyone is different. The peanut butter taste would be a might funny one.

First time that I saw the full hypoxia was interesting. Basically, it's like hitting the pause button on your brain. The pilot was writing something out, and then just blacked out. The technicians then put the mask back on the person, and they go right back to doing exactly what they were doing.