Depth and Safety Question

[luv2diveWPB]

I recently was doing a deep dive and at around 105ft I started feeling a severe pressure build up in the front portion of my brain. It felt as if my brain was being deprived of oxygen while thinking that if I didnt decrease my depth I would pass out. It was quite painful and as soon as I came back above 100ft the pressure slowly decreased. Also I was diving air. Anyone have any thoughts or ideas on what happened? It was a little scary to say the least cause passing out at 100ft is a death sentence IMO.

Thanks
a-d

 

[The Chairman]

Welcome to your narcosis.

 

[zen_man]

Were you exerting a lot of energy going down or did you just drop?

I'm not an expert, but that is usually a sign of either a sinus blockage or can be a symptom of CO2 build up. Did you feel anything else? Tingling or disorientation?

Welcome to your narcosis.

Nice one Doc. I've never heard (or felt) narcosis causing pain though.

 

[luv2diveWPB]

Definitely experienced tingling and disorientation. Do you think I can dive deeper or this is my limit even on nitrox?

 

[1_T_Submariner]

If you did you have any problems equalizing? and you didn't have mask leaking problems (causing you to overtighten the strap. Then since it went away when you went up a little, I'm with NetDoc.
Not sure about your employer but, mine doesn't test for Narcosis

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Nitrox DOES NOT ALLOW YOU TO DIVE DEEPER! Nitrox does in fact limit your depth itself. For instance EAN32 has a depth limit of 110 ft according to PADI/DSAT tables. Whether or not you can dive deeper can only be determined by experience and gradually reaching those depths over time. If you continue to experience symptoms at the same depth it may indeed be your personal limit. The most widely accepted way to reduce or perhaps eliminate the symptoms is to take a trimix course and introduce helium into your breathing gas. In order to do that then you need to at least get your advanced ow, nitrox, I'd also advise rescue, followed by a deep specialty, then intro to tech followed by a recreational trimix course such as NAUI's Heliotrox course. How many times has this happened? It may have been a one time occurrence or you may have indeed reached your personal limit. In any case exploring the possibility should IMO be explored under supervision ideally with an instructor or at least with some EXPERIENCED deep divers. Not just Joe Schmo who has been to 120 ft 2 or 3 times.

 

[rawls]

Sinus squeeze...mask squeeze...Did you equalize your mask? Was the pressure in your brain all over or in the front perhaps? Were you breathing normally or shallowly? Was it a working dive or a relaxing one? Basically...Were you overexerting yourself when you began feeling the pressure, tingling and disorientation?...Tingling and disorientation may have to do with the discomfort...
Give us a bit more of a detailed description of the dive and it may give us more focus into what your problem was...

 

[luv2diveWPB]

Sinus squeeze...mask squeeze...Did you equalize your mask? Was the pressure in your brain all over or in the front perhaps? Were you breathing normally or shallowly? Was it a working dive or a relaxing one? Basically...Were you overexerting yourself when you began feeling the pressure, tingling and disorientation?...Tingling and disorientation may have to do with the discomfort...
Give us a bit more of a detailed description of the dive and it may give us more focus into what your problem was...

I equalized just fine on this dive. The pressure was predominately in the front in the forehead region. I would say dive was relaxing. I was breathing deeply and very slowly. I was not overexerting just sinking quite effortlessly.

Thanks everyone for time and responses and hope you'll continue to help.

 

[The Chairman]

Definitely experienced tingling and disorientation. Do you think I can dive deeper or this is my limit even on nitrox?

Were you on NitrOx? If so, what mix? This may have been a case of OxTox if you went too deep with NitrOx.

 

[zen_man]

Were you on NitrOx? If so, what mix? This may have been a case of OxTox if you went too deep with NitrOx.

He said he was diving air. NetDoc, can narcosis cause pain in the forehead?