Everything done right......still a hit.....

[ocean4vr]

August 13, 2005.....it was a great drift dive, water was great, temp. was just right. I did a 40 minute dive to 89 feet. After returning to the boat and taking off some gear, I noticed a sharp pain in my left side. I thought it may have been a muscle pull, so I continued helping out on the boat. The pain continued to get worse, I went up top to the captain and told him, but said I'm sure it's just a muscle and tried stretching it out. The pain increased to where I was on the ground rolling, at that time my left leg went completely numb. The crew placed me on my left side and administered oxygen and gave me an asprin. I ended up in Florida Hospital in Orlando. Spent 6hours the first night in the chamber, the next morning 2 hours, the following morning 2 more hours. I was driven back to Pennsylvania to spend the next few days being treated by 3 more 6 hour treatments and 1 5 hour treatment. I did watch quite a few movies that week!!!!
After all of that, I still have weakness in the left leg at times. I've had every test that could be done(MRI's, MRA's, Spinal Tap, Echocardiograms, etc.). The doctors can find nothing that would have contributed to this hit. Some doctors say never to dive again(including the Florida Hospital doctor), but they don't dive and really don't understand.
I have decided to dive again next summer.......but change a few things.....I will up my nitrox mix and set my computer lower, I'll stick with wreck diving at first, make extra safety stops and stay on them longer, plus drink extra amounts of water.
If anyone has any other suggestions, I would be glad to hear them. I've exhausted everything at this end.....I've tried to locate a diving specialist doctor around here, but have not found one.
Thanks for reading.
Lisa

 

[webediving]

What kind of trianing have you had (cert level, experience)? I like more info. Dou you have your dive plan (computer profile)? What mix did you used how much deco what mix deco? All these thing you should be able to provide so that we can make an educated guess ans sugest other techniques.

T

 

[Green_Manelishi]

I think it needs to be said that even if "everything is done right" there is no guarantee you won't get bent, or tox.

Wishing the best for your future recovery.

 

[wedivebc]

Sorry to hear about your hit. Did you get tested for a patent foramen ovali (PFO)? I would specifically ask for that test especially considering the severity of the hit

 

[limeyx]

40 @ 90 is quite a lot if it's on air (my limit would be more like 25 mins on air, and 35 on 32%) so that could be the source of the problem -- maybe your computer is too aggressive? Were you at 90 for the entire 40 mins?

 

[DandyDon]

Welcome to SB Lisa! Sorry you had the hit, but glad that you sought the treatment and are better...

Since you didn't say otherwise, we have to assume you were on regular Air, no computer, and based on a 90 dive - you were 15 minutes beyond NDLimits. But we all would like to know more.

The PFO possibility has already been offered. Strenuous activity after an aggressive dive could be part of your problem - strongly discouraged.

Good Luck!

 

[RonFrank]

I did three dives to 80' on 36% EANX at Jupiter. Bottom times were around 35 minutes with total dive duration about 45 minutes, and very slow ascents with 5 minute safety stops. Basically as the reefs are at 80fsw, the profiles were square. We were pushing NDL's on every dive, but still in the green after each dive, with SI's of maybe an hour between each dive.

I would imagine that if you were diving less than 36% EANX that a 40 minute dive to 89fsw would put you in the yellow, or even red. I think max BT on air is about 25 minutes without checking my RDP.

IOW's, your profile was likely not all that conservitive even diving a 36% mix.

Grad that you are recovering. You don't really provide enough information to determine if you were really pushing NDL's, nor do you discuss your hydration level, or other factors that could have contributed to a hit, like multi-day diving, and profiles from previous days.

 

[H2Andy]

I did a 40 minute dive to 89 feet.

could you give us more details about your dive profile?

specifically, were you diving air? how long did you spend at 89 feet?
how long did it take you to ascend to the surface? did you do a half-point (deep) stop? how long did you spend shallow (above 33 feet) at the end of the dive? how many stops did you do shallow? how long was each stop?

40 minutes at 90 feet exceeds the recreational air limits (25 minutes max) so i
am assuming you are either giving us your total dive time, not your time at max depth, or you were using 36% Nitrox, which does have a max time of 40 minutes at
90 feet, in which case you were pushing that limit to the maximum.

 

[PerroneFord]

A 40 minute dive to 90ft is WELL into NDL and mandatory deco. That is not a recreational profile. You should be on nitrox, and probably decoing on 50% at least and perhaps oxygen from that dive. I'm not surprised you took a hit if you didn't make the required stops.

 

[gcbryan]

It will be interesting to get more detail from the original poster. They say that next time they will up the nitrox so I assume they were on nitrox for this dive. They were using a computer since they say they will set it for a more conservative setting next time.

I'm guessing they were on 32% and weren't at 89 fsw for the entire dive.

They could well be with the NDL using a computer but were probably pushing it. If all this is correct then a slower ascent rate with more safety stops would be called for next time it seems to me.