Fatigue after deco dives

[TracyN]

Hey all, I just passed full cave and have started doing decompression dives. I've noticed that I am totally exhausted after the dives. It takes about 2 hours to set in but I'm actually tired enough where I have to stop at a rest stop on the way home and take a nap before continuing. I'm not talking long decompression dives maybe 10-15 min with 100% 02. It could be the fact that my dives are longer, therefore causing me to be more tired but I was just curious if fatigue is common after decompression diving.

 

[Diver0001]

Well.... Personally I don't feel any different afterward but I know that varies from person to person. That said, unusual fatigue is a red-flag and could indicate sub-clinical DCS and the 2 hour time frame also fits the general DCS pattern.

Aside from posting this to the medical forum, I don't really know how to advise you to best approach dealing with it. I would personally start by extending my 6 and 4.5 metre stops to see if that makes a difference. If you're not making massive amounts of deco then you might be able to switch to 50% at the 18 metre stop and run your deco either based on that or on two gasses. It kind of depends on what you're doing if the logistics of that will work.

Aside from that, you might want to post an example of your schedules and see if anyone sees something in it that could be fine-tuned.

R..

 

[TreyR]

Where are you doing the deco dives? If at Ginnie, Little River, or Cow with the flow I'm beat after a long dive.

 

[HowardE]

Any other symptoms?

 

[Akimbo]

Decompression diving, no... hauling enough gear to and from the boat required for 15 minutes of decompression by today’s “standards”, heck yes. Just be glad you aren’t in the North Atlantic!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Do not underestimate the stress that deco diving or any aggressive diving does to your body. I remember doing extremely "easy" dives in Cozumel with no thermal stress, zero exertion from the drift diving and needing a nap each afternoon.

If you dive frequently for a long time, there is some adaptation, but feeling excessively fatigued would be a big warning sign to take it down a few notches... more deco, less depth, less time whatever...

 

[Jared0425]

Doing deep air dives (oh no!), takes it out of me pretty good. Even with deco gas you feel like crap afterword. I say the gear intensity and mental exhaustion plays a role in it. You get the jitters before and mellowed out afterwords, but there are more experienced and knowledgeable people than me that can comment with better advice, stories, and solutions.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I used to feel that way a lot back in the day before we started doing accelerated deco with O2 - fatigue an hour or two after the dive, and after a 3 day weekend of two deco dives per day, I'd get almost flu like symptoms Monday morning. The fact that O2 made me feel so much better post dive clued me in that there was more going on here than just "tired".

I tend to take the information the computer gives me as advisory, and if I feel a little fatigued post dive, it's an indication I need to get out a little cleaner and I'll scale back the GFs and add some extra time to the O2 stops (10 and 20 ft). On most light to moderate deco dives I'll pad the deco about 5 minutes total, adding a minute or two to the 20 ft stop and the rest to the 10 ft stop. The gas switch evolution and time needed to go on O2 at 20 ft, naturally slows the ascent from 30 ft to 20 ft and I use an intentionally slower than normal ascent from 20 ft to the 10 ft stop, with a very slow ascent from 10 ft to the surface.

We also do a fair amount of off gassing on the surface post dive, about 5-10 minutes before we get out of the water and at least 15-20 minutes before we start hauling the heavy gear. It there are steps, hills, etc, I'll walk out, remove the wing and harness, get un suited, dry off, etc, then go back and haul the tanks last.

It's pretty conservtive, but the end result is I feel great post dive with no fatigue. We do 2-3 dives a day, with most of them being deco dives, on our usual 7 dive day trips and the extra stop time and post dive off gassing plan does not leave me feeling worn out at the end of the week.

 

[CamG]

Greetings Tracy I would listen to DA very carefully and adjust your dive plans a bit.
I have found similar symptoms post dive a few times but since instituted more conservative gradients and deco schedules.
I have had little to no issues since.
As a matter of fact since slowing ALL my ascents my vertigo / ear issues have all but disappeared.

My personal decompression history has always been extremely conservative but since training for Trimix slowing ascent times and padding even more onto the last 20' and 10' has become standard every dive.
Treat your body very carefully decompression is different from day to day for each of us.
You can take a hit even when you do everything right that is just the simple truth.
Be safe and do not ignore the advice that has been given it is up to you to choose your plan.

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!

 

[flots am]

Hey all, I just passed full cave and have started doing decompression dives. I've noticed that I am totally exhausted after the dives. It takes about 2 hours to set in but I'm actually tired enough where I have to stop at a rest stop on the way home and take a nap before continuing. I'm not talking long decompression dives maybe 10-15 min with 100% 02. It could be the fact that my dives are longer, therefore causing me to be more tired but I was just curious if fatigue is common after decompression diving.

I vote for DCS.

Just like DA Aquamaster, I used to feel that way when I was first certified. Sometimes I'd have to pull off on to the shoulder and take a nap. It stopped when I learned about really controlling my ascent speed, and reducing nitrogen uptake by diving appropriate mixes for the planned depth.

I also stopped carrying my gear up a 40' hill back to the car. Now I drive the car to the gear, and at non-local dive sites, when I can find them, pay kids to haul my gear after the dive.

There was a post a while back from Dr. Deco mentioning that post-dive exertion (even climbing a ladder) sets off a huge amount of bubbles. If you're exerting yourself a lot after the dive, you might be doing yourself a disservice.