Faulty PADI Question

[Zept]

...is relevant in this scenario (according to my instructor).

You brush your hand against a rock. Oops. You look at it, it's covered in green slime. Ick. Still, never mind. When you come up, your hand is bleeding. The 'green slime' wasn't algae, it was blood.

I haven't tried this myself, but that's what I was taught.


Zept

 

[Walter]

Blood is green, but it doesn't look like slime. It looks like a green cloud. Even if you weren't aware of the color, you'd know exactly what you are seeing.

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear readers:

The comment on “exploding heads” is intere4sting, and I remember seeing it last in Total Recall . This is the scene where Arnold Schwarzenegger's character falls and breaks the visor of his space helmet while on Mars. The pressure falls and his eyes bulge out.

This is actually quite fanciful. I can imagine your abdomen expanding, and bubbles would certainly form in your blood. However, by no means would you literally explode. Actually, I get several questions from children regarding this.=-)

Dr Deco
:doctor:

 

[devilfish]

It is true that often the signs and symptoms of AGE and DCS are similiar and difficult to tell tell the differance. Often there are distinct differances. In the field there is not much different first aid that can be done, although if there is a clear differance some procedures might be beneficial. However, as divers there is nothing wrong with a little knowledge, so to say it's not important, well, yes and no, but it would be nice to be prepared of what might be happening next. A diver suffering from AGE might be crashing fast. As for the micro bubbles in the arterial side, is it possible that the presence is due to a shunt through the PFO?

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear readers:

Bubbles passing from the venous side to the arterial side through a PFO could indeed be as problem. This is especially true if the diver exerts himself and performs a Valsalva-like maneuver. This would be something like holding ones breath and straining while climbing a ladder or possibly coughing while recumbent.

These maneuvers cause a rise in thoracic pressure followed by a sudden release of pressure. A volume of blood then rushes into the thoracic vena cava and the right atrium (= “rebound flow”) and blood is added to the right atrium (= an increase in atrial preload). With systole there is a momentary reversal of the normal left to right pressure gradient in the atria. Arterialization can then occur through a PFO.

{This is my personal assessment, and is preceded by some data from the medical world, but is not yet confirmed in divers.]

Dr Deco
:doctor:

 

[Zept]

Originally posted by Walter
Blood is green, but it doesn't look like slime. It looks like a green cloud. Even if you weren't aware of the color, you'd know exactly what you are seeing.

Thanks Walter. I'm not daft enough to assault the rocks on purpose, so I don't have any practical experience to rely on.

Z

 

[Walter]

Zept,

On purpose isn't necessary. I've shot enough fish, been bit by fish and screwed up enough times in one way or another to have seen lots of blood (fish and human) on my share of dives.

 

[Zept]

Walter,

Sure. I expect I'll gain some practical experience in due course. In the meantime, theoretical knowledge will suffice! I don't have a sufficient enquiring mind to experiment with underwater bleeding.

Z

 

[exnewwavedivers]

In tropical water where visibility is normally good, blood appears to be brown and green in deeper depths. This is caused by light being deflected by suspended particles and color being absorbed by water. Color loss occurs as shallow as 3 meters beginning with the red end of the color spectrum.

As for DCI, distinguishing between the two may be difficult for a rescue diver in some instances and considering that the first aid treatment is the same, therefore it is not extremely important to distinguish between the two.

 

[madmole]

Dr Peter Wilmhurst in the UK has ben testing BSAC divers who had DCI within tables and has been finding something like an 80% relationship

I think this is a very imnportant topic and will eventually lead to all divers being tested and there being 2 sets of tables, one for those with and one for those without

He has also demonstrated that a NORMAL diver ear clear IS enough to induce the shunt as is coughing or straining to lift something. So we should all avoid these on the way up and opn the surface

It is currently estimated that 10-20% of all the population have a PFO and this correlates very nicely with the BSAC incidents reports with give roughly the same percentage of In table hits