How long do symptoms of DCS last, and how long after the dive that gave you DCS do you have to wait until you may dive again?
How long after DCS
- Thread starter pt40fathoms
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To answer your frist question, S&S can last few hours or a life time.
You didn't say if you were treated.
You didn't say if you were treated.
OP
I posted an Ooa on the general scuba thread under the Ooa? heading. It wasn't an OOA it was a dive buddy that had a reg go free flow at 90ft. The details are on that thread, but later that evening he went to the hospital and the doctor who is a diver said to him he should be put in a chamber. The chamber is not an option right now, as the facility has no trained operator and is looking for a replacement. I didn't find out about the hospital visit the other diver made until today. (would have been nice of him to let me know the same night) The night of the incident, I did have some symptoms, joint pain in my left hand index finger, mild headache, fatigue. The pain in my joint was hard, and if I squeezed the area around it, it got worse. However I'm not sure if this is a symptom, or is it just a burst blood vessel from a blow to the hand that I don't recall?
As for any treatment, I have received none. It was 48 hrs. ago now, I'm not sure any would be of help at this stage. No more headache, no pain, no more fatigue.
As for any treatment, I have received none. It was 48 hrs. ago now, I'm not sure any would be of help at this stage. No more headache, no pain, no more fatigue.
I remember reading your writeup on ooa.
"The pain in my joint was hard, and if I squeezed the area around it, it got worse"
I am not a doc so don't take it as gospel but usually the change in pain, worst or feeling better to touch would indicate that it is not DCS. Somtimes mild dcs will resolve without treatment. Tissue damage in the areas will remain however S&S may resolve.
Do you still have any S&S? If you do I would contact DAN and talk to a doc. If you don't have any S&S than you got lucky.
"The pain in my joint was hard, and if I squeezed the area around it, it got worse"
I am not a doc so don't take it as gospel but usually the change in pain, worst or feeling better to touch would indicate that it is not DCS. Somtimes mild dcs will resolve without treatment. Tissue damage in the areas will remain however S&S may resolve.
Do you still have any S&S? If you do I would contact DAN and talk to a doc. If you don't have any S&S than you got lucky.
Dr Deco
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Dear 40fathoms:
As devilfish indicated, some symptoms can last a lifetime. Here we are speaking about neurological problems. Common joint pain usually appears within an hour or two post dive and seldom persists longer than three days. It will eventually go away.
This is not the case with neurological problems. Here we have something akin to a stroke. When verve tissue is damaged, it very often does not return to its normal functional state. These neurologic residuals can plague the diver for life.
Dr Deco
:doctor:
As devilfish indicated, some symptoms can last a lifetime. Here we are speaking about neurological problems. Common joint pain usually appears within an hour or two post dive and seldom persists longer than three days. It will eventually go away.
This is not the case with neurological problems. Here we have something akin to a stroke. When verve tissue is damaged, it very often does not return to its normal functional state. These neurologic residuals can plague the diver for life.
Dr Deco
:doctor:
OP
Thanks for the information Doc. Is their any time limit one should observe after a "minor" event, before diving again? Assuming one has fully recovered and is not suffering any lingering problems?
1 week, 2 weeks, a month?
1 week, 2 weeks, a month?
Sorry to jump in, I am sure Doc will confirm. You are asking for a yardstick that does not exist. The trouble with bubbles is as varied as there are many divers, each different. It is best to be cleared by a hyperbaric doctor. How long will that take? Who knows.
BillP
Senior Member
Hi pt40fathoms:
There's no one "right answer" as to when a recreational diver can return to diving after an episode of decompression sickness, but in general the short answer is to wait until (1) there is no significantly increased risk of a recurrence of DCS and (2) there is no risk of increasing tissue damage from the previous bout of DCS. In Bove and Davis' Diving Medicine Dr. Richard Moon discusses returning to diving saying:
"If all symptoms have resolved and there is no evidence of a risk factor, the appropriate interval before returning to diving is not known. United States Navy guidelines are as follows: after pain-only or cutaneous decompression sickness treated using the criteria for United States Navy Table 5, divers may return to diving after 48 hours; if the schedule in Table 6 is required, a symptom-free interval of 7 days is mandated. For decompression sickness consisting of patchy sensory abnormalities that resolve completely within two oxygen cycles after using United States Navy Table 6, diving may resume 14 days after treatment. For more serious neurologic decompression sickness or for divers with arterial gas embolism, the minimum wait before returning to diving is 4 weeks.
An argument can be made for a minimum wait of 4 weeks for all cases. Intravascular bubbles have been observed after apparently successful treatment of decompression sickness, hemostasis may not normalize for several days, and neuropsychological tests and EEG findings often do not return to normal until 4 weeks after the accident.
There are few disadvantages to a conservative approach, especially for divers whose livelihood does not depend upon diving."
Hope this helps,
Bill
There's no one "right answer" as to when a recreational diver can return to diving after an episode of decompression sickness, but in general the short answer is to wait until (1) there is no significantly increased risk of a recurrence of DCS and (2) there is no risk of increasing tissue damage from the previous bout of DCS. In Bove and Davis' Diving Medicine Dr. Richard Moon discusses returning to diving saying:
"If all symptoms have resolved and there is no evidence of a risk factor, the appropriate interval before returning to diving is not known. United States Navy guidelines are as follows: after pain-only or cutaneous decompression sickness treated using the criteria for United States Navy Table 5, divers may return to diving after 48 hours; if the schedule in Table 6 is required, a symptom-free interval of 7 days is mandated. For decompression sickness consisting of patchy sensory abnormalities that resolve completely within two oxygen cycles after using United States Navy Table 6, diving may resume 14 days after treatment. For more serious neurologic decompression sickness or for divers with arterial gas embolism, the minimum wait before returning to diving is 4 weeks.
An argument can be made for a minimum wait of 4 weeks for all cases. Intravascular bubbles have been observed after apparently successful treatment of decompression sickness, hemostasis may not normalize for several days, and neuropsychological tests and EEG findings often do not return to normal until 4 weeks after the accident.
There are few disadvantages to a conservative approach, especially for divers whose livelihood does not depend upon diving."
Hope this helps,
Bill
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