I'm hit and I hurt...LONG

[dctexan]

It actually was a well respected dive shop (I have read several good things about it on the boards here) and they told me that my surface interval was 10 minutes (but I didn't have a watch on so I didn't really know). Yes, it felt short, but then again I had to take off my fins, exit the water, go back to my seat, sit down, put fins back on, shuffle back to the end of the boat, and return to the water. Maybe it really did take 10 minutes and it just felt shorter because I was basically active the whole time and once I exited the water what I really wanted to do was rest.

Now I think that it would have been better for me to have 4 completely separate dives, but at the the time I KNEW what I was getting into and I agreed to the dives. Plus once we were doing the dives, the dive instructor really did make sure that I knew all of my skills (before we did open water, we meet in the pool and he made me show him the skills there too. I guess he did that because I did the class part & the pool dives here in Lexington).

So overall, I do not think I used a bad dive shop or had a bad instuctor. I think I was just unlucky.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello Again dctexas:

I am pleased to hear that things seem to have leveled out for you following your diving experience. As you can tell from this event and from the many response, it is often difficult to get an exact feel for what occurred. The ocean is a place with its own flora and fauna and all types of events can occur even in the absence of diving. The exposure to pressure adds another dimension and, when the pot is stirred, the picture become cloudy.

I have personal experience with another research group that has as a policy, the immediate repressurization of test subjects when some “decompression event” occurs. They have test results that are completely different from mine because of this. It is very often how you look at things.

All of our readers, I am sure, thank you for your follow-up messages.

Dr Deco :doctor:

Readers, please note the next class in Decompression Physiology :grad:
http://wrigley.usc.edu/hyperbaric/advdeco.htm

 

[fins wake]

Hi there dctexas,

It actually was a well respected dive shop (I have read several good things about it on the boards here) and they told me that my surface interval was 10 minutes (but I didn't have a watch on so I didn't really know).

Okay. My response (and that of others, I guess) was due to your initial claim that there was

probably a 3 minute surface interval between dives 1 & 2 and dives 3 & 4.

In any case, a 10-minute surface interval is unusual and very short as well. Of course, the dives you made were very shallow. But it's still a good idea to have "proper" surface intervals.

Maybe it really did take 10 minutes and it just felt shorter because I was basically active the whole time and once I exited the water what I really wanted to do was rest.

And this is one reason why.

Now I think that it would have been better for me to have 4 completely separate dives, but at the the time I KNEW what I was getting into and I agreed to the dives.

I agreed to some - in hindsight - pretty stupid things as a newbie OW student as well. That's why there are proper standards in place. As an OW student, one cannot possibly know what to expect.

Plus once we were doing the dives, the dive instructor really did make sure that I knew all of my skills (before we did open water, we meet in the pool and he made me show him the skills there too. I guess he did that because I did the class part & the pool dives here in Lexington).

Yes, this is good! (Incidentally, I didn't realize you were a referral student.)

So overall, I do not think I used a bad dive shop or had a bad instuctor.

My take - and it's a personal and unbiased one, having no affiliation to any dive shop, in Ft Lauderdale or any else for that matter - is that you probably had a decent instructor with a bad game plan imposed on him by the shop. I.e. dive shop cutting corners to maximize profits, cramming the dives into the shortest time available. But that's just my take. I wouldn't use them, based on your description.

In any case, glad to hear your problems are resolved and hoping you have a long, safe and happy diving career!

 

[Saturation]

Good to hear. Further, no one is considering DCI except myself. Then we are left with 2 issues:

Assuming its some allergic reaction, will you return to diving as is, without further checks?

If the same symptoms reoccur, it would help the diagnosis particularly if the dive were in fresh water, where organisms that may have stung you are unlikely to reside.

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

Just to throw this in and see where it goes. I was curious to know, since we are talking about allergins and diving. If there was something ingested, absorbed or the like and do are diving would the allergic reaction be: more intense, less intense, different type of reaction or something else? Say someone ate shrimp and had a borderline shellfish allergy then went diving.

Ed

 

[Jonathan]

but they still broke standards 3 minutes or 10 minutes both break the standards. I would have to dig out my manual at home as it is over 2 years since I last assisted but it is either 1 hour or more likely 2 hours on o/w - on mine I seem to remember something like 3 hours....

Jonathan

 

[dctexan]

I haven't completely ruled out DCS. Why? Well, I really just can't believe that I was stung by something that gave me such a bad reaction, but didn't leave a mark! How is that possible? If someone knows of any toxic sea creature that can sting you without causing immediate pain & without giving you a rash (or at least a "sting" mark) please let me know. I've been stung by jelly fish before and did not have any sort of allergic reaction.

Also I do not buy the ingested toxin theory, I ate nothing that was strange or suspect.

So, DCS, toxic sea creature, virus? Who knows.

I would very much like to be able to dive again. I think the idea about trying fresh water is a good one. Just need to work up the nerve (and calm my fiancé down...he does NOT want me diving ever again, doesn't think it's worth the risk...obviously a nondiver who does not understand how much fun diving is :shaking: ). Oh yeah, and get DAN insurance too (learned THAT lesson...LOL)

 

[fins wake]

... of outrageous fortune. (Sorry, couldn't resist being witty and paraphrasing the Bard).

This is an interesting thread, so I'll take the risk of being boring and extending it a bit further, because I feel there are some interesting points about.

Well, I really just can't believe that I was stung by something that gave me such a bad reaction, but didn't leave a mark!

I've been stung by jelly fish before and did not have any sort of allergic reaction.

But there are different types of jellyfish.

Also I do not buy the ingested toxin theory, I ate nothing that was strange or suspect.

All valid points. As I'm not a physician, and as I haven't (yet) done the Hazardous Marine Life Injuries course, I can't comment with any semblance of authority. You might find the U.S. Navy Diving Manual, appendix 5, very useful. It covers many marine life injuries and also ciguatera fish poisoning. There are also plenty of qualified people on this board who can comment (Doc Vikingo and others).

But I honestly don't believe you had DCI.

Dr Deco has listed the main reasons, and I'm particularly hot on the hyperbaric pain relief trail. In fact, most doctors and medical staff at the pot use the 'pain relief' criterium as the prime one for setting a diagnosis later, and also for deciding between, say, a table 5 or table 6 in uncertain cases. I write from personal experience (which is off-topic, but the original reason for my interest in decompression theory ). I don't regard nine hours before hyperbaric treatment as too long a time for considerable pain relief in this case, although of course, the faster the treatment the better, and nine hours is a long time in severe cases. As you had anti-anxiety medicine and three pain relievers before your second chamber ride, I think this is what relieved your pain the second time round, not the hyperbaric treatment per se.

(Incidentally, I thought the administration of pain relief was a no-no prior to chamber rides precisely for diagnostic purposes, but I'm not a hyperbaric physician and I'm just musing.)

It would be a worrying situation if four perfectly reasonable dives (or in effect, two dives, with an additional ascent and descent in the middle) in very shallow waters, in fact below classical haldanean limits, over two days would cause neurological bends as has been suggested. It would almost certainly invalidate all thus far accepted NDL deco tables and consensus on DCI prevalence, incidence and treatment and bring us back to the pre-1907 days ... I genuinely don't believe this is the case.

But that's all academic.

The main lesson to be learnt from this unfortunate incident lies elsewhere! It is that any strange sensations after a dive must be treated as symptoms of suspected DCI!

The moment you felt your

skin started to feel prickly and my body felt a tiny bit achy.

is the time to start monitoring symptoms with the dive centre. The time it got worse, you were hurting really badly and couldn't sit still, is the latest time you should have been going on O2 treatment.

Pure oxygen is available on all reputable dive boats, and at all reputable dive centres and of course at hospitals and should be insisted on the moment DCI is suspected!

This is not to criticize you in any way, on the contrary you are to be commended for your excellent and honest post. Rather, it is that anybody who reads this and gets similar symptoms knows what to do in the future. Denial can be the difference between a successful outcome and an unsuccessful one in suspected cases of DCI.

Oh yeah, and get DAN insurance too

Agree entirely! Every diver should have DAN insurance or similar. Also, if DCI is suspected, call the DAN hotline and seek advice! All good points which turn up in these threads from time to time and are worth repeating for new readers.

 

[FFMDiver]

Thanks for sharing this story & glad your feeling better.