yosemite_sam
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People are different
My buddy claims he was not narced at 135' (45m)....
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Kevrumbo
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Again, environment has a lot to do in how you cognitively and comfortably tolerate narcosis. I'm down here in warm 28deg C tropical waters of Truk Lagoon, no current, good visibility --at 51m on the San Francisco Maru-- and I'm feeling pretty good enjoying the scenery. But going out of the light zone into a cargo hold or an overhead engine room line penetration at that depth raises the anxiety level, because I know I don't have full mental faculties to deal with adversity, especially cascading or "domino" failures & contingencies. (Gonna try 20/20 trimix tomorrow to take the edge off the narcosis, but I don't think it will be a major improvement on the impairment as say a higher helium content like 18/45 would be). I would be reluctant though in doing this depth in the cold dark & rough waters back home in SoCal on deep air. . .
Edit: 20/20 mix, even this light trimix surprisingly made a big difference in terms of narcosis abatement and ease of Work-of-Breathing at 52m. . .
Edit: 20/20 mix, even this light trimix surprisingly made a big difference in terms of narcosis abatement and ease of Work-of-Breathing at 52m. . .
Last edited:
RickI
Contributor
More than that, the same person may well have different narcosis experiences at the same or even shallower depths over time. Not only are people different, it varies in general.
Regarding trimix, when I still used it, the best we could come by around here was "poor man's" mix or one with a fairly low helium partial pressure. Heliox was too expensive for routine messing around unfortunately, even back in the early 90's. We had a major deco advantage over air but in some ways it was almost like diving air in terms of narcosis. I take it this has improved? The drill back then was to mix a dive cylinder of nitrox and then add helium under tank pressure limiting the amount of helium you could add.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
The most dangerous person in the water is the one who does not realize that they are narc'ed. That doesn't mean that you can't learn to handle the narcosis, but I won't dive with someone who claims immunity to the process. Here's the deal...
How do you know that you are impaired on the surface? First there is that "swagger" from losing your balance. It's pretty hard to sway under the water since you are buoyed up by it so you can't rely on that! Second, you have slurred speech. Not too many people try to talk under water so that's out as well. The two main symptoms of impairment are now completely masked. No wonder he didn't "feel" a thing. That's the problem with narcosis; it sneaks up on you!
Narcosis also affects people in different ways. Some it makes paranoid (such as you were feeling), some it empowers (very scary!) and others just sort of mellow out to the max. If you were too paranoid to get the reel, your buddy might have been able to retrieve it easily.
There are several ways to cope with narcosis. Avoidance of deep diving is what is taught in the OW books and that's not always the best way to deal with it. If you aren't sure, take a deep diving specialty with someone who understands the very real dangers of getting narc'ed. Avoid the cowboys who claim that they never get narc'ed... that's just crazy talk!
The best way to know that you're impaired is to check your depth gauge. Every atmosphere adds to your bovine index. The deeper you go, the more you act like a cow. I can be pretty sure that if you are at 4 atmospheres that you are not as agile a thinker as you are on the surface. Plan accordingly. BTW, while I don't "feel" narc'ed at 80 fsw, my right shoulder stops hurting!
I like the effects up to a point, but this is when I start making allowances!
How do you know that you are impaired on the surface? First there is that "swagger" from losing your balance. It's pretty hard to sway under the water since you are buoyed up by it so you can't rely on that! Second, you have slurred speech. Not too many people try to talk under water so that's out as well. The two main symptoms of impairment are now completely masked. No wonder he didn't "feel" a thing. That's the problem with narcosis; it sneaks up on you!
Narcosis also affects people in different ways. Some it makes paranoid (such as you were feeling), some it empowers (very scary!) and others just sort of mellow out to the max. If you were too paranoid to get the reel, your buddy might have been able to retrieve it easily.
There are several ways to cope with narcosis. Avoidance of deep diving is what is taught in the OW books and that's not always the best way to deal with it. If you aren't sure, take a deep diving specialty with someone who understands the very real dangers of getting narc'ed. Avoid the cowboys who claim that they never get narc'ed... that's just crazy talk!
The best way to know that you're impaired is to check your depth gauge. Every atmosphere adds to your bovine index. The deeper you go, the more you act like a cow. I can be pretty sure that if you are at 4 atmospheres that you are not as agile a thinker as you are on the surface. Plan accordingly. BTW, while I don't "feel" narc'ed at 80 fsw, my right shoulder stops hurting!
I like the effects up to a point, but this is when I start making allowances!Similar threads
