Narc'ed - what does it do to you

[cobaltbabe]

This past weekend Matt and I dove the Davie and the Munson. This was a new record for me as far as depth. The Davie was pretty great. To me it looked like a ghost coming out of the dark. So we jump back on the boat (Spence's) and off we head to the Munson. First off let me say this wreck rocks.

So now I am headed down the line. Remember this is the deepest I have ever been. Down the line, still farther down the line. I thought we could never get there. Get almost to the bend in the mooring line and these bubbles come up on the right of me. So here I am between the bubbles and the morring line thinking go to bubbles, go to mooring line, go to bubbles, go to mooring line. Can you say NARC'ed. I was giving half signals to boot. Luckily Matt dives with me enough that he know how I act. Got to the surface and although I was really cold, everything was good.

Now here's the question. What symptoms do you have when you get Narc'ed? I know we all are different but was just curious.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I haven't reallt felt much in the way of narcosis in a long time because I have a garage full of helium and I put some in my tanks for deep dives. As I remember though I used to get a little fuzzy feeling and sometimes a little paranoid.

I remember once we were following a wall that runs east and west. The wall was to our left which was south.

All of a sudden I notice that though the wall is still on my left that now it's to the west. That had me pretty confused so I had my wife take over navigating. It never occured to be that the wall just curved and I couldn't make heads or tails out of what my compass was saying. Everything else was fine...had plenty of gas and all...I know because I hardly put my SPG down the whole time.

Once during a class that I'd never want to repeat I checked my air when we got to the bottom and asked my wife to do likewise. She looked at the gauge for a while and then dropped it and hung there staring at her fingers like she just noticed that she had them.

I've got a few other narcosis stories that I'll save for another time but I really like helium and prefer to just avoid narcosis.

 

[cobaltbabe]

Does it get better with time or you just realize what is happening? I have heard that if you count backwards from 10 it makes you concentrate and bring things back into perspective. The signal thing really worries me though. Only half signals with a new dive partner could be a bad thing.

 

[FreeFloat]

It could be argued that every time a diver goes "deep" on air (and even EANx) he or she experiences narcosis.

That said, there are two distinct dives when I can honestly say I've experienced narcosis obvious enough to notice.

The first time for me was on the Lillie Parsons. This was an early season dive (aka cold water) and repetitive to boot. First dive of the day had been to 95' and I did not experience narcosis. On the second dive, however, in accordance with the dive plan, we toured the Lillie briefly then drifted off on the wall-drift portion at about 75' depth. I remember just flying happily along the vertical rock wall when all of a sudden the rocks started to look very sinister ('spooky' was the term I used afterwards) accompanied with an urge to get the heck out of Dodge. I checked on buddy, indicated I wanted to ascend to 40' (in my lack of rational thinking, the only thought I could seize upon was to halve my max depth of roughly 80', to use as my first stop). Buddy okayed it and we did a controlled ascent to 40'. But by the time we passed about 55' all of a sudden the rock wall lost that creepy look/feeling and returned to being, well, a rock wall. We completed our stops and surfaced - I explained the creeped out feeling I had had and buddy said, "You got narced." So obvious, yet I didn't even consider the possibility. That was a "dark narc" for sure.

The second time, was a night dive on the Munson. What a fine wreck, and in fact it was my second time on it altogether, so I had an idea of what to expect. By the time I passed 80' however, at one point I turned my head and the world took its time to swivel with my eyes. (Kind of like a three-beer-buzz). This time I realized right off what it was and just paid a little extra close attention to my buddy, time, and depth as well as where we were on the wreck. This one was a happy buzz narc and I enjoyed it, while appreciating that my reaction time would no doubt not have been up to my usual standards had I been required to actually do anything.

 

[Warren_L]

I've only ever been narc'd once that I can remember - that was at about 105' on the Keystorm. I was diving EANx 30 as at the time, so my nitrogen loading was less than with regular air. All I remember was feeling light headed and a bit dizzy, so I ascended to about 90' and all was fine.

I've dove the Munson a couple of times in the last year and have not had a problem at comparable depths, so it goes to show that it can hit you without any degree of consistency.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Does it get better with time or you just realize what is happening? I have heard that if you count backwards from 10 it makes you concentrate and bring things back into perspective. The signal thing really worries me though. Only half signals with a new dive partner could be a bad thing.

Studies (I can did up references at home if you're interested) suggest that you ...
1, can get used to the feeling
2, learn to compensate when doing some taskd such as trading speed for accuracy of accuracy for speed.

3, never build up a resistance or learn to think your way through novel problems while under the influence.

In other words you can learn to do rote tasks just like learning to unlock your front door on a drunk Sat night and you can get used to the feeling.

the dangerous things is, and ask yourself this... while you can pull off a task by maybe concentrating harder will you be as aware of other things as you need to be?

For a list of specific studies and to save me the trouble of digging them up see the IANTD "Technical Diver Encyclopedia"

 

[IndigoBlue]

Like Mike, I plan my depth and my mixes so that my equivalent narcosis is usually around only 80 ft on air.

If you are deep enough on air, and something goes wrong, such as a 1st stage freeflow or a valve seal rupture, or even a hose failure, then the narcosis can complicate if not totally disrupt the ordinary act of air sharing and a controlled ascent. You are also very likely to lose track of your buddy, and he/she of you, while narked.

You would be inviting the risk of paranoia and panic, with possibly an all too rapid ascent, and possibly an AGE. That is why I believe it is better to keep your dives shallow, around 100 ft, until you have had a chance to train and certify on helium mixes, before you go deeper.

As part of my helium mix training, the instructor took us to the MOD of air for a PO2 of 1.4 ATAs, and down there, the narcosis was powerful, and I doubt I could have thought through any problem intelligently. I do not believe you get more and more used to it.

First of all, getting narked more and more to get used to it is inviting disaster over and over. So I do not recommend it.

And I believe that the notion of becoming familiar with narcosis is an illusion.

On any given dive, you must always set your own particular MOD. Can you dive to 5000 ft? Simple answer, No. That would be a dive of no return.

Should you dive to 300 ft? Depends on what is the MOD of the mix in your tanks.

Same question for diving deeper than 100 ft. Same answer too.

My thoughts.

 

[zslnk]

It's weird for me too, I was on the Cornwall once (I think that I didn't get very much sleep before) and I could really feel it. It wasn't deep (78ish) but I was all spacy and slow. This weekend I was on the Kattie Eccles at 105' and I was a little slow but everything was cool.

It's just like booze, sometimes it takes a little sometimes it takes a lot!

Craig.

 

[MechDiver]

During my Deep/Adv. Nitrox classes instructor and myself were doing 30 minute dives on EAN to 130' to build deco time. Bottom was somewhat sloping mud/silt with eel grass, and very uniform. Nothing much else to look at. And, exceedingly dark, even with HID lights. We had been there twice the day before with no problems. After a couple minutes at depth, I remembered asking myself where the vertical wall came from, as we had not come down a wall, but a sloping bottom. I looked up, then down, and the wall was straight up and down vertical. Having enough rational thought to realize I was whacked, I punched my instructor a couple times, and gave a thumbs up. We went up 15' and everything was great.
Further dives the next days were uneventful.

Made a firm believer out of me.

MD

 

[cobaltbabe]

Thank you Mike. I will check it out. I truly think I am going doubles as well.