Narced

[BubbleBlower07]

Agreed, I tend to dive conservative, I rather enjoy what I am doing rather than pushing some limit.

 

[battles2a5]

Start by learning what it is. Then monitor your dive plan accordingly. You can be "narced" at any depth.
Diving Nitrox is not a solution for the "other issues".
Usually the problem occurs in repetitive diving with a poor dive plan.

Can you explain how narcosis is a result of poor dive planning? I dove the Oriskany last weekend. My first dive was to 137, my second to about 110. In both cases I knew I was going to be narced and planned the dive accordingly, stayed within the NDLs, extended my safety stops and added pyle stops, and had a great time. We surfaced with plenty of gas in reserve and did adequate SI's. How is this poor planning?

IMO, you should not plan a dive to avoid narcosis. You should be aware that narcosis can be a factor in the deeper depths of recreational diving. You learn to deal with it with experience and should have contingencies in place to deal with excessive narcosis and or any thing you are uncomfortable with. Understanding narcosis and gaining experience with is useful in identifying real/perceived causes of stress and in defining your limits underwater. But narcosis is certainly not a sign of a bad dive plan. YMMV

 

[Mako Mark]

IMO, you should not plan a dive to avoid narcosis. You should be aware that narcosis can be a factor in the deeper depths of recreational diving. You learn to deal with it


. But narcosis is certainly not a sign of a bad dive plan. YMMV

Right on, there has been a lot of bad answers to this thread and finally someone got it right.

Here is the scoop:

Nitrox does not reduce narcosis, oxygen has similar narcotic properties to nitrogen.

Narcosis is unpredictable, many environmental and physiological factors effect its severity.

You can not get acclimatised to narcosis, you can only learn to deal with it.

In my expreience, narcosis does not affect you ability to make good decisions or interpret information correctly, it just effects the speed at which you can do it.

Conclusion: Do everything very slowly and deliberately and focus on what you are doing, dont get distracted.

An example of this is checking a gauge or bottom timer.

Normally it takes you about one second to interpret the information. Your muscle memory at depth remains the same, you pick up the gauge, look at it for a second and then put it down, but you brain is working at a third the speed, so in fact you only gather one third of the information before you put the gauge or timer down again.

In your mind, you are secure in the knowlege that you have checked your gauges, but in reality you have no idea what they said. Scarey huh?

So, at the sort of depth where you know narcosis can have an effect, check you gauges, double check your gauges, put them down and conciously ask youself to repeat the information, if you cant, then slow down and check them again.

As a newbie to narcosis, the worst thing is that its greatest symptom is that you dont think you have it.

 

[Paco II]

Not sure if I can agree with that. Last week an experienced friend got narced on a 100' dive. It didn't affect the speed at which she did things, it affected her ability to dive safely. She 'forgot' to keep monitoring her air supply, and when she finally did, she was at 200psi, at 100 feet. She did a controled ascent with no safety stop and was put on pure oxygen. Thankfully she is ok. But to say it simply affects the speed at which you do things, and that you need to remember to double check your guages, seems like a dangerous message to give.

... my expreience, narcosis does not affect you ability to make good decisions or interpret information correctly, it just effects the speed at which you can do it. ...

 

[michaelc]

Not sure if I can agree with that. Last week an experienced friend got narced on a 100' dive. It didn't affect the speed at which she did things, it affected her ability to dive safely. She 'forgot' to keep monitoring her air supply, and when she finally did, she was at 200psi, at 100 feet. She did a controled ascent with no safety stop and was put on pure oxygen. Thankfully she is ok. But to say it simply affects the speed at which you do things, and that you need to remember to double check your guages, seems like a dangerous message to give.

you miss understood what he ws saying, it slows your mental speed, so you pick up the computer as you allways do, then read it as you allways do, but the brain may not take in all the info. The big factor is to slow down, think thru what your doing.

 

[DennisW]

Unfortunately, people think that diving deep is what causes Nitrogen Narcosis. That is not true. Breathing air with Nitrogen in it under pressure causes Nitrogen Narcosis, depth (more pressure) only increases the affect. If you dive, shallow or deep, you are experiencing the affects of Nitrogen Narcosis. As the Doc said, the affects are different for different people and different for varying situations. If you feel the affects, ascend until you feel comfortable, then continue your dive or abort as necessary.

 

[Paco II]

Not sure if you understood my posting. In the case of my friend, she didn't pick up her computer (until much too late). That was how being narced affected her.

you miss understood what he ws saying, it slows your mental speed, so you pick up the computer as you allways do, then read it as you allways do, but the brain may not take in all the info. The big factor is to slow down, think thru what your doing.

 

[scratchmyback]

I regularly dive deep wrecks in cold water - anywhere from 90 - 120 feet. I don't believe I've been narc'd yet and I only dive air. I say I don't believe - because I'm unsure what I'm supposed to be feeling if I'm narc'd. People say you feel like you're drunk - never felt that at all. Yet. I'm sure one day it will happen and I'll know it. But what I'm curious about are the other subtle things that may happen that might clue me in that I'm narc'd - because maybe I have been.

The previous scenario about looking at your guages at depth, etc - I don't believe that's happened to me yet either. I'm pretty conscious of looking at my guages and interpreting what I see and making the adjustments accordingly. I haven't wandered off on my buddy at depth either, nor have I felt overly-confident or taken major risks at that depth. My regular dive buddy, who has over 1000 dives has never asked me if I've been narc'd after we come up from a dive.

Soooo...What are some other things to look out for? What are some things I could consciously do at depth that might tell me if I am or not?

 

[Mako Mark]

Not sure if you understood my posting. In the case of my friend, she didn't pick up her computer (until much too late). That was how being narced affected her.

Yup, it slowed her thought processes down. She eventually picked up her gauge, but by that time she was at 200 psi.

with a diver who instinctively picks up the gague every two minutes, they may not interpret it correctly, a less instinctive diver will forget to pick it up. It is basically the same thing except for muscle memory or habit.

 

[TSandM]

Personally, I really dislike the idea of being at significant depth, where the surface is less and less available, with a brain that's working at one-third speed (and I also disagree with you, Mark, because I think it's worse than that. Having hallucinated from narcosis, it's more than slowed thinking.) There are two schools of thought about this. One says you can train for, and plan for narcosis. The other says you should avoid it by using helium mixes at depths where narcosis is significant. I've chosen the latter approach. Not only do I think it's safer, but I like remembering my dives.