Need Help with Article on Getting Bent

[caruso]

Always. We may not always understand the vectors, but they crossed a line. Relegating hits to being "undeserved" suggests that we are helpless and should look no further.

DCI hits are ALWAYS deserved? I never knew that.

I was always under the impression that some divers are simply more prone to getting bent, whether it's due to having a PFO, or they're on certain medications, or other unknown aspects of their physiology, and even if they do it "by the book" they still get bent. In fact, I know an instructor that got bent not once, but twice. The first was on a group trip organized by the local dive shop that this person worked for and everyone thoroughly and extensively analyzed her dive profiles over and over again especially her- as she was forced to sit on the boat for the remainder of the week. Nothing unusual about the profile, she didn't break any rules, and was diving with several others who were not bent. She took a break from diving for a while and subsequently went back to diving very conservatively- and got bent yet again.

 

[The Chairman]

As an instructor you DO make a lot of ascents and descents during training dives and because you are there to make sure your students are safe,

Every dive should have one descent, a safety stop and an ascent.

DCI hits are ALWAYS deserved? I never knew that.

There's always some vector.

 

[kelemvor]

I've always thought "deserved" was a terrible word choice... I think it's more accurate to say there is always a specific cause. That doesn't mean someone deserved to get bent.

 

[caruso]

I've always thought "deserved" was a terrible word choic .

How about "At-Fault" bends?

Some examples:

Disregarding dive tables and staying deep for too long: "At Fault" bends.
Drinking too much booze during a dive trip, allowing oneself to become dehydrated, or not diving conservatively while taking medications that are known to increase risk of bends: "Indirectly At Fault" bends.
Doing everything by the book and even diving conservatively but getting bent because you've got a PFO: "Not at Fault" bends.

 

[StefinSB]

How about "At-Fault" bends?

Some examples:

Disregarding dive tables and staying deep for too long: "At Fault" bends.
Drinking too much booze during a dive trip, allowing oneself to become dehydrated, or not diving conservatively while taking medications that are known to increase risk of bends: "Indirectly At Fault" bends.
Doing everything by the book and even diving conservatively but getting bent because you've got a PFO: "Not at Fault" bends.

One could argue then that not having been checked for PFO makes it a “fault”.

 

[caruso]

One could argue then that not having been checked for PFO makes it a “fault”.

True but I'm going to place that into the "indirect fault" category and I'm the authority on the subject having just invented it less than 10 minutes ago.

 

[MNJoe]

IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN BENT: I have not.

Do you think DCI is a sport’s injury? I never thought about that before, but it certainly is an injury you can get from doing a sport. But....here is a story about people who got DCI while not diving or doing a sport. Bridge Builders - Sarah Albee

Do you think that people who have been bent did something to deserve their hit? Not all. It is not an exact science, which is why it is best not to push the boundaries. Also a PFO can cause DCI.

Why do you think that people get DCI? PFO, Pushing Decompression Theory Boundaries, Ascending too fast, not enjoying a nice long safety stop.

Would you dive with someone who has been bent several times? Yes.
Why or why not? I would want to know how they got their DCI. If they were being wreckless, I may or may not dive with them, depends on situation. I definitely would not follow them anywhere. If it was unclear how they got their hit, I would ask a lot of questions and proceed with caution. No matter who I am diving with I would be letting them know I like a 1 minute stop at 30' and a 5 minute stop at 15'.

Do you think that your diving practices will protect you from getting bent? I think my practices keep my odds of getting a DCI hit low.

I would not want to be named in your article.

 

[The Chairman]

I've always thought "deserved" was a terrible word choice.

I agree. Explained and unexplained are much better adjectives. However, no matter how you cut it, if you didn't dive you would not get bent. If you decided to dive, then you'll have to pay any consequences.

Again, it's all about determining your limits. Dive tables are not foolproof and hopefully your OW instruction made that clear. Vectors such as dehydration, fatigue, sickness, scars, and more can't be accounted for in regards to a table. I'm fat, so I dive in a manner that mitigates my elevated risk for DCS. That's a personal limit that I adhere to and it's kept me out of a chamber. Know your limits and honor them. If you get bent, perhaps you need to adjust your personal limits rather than scream about how unfair life is. Yes, I know people who keep diving in the same manner only to get bent over and over. I've alerted two of them to this thread, but I doubt they'll answer publicly.

 

[stuartv]

It seems to me that deserved/undeserved has a legit place in the vernacular.

To me it is: "I did something I was told in training not to do" vs "I didn't do anything that went against my training"

If you knowingly omit a deco stop and get bent, I'd call that deserved. If you stay at 120' until you're 1 minute from your NDL and then ascend all the way to the surface at 60 feet per minute, with no stops at all, and get bent, I'd call that deserved.

OTOH, if you get bent but you did not exceed your NDL or had no omitted deco stops, you did at least a 3 minute safety stop, you had no too-rapid ascents, you were well hydrated, had the right exposure protection, didn't exert yourself after the dive, etc., etc.., then I'd call that undeserved (and unexplained).

 

[boulderjohn]

I will answer Jill's specific questions by email as requested. I will make this public description of my my recent dive day.

It was a 2-tank dive within recreational limits--just over 100 feet. With my computers in tech mode set to GFs that would be extremely conservative for a recreational computer, I knew I would probably bump into NDL, even though I would be within NDLs on another setting. I therefore brought a deco bottle with oxygen. On each of the 2 dives, I incurred a whopping 2 minutes of deco, which I did on oxygen. I stayed on oxygen for a minute or two after being cleared to surface, switched to back gas (nitrox), and spent a leisurely 4 minutes at stop depth before reaching the surface.

I figured I had been ultra safe on those dives, which is probably the primary reason I was in denial for so long when the symptoms started to appear hours later.