Need Help with Article on Getting Bent

[stuartv]

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.

Dang! That sucks! I hope you're all better now.

 

[boulderjohn]

Dang! That sucks! I hope you're all better now.

Still in recovery mode for a couple more weeks.

 

[stuartv]

Still in recovery mode for a couple more weeks.

I hope you're all 100% in the end. Good luck!

 

[kelemvor]

Still in recovery mode for a couple more weeks.

Bummer deal, but we're glad you're still with us!

 

[scubadada]

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.

I use the term "unexplained" rather than undeserved. All episodes of DCS simply happen, whether there are any obvious factors to use in an
explanation or not. Many episodes of DCS have no easy explanation.

Edit: sorry, did not see that The Chairman had already offered this

 

[shoredivr]

Still in recovery mode for a couple more weeks.

What were your symptoms like?

 

[boulderjohn]

What were your symptoms like?

Pain started in the area of the scapula. I assumed it was a muscle strain. The pain grew worse, and I began to feel fatigue. I wanted to take an afternoon nap, something I never do. Eventually I started to have a slight woozy feeling, as if I were starting to get the flu. What really clinched it was that when I began to suspect things, I put myself on oxygen, and that helped. Oxygen does not normally do much for a muscle strain.

 

[uncfnp]

I have the dive profiles from my last “hit” if anyone wants them posted. I am more than willing to share my mistakes, especially if it does reveal an area for improvement.

But when is it “enough” conservatism that it is no longer “deserved.” At this point the label becomes meaningless (diving with in NDL’s). We all then deserve it because we all dive.

 

[stuartv]

But when is it “enough” conservatism that it is no longer “deserved.” At this point the label becomes meaningless (diving with in NDL’s). We all then deserve it because we all dive.

I think that falls under the "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me" philosophy.

Meaning, I think modern computers are generally pretty safe. So, anybody who followed any computer (and did everything else per their training), but still got bent, would fall into the "Undeserved" category, to me. But, if it happens multiple times and you don't learn from that and increase your computer's conservatism factor or pad your NDLs a bit more, or something else to reduce your risk (per whatever training you were given regarding risk factors), then, AT SOME POINT, it shifts from being Undeserved to Deserved.

I think most (all good?) training teaches people that avoiding DCS has a bunch of specific things (properly controlled ascent, obey NDL, etc.) to do, but good training ALSO makes it clear that everyone is different, so you should approach the limits gradually, pay attention to your body, and modify your approach based on your own experience.

Thus, if you get bent, keep diving the same way, and keep getting bent, even if everything else would point to "Undeserved", the fact that it happens multiple times and you don't change what you're doing would mean you aren't following that part of the training (about modifying based on your own experience), so it becomes "Deserved".

 

[boulderjohn]

Meaning, I think modern computers are generally pretty safe. So, anybody who followed any computer (and did everything else per their training), but still got bent, would fall into the "Undeserved" category, to me. But, if it happens multiple times and you don't learn from that and increase your computer's conservatism factor or pad your NDLs a bit more, or something else to reduce your risk (per whatever training you were given regarding risk factors), then, AT SOME POINT, it shifts from being Undeserved to Deserved.

I have no idea what I could learn from my hit. None whatsoever. As a trimix diver and instructor, I regularly do tech dives between 250-300 feet. I would estimate that my average dive between June and December last year was about 220 feet. I have done a lot of dives over the decades without the slightest hint of DCS. I know I don't have a PFO because of tests done for other reasons.

I got bent after two dives that barely went into deco and on which I tripled the amount of deco time indicated on my computer. So what do I do differently when I start to dive again?