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F YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN BENT:

Do you think DCI is a sport’s injury?
Yes - although I do believe that some folks are more predisposed than others - physical or mental characteristics.

Do you think that people who have been bent did something to deserve their hit?
Yes - they may not understand or be able to decipher the reason for the hit - so it may seem undeserved but there is a reason for all things.

Why do you think that people get DCI?
For the non obvious reasons - the physical nature of diving - characteristics of health, dehydration, stress can have impacts that are not intuitive to some divers.

Would you dive with someone who has been bent several times?
Why or why not?
Yes I would - their diving does not impact my diving. I am there to assist or have fun on the dive. It does not mean I will follow them on a profile that I am not comfortable with - I would cut the dive short without hesitation.

Do you think that your diving practices will protect you from getting bent?
Yes - although I have been known to ride my computer to stretch out a dive.

If you are willing to share your name, please indicate how you would like it to be referenced.
I would prefer to be anonymous.
Thanks and good luck.
 
CESA's are a specific issue that I would characterize as an occupational hazard.

The hazard can, however, be managed to some degree.

(a) you don't need to do CESA's with all of your students on the same dive
(b) you can choose to do the CESA's at the beginning of the dive as opposed to later in the dive
(c) you can choose to use a high Nitrox mix during training dives for the OW course (For example, use 36% for OW training dives)
(d) you can limit your depth during the dive. During OW courses I seldom did training much deeper than about 12m for logistical reasons but you are also free to determine this for yourself for safety reasons.

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, you may not always have 100% control over your own profile. No matter how good your skills are, the reality is that being an instructor means making a lot of zig-zag profiles, which we know increases risk and therefore requires the instructor to take measures to keep themselves safe and healthy too.

R..

I always do CESA's as first underwater skill on dive three, second OW day. As per your rationale, I want the bounces out of the before loading my tissues.
 
Having been involved off and on for the last 20 years with diving at Bikini Atoll, I'm familiar with several dozen DCS cases, and in not one case was it apparent that the diver made a mistake. I would lump them loosely into 3 categories.
1. New tech divers whose bodies, for one reason or another, simply don't tolerate decompression diving. PFO, body fat, whatever. They have not done enough tech diving to discover this fact about themselves, but it presents on their first multi-day trip.
2. Middle aged or elderly divers, who have been doing the same profiles successfully for years. Aging bodies eventually succumb to the loading of multi-day repetitive diving, unless a more conservative approach is taken.
3. Absolutely no idea. Some hits come out of a blue sky. Young, fit, knowledgable divers doing all the right things still get hit, but these are relatively rare.
DCS is a sports injury. Mountain climbers sprain their ankles, divers get bent. If you sprained your ankle on nearly every climb you would want to change how you climb. Otherwise, it's an acceptable risk.
I've personally had a slight, pain only shoulder hit, but it was on a commercial dive to 55M and I stupidly hauled up a heavy weight on a rope immediately after surfacing, so it was deserved.
 
IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN BENT:

Do you think DCI is a sport’s injury?
Yes.

Do you think that people who have been bent did something to deserve their hit?
Maybe yes and maybe no. I think we can do things to minimize the risk but it is possible to do everything right and still end up with one.

Why do you think that people get DCI?
Again, sometimes they are at fault. Rapid ascents, blowing through stops, etc. Other times, there might me a physiological reason. For instance, lack of sleep, seasickness, dehydration, meds, work load, water temp, etc.

Would you dive with someone who has been bent several times?
Why or why not?
Yes. I have and will continue to do so.

Do you think that your diving practices will protect you from getting bent?
I try to minimize the risks.

If you are willing to share your name, please indicate how you would like it to be referenced.
Sure. David Wilcher
 
Several different people have quoted John Chatterton to me as saying, "there is only one reason anyone ever got bent. Because they didn't do enough deco."

I oft remind myself of that when I'm hanging at my last stop.
Of course.

Question: How do you know you have had enough? If you triple the deco your computer computer said to do, then, sure, you didn't do enough deco. But how do you know before the symptoms set in?
 
I have no idea what I could learn from my hit. None whatsoever.
So what do I do differently when I start to dive again?
If you can't, don't or won't figure it out, you're bound to repeat it. If it were me, I would be checking myself for a PFO, and if that was negative, I would never go into deco again. If I still got bent, I would restrict myself to free diving. There's nothing down there worth getting hurt over.

There are many, many contraindications to diving. I've had the unfortunate task of telling some of my students that their medical condition precludes them from diving. Diving is completely optional and while not diving would be a horrible disappointment, it wouldn't be the end of the world. These people have lead meaningful lives without being allowed to dive. There's nothing down there worth getting bent over.

I have a friend who was a part of the NEDU. He's done some incredible dives, but got bent once too many times. He now limits his diving to one hour 25 ft max dive a day. He knows his limit and is making sure he doesn't get bent again.

I'm not trying to be an a-hole or Captain Obvious here, but it's like the guy who complains to the doctor "It hurts when I do this...". The not-so-obvious answer is to stop doing that which hurts you. If you don't know why, don't dive until you do, or at least back way the hell off and be cautious. There's absolutely nothing down there worth risking disability over.
 
"If it were me, I would be checking myself for a PFO, and if that was negative, I would never go into deco again."

Isn't this vastly overestimating the role that PFOs may or may not play? It is not like they are the one outstanding cause above all others... Also, he posted that he had himself checked, and it was negative. I am for sure not in a position to give any clever advice, but probably if it happened to me after so many dives, I would be highly inclined to see it as just statistics, and move on diving as before. If it happens repeatedly, sure, try to find a way to make it stop, but that needs not be a drastic step.
 
I've been bent and described my experience last year on Scubaboard. It helped me in determining the root cause and have that confirmed by a medic. I've emailed the details.

Do you think that people who have been bent did something to deserve their hit?
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.

Using terms like deserved and undeserved sets an unhealthy point-of-view. It leads to judgemental thinking in terms of good-victims and bad-victims. Quoting from Jennifer Hunt's article Straightening out the bends:

Social reaction

Dive communities tend to categorize victims as "good" or "bad." The definition of the "good" and "bad" victim varies depending on the diver’s community of affiliation. In general, "bad victims" include divers who exceed the limits of accepted no-decompression or decompression dive tables, whose dive profiles are deemed irresponsible, who run out of air or otherwise make mistakes viewed as unacceptable for a good diver. The "good victim," in contrast, includes the uneducated or inexperienced diver who couldn't possibly know his or her profile or dive related behavior was risky. For example, one diver was bent as a result of engaging in rigorous exercise after diving. He was not held morally responsible for the accident because he had been unaware of the dangers of post and pre-dive exercise. The "good" victim also includes the diver whose profile was within the limits of the relevant dive tables or who made an error deemed socially reasonable, such as the diver who is bent in the process of a rescuing a student or buddy. The definition of a "reasonable" and "unreasonable" mistake changes with the dive community

"Good victims" are not viewed as morally responsible for their illness and do not experience strong negative social reactions. "Bad victims," in contrast, are viewed as culpable and deserving punishment.

That's an article from the last century. After two decades of diving experiences and DCI experiences, one of the largest risks in scuba diving is still a social taboo. Nobody starts a dive aiming to get bent.

Soccer is one the most popular sports in the world (well, at least outside the US). Regularly players get hurt, sometimes severely, ending up in the hospital with torn ligaments or other trauma directly resulting from their sport. The social reactions are always positive. When will you able to return to the soccer field? Did the doctor tell you how long it will take? Nobody reacts with: you shouldn't have been on that field in the first place. Or a similar negative approach.

The nasty part of such injuries, is the time it takes to heal. There's no magic room you can enter, spend a few hours in there and walk out symptom-free.
But we, as divers, do! Our sport does have that magic room. And in order for that chamber to let the magic work, divers need to be in there within six hours after a dive.
Denial postpones action and delays treatment.
Negative social reactions or views enhance denial.
Time to break that negative spiral!
 
Isn't this vastly overestimating the role that PFOs may or may not play?
Is it? John indicated that he did 3 times the deco that was required. That's a lot of padding, n'est pas? He hasn't indicated that he was inordinately cold, tired, sick, hungover and so on, and knowing how thorough John is, I doubt that any of these other vectors existed. Ergo, I would immediately suspect a physiological vector. If it were me, and I used that caveat before, I would be turning over every stone and checking every possibility to find out why I got hurt.

Think of it like a car. You're driving along it overheats and you have to stop. Wow. Now THAT was an undeserved breakdown, right? So do I just wait for the next overheat, or do I try to suss out the issue. If I can't trust that car to get me from A to B, then I'm not going to drive it. I've determined a limit for my car, and if I don't honor that limit or figure out (and cure) the root cause, then I can expect to keep breaking down. Or I just won't drive that car.

I appreciate that this is an emotional issue. I would be devastated if I got bent and couldn't figure out why and yes, the use of "deserved" and "undeserved" needlessly adds to the emotions. It's why I use "explained" and "unexplained" in any discussion. I should point out that the term "undeserved" has been used for a long, long time, even by many whose DCS was easily explained by poor diving habits. It's part of a defense mechanism, because really: who wants to admit a mistake? Using the term "undeserved" is an easy way to escape judgement. Let's just not judge. If you get bent, let's attempt to figure out why. If it repeats itself, and you can't get a handle on it, then diving may not be for you.
 

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