Nitrogen Narcosis: What It Is and How It Affects You - Maluku Diving

[Dan]

Ahhh...."studies" showed this to be true....makes me remember that 87.43% of all statistics are made up on the spot. I feel same was about studies, give me the data and I can prove most any postulate I wish. My wife is ow certified and I am aow, we both have been diving since late 70's and have a great many dives under our belts. She has never been arrested from the diving police for exceeding 60 feet. I am no more safer and she is no more unsafe just because she doesn't have aow certification or me because I do. I am no expert and don't have memorized all that data on "rapture of the deep" but from actual experience I must disagree with the op that it is unsafe to dive below 60 feet. This thread has been very entertaining but I truly hope new divers don't put to much credence in the fear factor that he seems to promote. Yes I believe in safety first but I must wonder why he even started this thread?

Perhaps to get some name recognition?

 

[oldschoolto]

No one said they "Don't" get narc'd... It's at what depth does it start to show and how it effects the person.. if we were all the same.. You would need only one pain med at the same dose... And we all know people all feel pain the same.. We Know that drinking effects every person the same... We know that every person thinks the same... We know all people love the same... We know every living thing is exactly the same and is effective a clone.

So, Of course people are all effected by Breathing Air...

Jim...

 

[Stoo]

ah, no. if you want to have a training dive below 60 feet then you need to take AOW. OW cert is good to the recreational limit of 130 feet.

Is this what diving has come to? What happens to an OW diver at 62'? Do they implode...?

 

[The Chairman]

It's at what depth does it start to show

Stupid rarely manifests itself to the individual. It hardly ever "shows". If you trained on a skill, you'll probably be able to pull it off. If it's a new problem, you're less likely to resolve it.

 

[oldschoolto]

Stupid rarely manifests itself to the individual. It hardly ever "shows". If you trained on a skill, you'll probably be able to pull it off. If it's a new problem, you're less likely to resolve it.

So you believe that "Every Diver" is effected the same.. Same effect at every depth.. The human body and the effect of drugs is always the same.. I know you are smarter then that....

Jim

 

[KeithG]

Stupid rarely manifests itself to the individual. It hardly ever "shows". If you trained on a skill, you'll probably be able to pull it off. If it's a new problem, you're less likely to resolve it.

Does anyone have hard factual info (or can provide a link) about effects and depth. The OP brings up 60 as the magic do not cross line. Others hand wave about much deeper depths like 150. Way back when I was taught 100+ feet.

What are the various training agencies teaching now?

 

[RainPilot]

The OP brought up 60' as that's the OW/AOW line. Since most seem to take the AOW as a depth increase cert, it makes sense to cover narcosis in that course.

Also it would appear to be a Non-native English speaker, I didn't pick up on any fear mongering.

 

[KeithG]

The OP brought up 60' as that's the OW/AOW line. Since most seem to take the AOW as a depth increase cert, it makes sense to cover narcosis in that course.

Also it would appear to be a Non-native English speaker, I didn't pick up on any fear mongering.

Narcosis was part of the PADI OW course in the late 80s. But not much content, only a few paragraphs.

 

[Darnold9999]

Used to think I wasn't really affected until well past 100 feet. Then I took up underwater photography - never used a camera on the surface until then. On the surface figuring out shutter speed, aperture, ISO to get the shot I wanted was not particularly difficult. Imagine my surprise when at roughly 60 plus feet these same decisions were MUCH more difficult. Not impossible, but I found that I really had to focus on figuring out what I wanted to do. Something that was not familiar, something that required some level of smarts to do correctly was difficult at depth, and simple at the surface. I don't feel any different, don't feel impaired or any of the classic "narked" symptoms but I am definitely "less smart".

If you think you are not impaired at depth you are kidding yourself. The level of impairment may not be significant as diving rarely requires significant intelligence, but try to do a complex, unfamiliar task and you may find that you are more stupid than you think you are once you get to even relatively shallow depths for any length of time.

 

[The Chairman]

If you think you are not impaired at depth you are kidding yourself. The level of impairment may not be significant as diving rarely requires significant intelligence, but try to do a complex, unfamiliar task and you may find that you are more stupid than you think you are once you get to even relatively shallow depths for any length of time.

Exacadactly!

How do we identify an impaired person on the surface? Whether it's due to retardation, drugs or alcohol, we can discern a problem with their speech patterns. Most of the time, we're not talking under water, so that method of detection is rendered useless. The second most obvious method is a problem with balance and diminished motor skills. You can't fall down under water... you can't even stagger taking away that marker as well. That's two of the primary markers we use to determine if a person is impaired that we can't use underwater and they're our primary ones at that. I remember during my OW course the instructor describing narcosis as the "rapture of the deep". He reminisced about people taking their regs out trying to give air to a fish. Shenanigans. That's a Hollywood based myth and unfortunately, people often determine their level of narcosis using that myth or simply going off of feelings. The main problem with narcosis is an increasing inability to reason: to figure sh#t out.

My first understanding of narcosis came with my right shoulder. It has been in chronic pain ever since they did the rotator cuff. At 80 ft, it stops hurting and I get full range of motion back. No pain. No pinch. I kinda wish I could live at that depth just for the relief. That's my only indicator until I get to around 200 feet. Then I start to feel a bit delusional. I know I -FEEL- like I can function at those depths, but that's just a lie my impaired brain is telling itself. It's like the drunk saying : "Yeth, I can drife hommmme." He has no clue his words are slurred and that he's lost the ability to think rationally about the possible consequences of driving drunk. Make no doubt about it. A narced diver is far more apt to take stupid chances and put themselves in a situation where they're going to need all of the cognitive faculties that they can muster.

Just because you don't feel narced, doesn't mean you aren't impaired. It's gradual. You won't notice a bump in your stupidity when you cross the 60 line. Some have likened it to the martini rule: every extra atmosphere is like another martini. At 33 feet we feel good. Why else do we dive? At 66 ft, you're starting to feel no pain and by the time you get to 99 feet your cares are a long ways away. You probably won't feel a buzz, but you're impaired all the same.