Nitrox - Is it "worth it"?

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There are a few posts on this thread that state that Nitrox makes you feel better and less fatigue, and that studies that have been done to prove this questionable claim have failed because they are flawed.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is no evidence whatsoever that Nitrox makes a diver feel any better post-dive, nor that fatigue that divers get during diving is due to "clinically undetectable bubble formation within the tissues that is effectively remedied by diving Nitrox". In fact several studies HAVE been done addressing this question and have proven that Nitrox has no advantage whatsoever in regard to post dive fatigue as compared to breathing air.

Any "feel good effect" of Nitrox is due to the well known placebo effect that is so powerful it must be controlled for in every valid clinical study that depends on subjective and objective results and responses of human subjects.
 
Boy, you guys are getting ripped off

I pay $6 a fill at my LDS for up to 40% (50 in a Al40). Hence it doesn’t matter if I take an empty or half full (top offs are free)
 
I’m a diver at NASAs Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and we dive 46% EAN. That was the blend NASAs human performance division deemed the most safe for the astronauts and the divers to be in the water of up to 6 hours at 40 ft. I love diving this percentage. If I ever feel even slightly under the weather diving twice a day on this stuff always makes me feel better while under the water.
 
While nitrox cert. costs and effort might not be worthwhile for this trip alone, you'll likely keep diving and over time it will be. Here are some real world anecdotes from my diving:

1.) In Jupiter, FL, 1st trip, typical plan was a deep, near square profile drift dive, 90 feet to the bottom, with EAN 36. IIRC, nitrox divers had a 45 minute bottom time plan, air divers 30 minutes. That's a difference!

2.) Morehead City, NC. The deep offshore wrecks (the main draw, weather/conditions allowing) were done with EAN 30. Typical dive time might be 35 minutes or so (again, IIRC), with a sandy bottom at 110', wreck diving, again mostly square profile. I rented steel 120-cf tanks, and thus these dives were NDL-limited.

3.) On a St. Croix trip, did 3 days of 4 boat dives/day and chose air to save money. On dive 4, I'd have to keep an eye on the dive computer's nitrox loading. Never violated it, and didn't have to cut dives short (though I tended to go shallower that 4th dive), but I was getting a bit loaded up.

4.) Bonaire trips diving 5 dives/day, or live-aboard boats at 5 dives/day, EAN 32, haven't noticed nitrox loading on the computers being a problem. Still worth glancing at from time to time. 4 Dives/day in Cozumel used nitrox; 1st dive of the morning tended to be deep.

5.) In situations where you're part of a guided group dive and most people dive nitrox, your air could be a complication (in Jupiter that one trip, air divers were just sent up sooner, following the guide's dive float line, for earlier boat pickup). I don't recall specifically running into this otherwise.

Richard.
 
We used to dive fairly close to NDL's. I ended up with avascular necrosis in one hip. The doc that diagnosed it had no idea that it could be caused by diving. Was it? Who knows? Anymore I'd rather not dive to the limits just in case. Nitrox keeps me away from the limits.
Dysbaric osteonecrosis - Wikipedia
 
Original poster here! Man, I knew I'd get some awesome responses to my question! Thank you! You guys are fantastic and there is a lot of knowledge here! After reading the pros and cons of it all, it seems like the "cons" are few and it won't hurt to get the certification. I know I mentioned the money thing in my post. Cost isn't prohibitive for us, we just want to realize value. Nitrox is included at no extra charge in our air package booked with VIP Diving in Bonaire. My dive buddy is my wife, pretty much 100% of the time, so we'll get it done together before our trip. I'm lucky in that I married a woman who loves diving, hockey and baseball....and she can cook! Haha! We could be doing a liveaboard at some point in the future too, so it seems there may be an advantage to diving Nitrox there as well. Our LDS is headed to Raja Ampat late next year, I think? Anyway, thanks again for all the advice/input/opinions, etc. It really helped!

Make sure that you're with your LDS on that Raja trip.
 
Like Ana, I used to be completely invigorated by my dives.

Having had skin bends twice, I took my nitrox and dive it almost exclusively. I've not had skin bends since but I'm rarely completely invigorated either as I used to be (this has nothing to do with nitrox, lol). In any event, I do not feel less tired by virtue of using nitrox.

Now, if nitrox was only the fountain of youth too, perhaps I'd feel less tired. That would be sweet.
 
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There are a few posts on this thread that state that Nitrox makes you feel better and less fatigue, and that studies that have been done to prove this questionable claim have failed because they are flawed.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

There is no evidence whatsoever that Nitrox makes a diver feel any better post-dive, nor that fatigue that divers get during diving is due to "clinically undetectable bubble formation within the tissues that is effectively remedied by diving Nitrox". In fact several studies HAVE been done addressing this question and have proven that Nitrox has no advantage whatsoever in regard to post dive fatigue as compared to breathing air.

Any "feel good effect" of Nitrox is due to the well known placebo effect that is so powerful it must be controlled for in every valid clinical study that depends on subjective and objective results and responses of human subjects.
Sheesh.. here we go.

Here is one study that does show a positive benefit in post dive fatigue. I've not seen this one until today: Actual Study Summary in Laymen's Terms

Here's the previously flawed study: Actual Study The flaw is twofold. First, the divers were in a dry compression chamber. They didn't experience significant fatigue on air..so how in the world would they experience less fatigue on nitrox? Second, they were young very healthy men (also contributed to their lack of fatigue). The authors of the study even acknowledge this in the study text
An interesting finding is that the measures of fatigue did not increase following the simulated dives, despite such reports being common following recreational underwater diving.
Why even publish the article if they acknowledge they failed to generate fatigue at all unless there was an agenda at play.

There's a few other studies, those were just the first two.

Combine that with the fact that many divers such as myself can definitely tell a difference..well.. "nothing could be further from the truth" is certainly not a statement based in any sort of science or fact.

The subject has been discussed ad nauseam on scubaboard. Here's one such thread if you care to read it or participate in the discussion. Nitrox and Fatigue: the Evidence
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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