I'm hoping someone can tell me what I can expect as I recover from delayed DCS treatment.
On Feb 11th, 2010 I did a rapid ascent from 90' in 42 seconds.
I felt fine following the rapid ascent and flew home about 20 hours later.
Feb 12th, 2010 On my flight I noticed some mild DCS symptoms, (mild joint pain, itchy skin)
Feb 15th, 2010 I still had the nagging DCS symptoms (still not worried, but just to be safe I made a Dr appointment for the next day)
Feb 16th, 2010, still have the same symptoms and my doctor actually calls DAN to discuss the situation. My Doctor concludes that he thinks it is more of a muscular issue and not DCS.
Feb 17th, 2010, joint and muscle pain increases to from a deep pain to periods of sharp pain that come and go.
Feb 18th, 2010 I goto the emergency room and within hours they have me in the mono decompression chamber for a dive targeted for 2.5 hours known as the delayed decompression treatment dive. During the descent in the hyperbaric my symptoms started to get better and after about 20 minutes at 60' I actually felt good. They then started to bring me up to 30' and the symptoms came back. When I told the Doctor. he quickly changed the dive to follow the Navy table 6 dive profile... since it was a modified table 6 dive profile I was in the chamber for about 5 hours. When I came out I felt so much better (not 100%), but quickly started to get back symptoms (tingels in my legs and arms and minor joint pain...although I was still much better than when I went in). I was hospitalized at this point and put on 30 mL/hr Lidocaine drip that within about 4 hours had eliminated ALL my tingels. By the time I got out of the chamber and admitted to the hospital it was now noon on Feb 19th.
Feb 20th, 2010 6AM, I went back in the mono hyperbaric chamber and actual just had minor joint and muscle pain. This time the dive was only about 2 1/2 hours and was called the delayed decompression dive model. I came out of this dive feeling human and life was looking good.
Feb 21st, 2010. My joint and muscle pain came back and quickly escalated to moderate pain by later afternoon. I went back to the hospital and was put on O2 that I believe is why the pain went back to mild. They also started the lidacane drip and eventually decided to dive me one more time following the delayed decompression dive model.... as with all my dives I felt good, and would have a few minor symptoms come back during the ascent. Because I still had minor symptoms and I'm 35 in good shape and had responded good to the delayed treatment they dove me two more times over the next 2 days and when I left I hadn't had anything DCS symptoms in my joints that seemed to go away within 30 minutes or less. My last hyperbaric dive was Feb 24th at 10AM.
What should I expect to take place over the next few weeks.
I've been sleeping 13 hours a night (I typically sleep 6-8 hours)
I have had some symptoms come back... moderate sharp pains in one ankle, and minor discomfort in one knee and both elbows... all of which come and go. Is this what I should expect for a period of time?
Make no mistake when I finally got treatment for DCS I was a mess. I feel 98% recovered, but I'm wondering what happens with the remaining 2% that I'm still dealing with.
Thanks for your help!
