so worry about DCS

[TSandM]

Nitrogen is always moving in and out of the body. If you go up to the 30th floor, you will slightly increase the amount moving out, relative to the amount moving in.

The issue you posit of never getting to true equilibrium because you are always only getting halfway there is called Zeno's Dichotomy Paradox. The function which describes the nitrogen tensions in the body approaches equilibrium as a limit.

 

[kloallan]

I think at least two of my three children were conceived on dive vacations... I think one possible symptom of increased inert gas absorption is friskiness...

Mrs. Stoo v1.0 dove when she was 6 months pregnant with #1 son. (We won a trip to Grand Cayman and weren't going to pass that up...) We limited her diving to 25 feet or so. Since #1 is the most normal of the three kids, I've concluded that diving, for us, was no biggie.

With regard to the OP's question of "diagnosing" DCS, as our learned medical member pointed out, the determination of DCS is largely based on an assessment of the symptoms presenting. One tool which is commonly used post-dive is a Doppler stethoscope or similar unit to listen for bubbles moving around in the blood. Even an asymptomatic diver with have audible venous gas moving about, but the amount and intensity of the sound produced can be used as a guide in determining the likelihood of a DCS occurrence.

Thanks Stoo,

As you said Doppler could check DCS, but it is used for short time after diving, if it pass many days, Doppler is useless as bubble is move away， right？

---------- Post added May 9th, 2014 at 09:32 AM ----------

Nitrogen is always moving in and out of the body. If you go up to the 30th floor, you will slightly increase the amount moving out, relative to the amount moving in.

The issue you posit of never getting to true equilibrium because you are always only getting halfway there is called Zeno's Dichotomy Paradox. The function which describes the nitrogen tensions in the body approaches equilibrium as a limit.

Dear TSandM,

Thanks very much for your reply.

I think I do not worry at all right.

And thanks to everyone reply.

 

[Agility]

As you said Doppler could check DCS, but it is used for short time after diving, if it pass many days, Doppler is useless as bubble is move away， right？

Bubbles and DCS are not the same thing.
Many divers have silent bubbles, they do not have DCS.
We all must accept that there is no simple test for DCS to use at the beach.

The bubbles are normally caught in capillaries of the lung and shrink there as the nitrogen dissolves out of the bubbles into the blood stream and then through the alveolar wall into the air in the lung and is finally exhaled.

 

[sphyrnidus]

I think at least two of my three children were conceived on dive vacations... I think one possible symptom of increased inert gas absorption is friskiness...

Mrs. Stoo v1.0 dove when she was 6 months pregnant with #1 son. (We won a trip to Grand Cayman and weren't going to pass that up...) We limited her diving to 25 feet or so. Since #1 is the most normal of the three kids, I've concluded that diving, for us, was no biggie.

As a pediatrician I can tell you the advice not to dive while pregnant stems from the fact that there is no research done, nor possible on ethical grounds. Se we simply don't know. But that it will not always harm a foetus is obvious, but why take the risk?

 

[DocVikingo]

...but once I am pregnant, suggest I do not go to dive?

The topic of scuba while pregnant has been long & extensively covered on this board, as can be seen by a search of our archives --> http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/sea...rchid=21742894

The bottom line is we don't know & very likely never will know about the safety of scuba during pregnancy, so why risk it?

E.g:

"J Obstet Gynaecol. 2006 Aug;26(6):509-13.

Scuba diving and pregnancy: can we determine safe limits?

St Leger Dowse M, Gunby A, Moncad R, Fife C, Bryson P.

Diving Diseases Research Centre, Hyperbaric Medical Centre, Plymouth, UK. marguerite@mstld.co.uk

No human data, investigating the effects on the fetus of diving, have been published since 1989. We investigated any potential link between diving while pregnant and fetal abnormalities by evaluating field data from retrospective study No.1 (1990/2) and prospective study No.2 (1996/2000). Some 129 women reported 157 pregnancies over 1,465 dives. Latest gestational age reported while diving was 35 weeks. One respondent reported 92 dives during a single pregnancy, with two dives to 65 m in the 1st trimester. In study No.2 >90% of women ceased diving in the 1st trimester, compared with 65% in the earlier study. Overall, the women did not conduct enough dives per pregnancy, therefore no significant correlation between diving and fetal abnormalities could be established. These data indicate women are increasingly observing the diving industry recommendation and refraining from diving while pregnant. Field studies are not likely to be useful, or the way forward, for future diving and pregnancy research. Differences in placental circulation between humans and other animals limit the applicability of animal research for pregnancy and diving studies. It is unlikely that the effect of scuba diving on the unborn human fetus will be established."

The general advice of the medical community, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists & Divers Alert Network (DAN), is not to dive during pregnancy.

Regards,

DocVikingo