Tell Us About Your Narcisode

[inventor]

I have questions about the mental and emotional states generated at onset, and during narcisodes.

What got me started thinking about it was a friend's description of one of her dives. As I recall, she and the hubby were alone with a DM at about 100 fsw. I believe it was either cert or dive class. She became narced, and simply sat down to wait for her husband. The hubby and DM were right in front of her, trying to get her to come up. She refused, as she thought that both of the guys were the DM, and wanted to wait for her hubby.

Now, what if she had been with, and gotten seperated from, a larger group. She may have simply sat ther until OOA. Now, narced, OOA, and at 100 ft is not somewhere I want to be. She said that she simply became very complacent.

I've read about a few people experiencing anxiety during narcossis. Could someone become aggressive during narcossis? Meaning, fighting those trying to help?

So, if folks could relate their situation going into and during narcossis, it may give me a better understanding of whether I'm going into an episode, or experiencing one. Such as..
This is how I felt it coming on..

This is how it felt during...

This is how I knew i was narced...

This is how I felt when it was ending, or afterward...


My greates depth has been to 80 ffw, and only that by sticking my console into the mud. (Not a good idea!) As far as I know, I've never been narced, as most of my dives are 60 ft or above.

I appreciate any and all info on this subject, thanks for your time.

 

[Kern]

I dare say I'm always narced to some extent, but just don't notice. Eventually I get to a depth where I stop felling cold, even though the water is 10^oC. As I really feel the cold, a total wuss about it in fact, I know I'm quite narced, but in all other respects I feel fine.

I once had a dark narc though. Diving a wreck I knew well, I was just totalling along, when I got to a position & thought hang on, how did following that rail get me here. Suddenly I was totally lost. There was no lead in, I was just instantly & totally lost. My hart & breathing rate went through the roof, I was probably going to die. I was at 50mt with a deco obligation, I was going to get bent, I was going to run out of air, yep, I was definitely going to die. I thought a whole lot of other silly things too. Then it occurred to me to actually raise my head & look around, & there, only 30mt away were some flashing lights. Ahh, that must be the anchor line with our strobes. I'm not lost at all, I'm not going to die. Almost instantly my hart & breathing normalised. Quick check of the time, SPG , etc. It seemed to take forever, but no, It couldn't have been much more than a minute. I still wasn't cold though, & in all other respects I felt fine.

 

[scubadiver888]

Hey Inventor,

The first time I saw someone get narc'd was in Cuba. I got paired with a guy who had everything under the sun hanging off his BCD. We went to a dive that was 101 feet but we planned on staying above 60 feet. I believe the Christmas Tree wasn't watching his depth and went deep. By the time I noticed he was going down he was way below me. I wondered if I should wait for him to come back up or go down and get him. When he let all the air out of his BCD, dropped his weights (fortunately his unditchable weights were more than he really needed) and sat on the bottom I figured I needed to go down and get him. This was my sixth dive and first time below 60 feet. I had a strong feeling of anxiety and felt really nervous. By the time I got down to the guy the DM came down and helped me get his weights back in. She then inflated his BCD and brought him back up to 70 feet. At that point he became startled and confused; he was wondering what just happened. He told me he had this feeling he was going up so he dumped some air. As he went down he continued to think he was going up so he dumped all his air. He didn't remember dumping his weights and didn't know why he did that.

So the becoming confused and complacent isn't unusual. I suspect he would have just sat there until he ran out of air. I get anxious when I get narc'd. I've been doing enough deep diving now that I recognize this feeling and compensate for the narc.

I have never heard of anyone getting violent or aggressive when narc'd but I would guess it is possible. However, underwater it would be difficult to get violent. Trying to throw a punch or fight with someone would exhaust you.

Also, the belief is that the deeper you go the greater the narc. It is hard to say when you start getting narc'd but you might have been lightly narc'd at 80 feet. It is sort of like drinking and driving. For example, you might have one drink and it is hard to measure your impairment. You might have two drinks and your ability to drive is impaired but you cannot tell you are drunk. You might have five drinks and you know you are drunk.

Darrell

 

[inventor]

The drunk comparison seems like a good analogy. I may have been narc'd, as I was following my compass while holding it at about a 45* angle. Meaning, it wasn't turning. Almost wound up in 'the channel' at Lake Mohave, which is a narrowing of the lake where the river flows through it. It has a very strong current there. I didn't realise either of these two things until it was approaching 'almost too late'.

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi inventor,

Divers can develop a wide variety of emotional and cognitive signs and symptoms during an episode of inert gas narcosis. These can be highly idiosyncratic across divers and change from episode to episode within the same diver.

These can include feelings of stimulation, excitement, euphoria, giddiness, invulnerability, anxiety, depression, paranoia and aggressivity; slowing of thought processes and responses to visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile stimulation; disturbed attention, concentration, memory and decision-making; and a fixation on certain ideas.

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[inventor]

Maybe I should change the title of this thread?

 

[boulderjohn]

A year ago or so there as a thread in the accidents and incidents forum in which a diver died (was lost, actually) during a dive after running away from and fighting off the DM. This diver was last seen swimming hard down into the abyss, still apparently escaping from the DM, who stopped following.

The last I saw of the thread, none of the obvious questions had been answered. The diver was not recovered, and there was no public explanation about what had happened from the DM. (That is pretty typical of such threads, BTW.)

Aggressive narcosis? I have no idea.

 

[PatW]

I have been down to something like 118'. But generally I do not go deep unless there is something specific that I want to see at that depth.

From what I have heard and read, narcosis is dosage dependant. The more exposure, the greater the likely symptoms. So if you keep your exposure moderate, you are unlikely to have problems. I also understand that at certain depths, everyone will have a mild form of narcosis. But the milder forms would be being a bit slower at cognitive skills, feeling a bit euphoric, and perhaps feeling mildly content... that sort of thing. Narcosis only seems to be a problem when it gets into the more extreme forms.

Narcosis generally seems to be complacency, being slower at thinking things through, and getting disoriented. I think the best way to avoid it is to be careful, concentrate, and check things more often than you normally would. If you think your mental processing is getting impaired, just go up.

From the kind of diving that you do, I doubt that you will ever experience it to any real degree.

 

[Hickdive]

I have a buddy who doesn't become physically aggressive but does get angry when narced.

When I hear him grumbling and complaining and swearing through his regulator I know it's time to head up.

 

[inventor]

Bump.

How do I change the thread title?