As you will have gathered from my name I am not a diver. My father however is. He has just suffered from the Bends and undergone 19 hybaric treatments. The cause is still unknown as his dive profiles were fine. He is preparing for tests for hole in the heart etc. I have read various articles on the web with regard to the symptoms and treatment etc. The doctors at the chamber unit have advised my father not to dive again for at least 6 months and even then the advice was that if he wants to see his grandchildren grow up not to dive again although they did follow it up by stating that divers do go on to dive again. My question is - are there divers who go on to dive again? Are the risks of bends increased once you have had them? I have so many questions but for now the answers to these would be greatly appreciated. At the moment my father is rather depressed at the thought that he could not dive again and I must say the family would at this moment prefer him not to although we do have great sympathy for him in that he may not be able to do what he really enjoys.
the bends
- Thread starter nondiver
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
scubabunny
Guest
First of all, I'm glad your father is ok!
Second, I'm NOT a doctor in any way, shape or form. I do know that some people who are unfortunate enough to get bent do dive again..but it depends on how serious it was. 19 treatments seem pretty serious, especially since the dive profile was ok.
One of our captain got bent pretty bad, and he was out of the water for 4 years. He also had heart problems which didn't help. Finally, the doctors said he could dive again..with max depth of 40ft. He was thrilled with that!
So, your dad may still be able to dive in the future..but he may have to limit his diving to certain depths.
Again, I'm not a doctor! I'm sure they will log on and help you soon!
Second, I'm NOT a doctor in any way, shape or form. I do know that some people who are unfortunate enough to get bent do dive again..but it depends on how serious it was. 19 treatments seem pretty serious, especially since the dive profile was ok.
One of our captain got bent pretty bad, and he was out of the water for 4 years. He also had heart problems which didn't help. Finally, the doctors said he could dive again..with max depth of 40ft. He was thrilled with that!
So, your dad may still be able to dive in the future..but he may have to limit his diving to certain depths.
Again, I'm not a doctor! I'm sure they will log on and help you soon!
The answer to both your question is yes.
There are people that return to dive, and the risk is greater.
There are people that return to dive, and the risk is greater.
First off... glad your father is ok and hopefully getting better.
If you could.... and would be willing too.. woudl you post the dive profile that he was on when he got bent. It would help us learn from what happened to him and since there is more than one type of DCS hit it may help the scuba docs help you a little better.
There are plenty of people who get bent and never dive again. There are also probably more that get bent and go back into the water as soon as they can. It depends totally on the diver. The docs can make recommendations but the final decision is always up to the diver.
Best wishes to you and your family and your father on a speedy and full recovery.
Tom
If you could.... and would be willing too.. woudl you post the dive profile that he was on when he got bent. It would help us learn from what happened to him and since there is more than one type of DCS hit it may help the scuba docs help you a little better.
There are plenty of people who get bent and never dive again. There are also probably more that get bent and go back into the water as soon as they can. It depends totally on the diver. The docs can make recommendations but the final decision is always up to the diver.
Best wishes to you and your family and your father on a speedy and full recovery.
Tom
Dr Deco
Contributor
- Messages
- 2,384
- Reaction score
- 96
- # of dives
- I just don't log dives
Dear nondiver:
In your note, you use the term bends which generally applies to joint pain decompression sickness (DCS). Since you also mentioned a hole in the heart, I am assuming that we are dealing with a case of neurologic decompression sickness. This is a much more serious diving accident.
In cases such as these, as mentioned by Bill P (a posting a bit later in the FORUM), it is not particularly unusual that repetitive hyperbaric treatments are needed. This is especially true if treatment has been delayed for some reason. The more unusual cause is the time required to travel to a chamber, a problem that military and commercial divers do not encounter.
With the delay in treatment, we are talking about the actual death of nerve cells. This is not unlike a stroke. It is necessary that the edema (= fluid accumulation) that occurs be reversed. This is necessary for the remaining nerve cells to be able to function again. It very often requires considerable time.
If your father should have a PFO (= patent foramen ovale or hole in the heart), then continuance of scuba diving might be dangerous. It was for this reason that his physicians gave him the warning.
I wish him the best of like in the future.
Dr Deco
In your note, you use the term bends which generally applies to joint pain decompression sickness (DCS). Since you also mentioned a hole in the heart, I am assuming that we are dealing with a case of neurologic decompression sickness. This is a much more serious diving accident.
In cases such as these, as mentioned by Bill P (a posting a bit later in the FORUM), it is not particularly unusual that repetitive hyperbaric treatments are needed. This is especially true if treatment has been delayed for some reason. The more unusual cause is the time required to travel to a chamber, a problem that military and commercial divers do not encounter.
With the delay in treatment, we are talking about the actual death of nerve cells. This is not unlike a stroke. It is necessary that the edema (= fluid accumulation) that occurs be reversed. This is necessary for the remaining nerve cells to be able to function again. It very often requires considerable time.
If your father should have a PFO (= patent foramen ovale or hole in the heart), then continuance of scuba diving might be dangerous. It was for this reason that his physicians gave him the warning.
I wish him the best of like in the future.
Dr Deco
Just to say thanks to those who replied to my question on the bends. I am glad to say that my dad is getting better every day although still waiting for tests to see why his bends occurred.
Unfortunately I am unable to post his dive profiles as his computer is still with the Dive master and the profiles have already been downloaded and sent to various places for further investigation.
As far as we can ascertain he was transferred to the hyperbaric chamber within an hour or so of the occurence of the bends which hit him after about 45 minutes of surfacing.
We are told that the bubble was trapped at the top of his spine in his neck and has caused damage to his balance on the left side. We are told that the first sessions in the chamber were to reduce the bubble, the rest as quite rightly said was to assist the repair of the damage.
Can scubabunny please let me know how bad their captain was. Was he out of the water for four years from fear or physical aspects?
Does anyone know how much the chances of getting bends are increased once you have had them. I understand the chances of getting it in the first place are about 1/10000 dives.
My dad is considering (provided he is not found to have a hole in the heart) returning to diving using Nitrox and sticking to 20 mts or less (although he was not much below this level last time) Would this help?
Thanks again
Unfortunately I am unable to post his dive profiles as his computer is still with the Dive master and the profiles have already been downloaded and sent to various places for further investigation.
As far as we can ascertain he was transferred to the hyperbaric chamber within an hour or so of the occurence of the bends which hit him after about 45 minutes of surfacing.
We are told that the bubble was trapped at the top of his spine in his neck and has caused damage to his balance on the left side. We are told that the first sessions in the chamber were to reduce the bubble, the rest as quite rightly said was to assist the repair of the damage.
Can scubabunny please let me know how bad their captain was. Was he out of the water for four years from fear or physical aspects?
Does anyone know how much the chances of getting bends are increased once you have had them. I understand the chances of getting it in the first place are about 1/10000 dives.
My dad is considering (provided he is not found to have a hole in the heart) returning to diving using Nitrox and sticking to 20 mts or less (although he was not much below this level last time) Would this help?
Thanks again
scubabunny
Guest
I'm not really sure how bad our captain was; he has since left Guam for the mainland. I can ask around work and see. I do know he also had a heart attack (whether before or after he got bent, I'm not sure..but I'm assuming after.) I do know he finally got back in the water because his doctor gave him the "OK". But, he was very conservative with his depth and time when he did start diving again.
Similar threads
