Thoughts on untreated DCS

[Joe_MB]

Six days I did two tropical dives; the first was 89 minutes long with a max depth of 12m (average 9m) + safety stop and the second (after 1 hour surface interval) was to a max of 8.8m (average 7) and 57 minutes long, I did no safety stop as my computer did not say it was necessary. About 5 minutes after surfacing from the second dive I got an acute pain in my hip which was shortly followed by a similar pain in shoulder. I was immediatly put on O2, the pain quickly diminished and I was taken to the local clinic. 2.5 hours later after being on O2, a saline drip and 600mg of Asprin, the pain had disappeared and I was sent home.

I had 24 hours of no pain, but then the pain reappeared in my hip. Since then the pain has come and gone; for example today I had no pain in my hip most of the day and a little bit in my shoulder, now I have none in my shoulder but some in my hip.

The Dr for my insurance company does not think that these lingering pains are DCS related and a visit to the chamber is not necessary. I just want to make sure that I am doing the right thing here by not going to the chamber? any thoughts?

cheers

Joe

 

[fisheater]

Call DAN. Do not wait. Call DAN.

DAN = Divers Alert Network.


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[muzikbiz22]

+1 for CALL DAN Second, I am one of those that does a safety stop 99% of the time, regardless of how shallow/short a dive is. Lot's of times, I make it a 5 minute safety stop, and it's usually noodling around in the shallows. To me, it just makes sense to do.

 

[ffemtdiver300]

I agree, get a consult from Dive Alert Networks medical staff. The Drs you have dealt with may have no training in dive emergencies

 

[doctormike]

any thoughts?

cheers

Joe

Hi, Joe...

Thoughts:

1) Call DAN

2) The computer will never tell you that a safety stop is necessary, that's why it's a safety stop.

3) How far out are you from this incident? Hard to tell from the post, but the further out you are, the less likely it is that recompression will help.

4) Do you have DAN insurance? IMHO, no one should dive without it - it takes one big consideration out of the decision of whether or not to visit a chamber.

5) The profiles seem pretty shallow for much nitrogen loading, but bubbles can certainly form in such cases based on other factors (ascent rate violations, multiple ascents, etc...)

6) The story of my own chamber ride last month, and my analysis might be of interest to you: http://www.rothschilddesign.com/dcs

Dive safe!

Mike

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Going by your profiles and barring any unusual events during the dives, I think that it's very unlikely that this was DCS. You were well within the no-stop limits according to the U.S. Navy no-decompression table, even if you'd done square-profile dives and stayed at your max depth the entire time.

That said, doctors from insurance companies (or practitioners on diving message boards, for that matter) are not in the best position to evaluate you. It's a very good idea to follow up with a diving physician now that you're home. That physician may well decide not to recompress you, but at least he/she has evaluated you in person.

Best regards,
DDM

 

[spectrum]

Joe_MB,

Nobody here can prove a negative so I have to agree with contacting DAN and getting a consultation from someone that is dive medicine savvy.

That being said, how often are you sliging cylinders and climbing onto boats with gear? This could be plain old aches and pains.

Pete

 

[TSandM]

The problem with DCS is that the symptom spectrum overlaps normal aches and pains so much -- and aspirin will relieve pain, no matter what its cause.

If I am reading your original post correctly, and you are six days out with only intermittent discomfort, I seriously doubt anyone would recommend hyperbaric therapy. And I agree with DDM that the profiles are not suggestive of DCS, unless you had some type of severe buoyancy control problems.

 

[Superlyte27]

I'd be VERY surprised if you got DCS. In fact, I'd bet my dive gear (and there's a lot of it). More than likely you overworked yourself. What's your height and weight? I ask for two reasons.

 

[DandyDon]

Calling DAN from day 1 would have been a wonderful idea, but with 500+ dives - who doesn't know that?

I'd be VERY surprised if you got DCS. In fact, I'd bet my dive gear (and there's a lot of it). More than likely you overworked yourself. What's your height and weight? I ask for two reasons.

No one asked his age either...?