two 'undeserved hits' in 7 days - help

[tinglinglegs]

I've been scuba diving for 17 years - mostly in Cozumel. On July 12th - I climbed onto the boat and within 15 minutes I had pain lower right side abdomen for 15 minutes - then pain went away and right leg tingled all the way down, then went numb. I sucked on a small barely functional bottle of oxygen for 10 minutes, ALL SYMPTOMS WENT AWAY. I did not do the second dive. I dove the next day, no problems, and continued diving for 6 more days. On the 7th day THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED, so I treated it the same way. I am home now and completely confused. DAN had me contact a local dive doc, who recommended a neurologist, who I'll see tomorrow. I do have some history of back issues. I am a healthy, fit 48 year old woman. Can anybody understand what happened? Scuba is my favorite thing to do in this life. Believe me - I've ruled out ALL of the obvious (dehydration, depth, bottom time, ascent rate, etc............) Thanks for your time

 

[Cave Diver]

Depth, time, profile information would probably be helpful. Any other signs or symptoms also.

Not sure if I would have dove after having those symptoms without getting checked out first though...

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello tingling :

It is good to have a high index of suspicion, but I would guess that you have a spinal nerve [lumbar] problem. This is not the result of decompression, and it should be checked by a physician.

Dr Deco :doctor:


The next class in Decompression Physiology for 2007 is August 18-19. :1book:
This class is at the USC campus in Los Angeles.
http://wrigley.usc.edu/hyperbaric/advdeco.htm

 

[Don Wray]

Are you a smoker?

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

There's no such thing as an undeserved hit...

Either you were pushing the limits or had other contributing factors like fatigue, dehydration, smoking, etc.

Once you had the first suspected hit, you should not have been diving again within a 7-day period to get another. So the second one, if that's what it was, was certainly not an undeserved hit.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello readers:

An “undeserved hit” refers to gas loadings. The “palace secret” is that tissue gas loads are simply a portion of the equation – often a somewhat minor part. A major player, according to my research at NASA [and studies going back to World War II] is musculoskeletal activity; it is a major generator of tissue microbubbles.

From the writer’s description – however brief – this looks like a sciatic nerve problem. I would be very surprised that a neurological hit reoccurred in the exact same place.


Dr Deco :doctor:


The next class in Decompression Physiology for 2007 is August 18-19. :1book:
This class is at the USC campus in Los Angeles.
http://wrigley.usc.edu/hyperbaric/advdeco.htm

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

I know the definition of an underserved hit. I believe that true underserved hits are so rare that for all practical purposes they don't exist. If each and every underserved hit were to actually be investigated, we would find that there was one or more contributing factors.

 

[Dr Deco]

DeepSea:

I agree with that. There is no "black magic" or "bad karma."

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

And, in the process, divers would become more educated and perhaps others would not have to repeat the same mistakes. Instead, we hear "undeserved hit" and we accept it, learn nothing, and move on.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

I've been scuba diving for 17 years - mostly in Cozumel. On July 12th - I climbed onto the boat and within 15 minutes I had pain lower right side abdomen for 15 minutes - then pain went away and right leg tingled all the way down, then went numb. I sucked on a small barely functional bottle of oxygen for 10 minutes, ALL SYMPTOMS WENT AWAY. I did not do the second dive. I dove the next day, no problems, and continued diving for 6 more days. On the 7th day THE EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED, so I treated it the same way. I am home now and completely confused. DAN had me contact a local dive doc, who recommended a neurologist, who I'll see tomorrow. I do have some history of back issues. I am a healthy, fit 48 year old woman. Can anybody understand what happened? Scuba is my favorite thing to do in this life. Believe me - I've ruled out ALL of the obvious (dehydration, depth, bottom time, ascent rate, etc............) Thanks for your time

You asked so here is my two cents. I don't mean to be critical but once you felt tingling and part of your body went numb you needed to be on 100 percent oxygen and headed to shore to be examined by a doctor. If you were in Cozumel Dr Picicilo would have been my hands down choice.

He would have probably have put you in a chamber immediately and if your symptons had resolved would have probably said no diving for six months.

Factors that contribute to hits deserved or otherwise are age being over 40, weight, being a woman with more body fat than a man, dehydration, would you drinking lots of water before your diving.