Very Mild Decompression Sickness?

[sipadiver]

Hi,

I went diving with friends at Sipadan. I saw a massive Barracuda Tornado forming up and I swam into it to take video shots.

You can see it here:

Dived down at Sipadan and came to 25 - 30m after 10 minutes for diving. Came back to 20m and maintained that level for another 10 minutes before getting to 13m.

Then I saw the barracuda tornado and swam towards it. It seemed to be spiralling upwards and I followed.

Watch the video here:

YouTube - Barracuda Tornado Sipadan

Unfortunately I came up from a depth of 13m to (probably) 5m maybe 3m, and stayed there for about 10 minutes, before realizing my error and swimming back down again. And 15minutes later doing the appropriate safety stops before ascending.

I didn't feel any negative symptoms after the dive. Euphoria yes. Tiredness no. No joint aches. Maybe a bit of fatigue the next day. Had a bit of a headache and nausea after the 2nd day, but that could be related to the 7 hours travel journey back home by boat/bus/plane.

Its been 5 days after the event. I feel slightly fatigued, maybe a very very slight tingling in my fingertips. But that could be explained away by office work .

I'm just wondering if there was some nitrogen trapped in my body... how long would it take to escape without resorting to a recompression chamber. Should I be worried at all?

I'll be getting a dive computer after this trip.

 

[wedivebc]

I am not a Dr but I think I can safely say given your profile and your symptoms you are probably going to be OK.
If I get this right:
10 min @ 30m
10 min @ 20m
15 min @ 13m with a brief rise to 3m

That is well within no mandatory deco limits and I suspect your symtoms are caused by something else.

 

[Dr Deco]

Hello Sipadiver:

The nitrogen loads during these dives were quite low. I looked as did some previous posters. The vary delayed onset of the symptoms makes DCS a very unlikely prospect.

The very minimal nitrogen loads will also clear the body in about 15 hours according to multicompartment analysis.


Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[DandyDon]

You bought a video camera instead of a computer - then chased the camera? :11:

I'm bad about following my camera too much too, glad you weren't injured, but I wear a minimum of one if not two dive computers to watch me while I'm being so cavalier. BTW, it has nothing to do with the question I don't guess, but here is your vid...

​

 

[TSandM]

This is actually a very good thread, and I hope a lot of people read it, because the underlying message here is that it's very important to maintain your situational awareness while seduced into whatever you're seeing in your camera. Sea life generally doesn't have to worry about gas supply or decompression sickness, so it is free to wander in three dimensions in a way that we really are not. Still photos aren't quite the risk, because one generally has to stabilize for a brief time to take them, but it's still possible to end up with an unwise profile while chasing a good photo subject.

Video, on the other hand, is ongoing and fluid, and a much bigger temptation to follow your "prey" through its travels, whether they are wise for you or not.

Photographers need to remain aware of their depth, their position, and their gas supply, no matter how exciting or tempting the photo op is. This is one of the reasons why so many of us advise new divers to eschew a camera for a while. You can get into a great deal of trouble if you end up much deeper or shallower than you thought because you were focused on your viewfinder.

 

[sipadiver]

My camera the Fuji F31 also does video quite well. (not so the newer series for some strange reason).