Why not treat DCS yourself?

[PfcAJ]

It would be pretty rare for a dive operation to have it, because it is pretty rare for a dive operator to need it. Most are within close enough proximity to proper treatment that IWR would not be a good option.

I think someone who is diving in a remote location where access is extremely limited should strongly consider investing in both the equipment and the training. Where I do most of my diving during the year, some people in the past have both brought IWR equipment and used it. I have decided against it. I am 2 miles from a hospital, and although it does not have a chamber, it has the ability to get someone to one in a reasonable hurry (and that has happened as well.)

I mentioned the Opal Cohen case herlier. In that case, she was close enough to a chamber, but the captain made the questionable decision to wait for the other divers to surface, so her treatment was greatly delayed.

Did she follow a published IWR protocol?

 

[jadairiii]

Here is the #1 problem with conducting IWR while diving in areas were chambers are within a reasonable distance, maybe you're not "bent".

Self-diagnosis is always risky whether it is that small brown spot on your back that is "nothing", or that small lump under your arm "that must be a bug bite", or coming up from a dive with some kind of odd symptom that you and the rest of the "medical experts" on the dive boat diagnose as DCS. I don't think doing additional time at 30' on O2 after a deep dive to treat what ultimately turns out to by Lyme Disease or a brain aneurysm or a mild stroke is such a great idea. Sure, Lyme Disease you have plenty of time to treat after your wasted IWR, but the other 2, not so much.

Last time I was on a tech dive boat they had O2 but not a CT scan or an MRI machine. But whatever, while doing your IWR, do some Tai Chi, get your chakras all in order and make sure you breath through your 3rd eye, good sound medical advice.....from the internet.....

 

[boulderjohn]

Did she follow a published IWR protocol?

Nope. She grabbed a tank and gear and jumped in the water.

 

[KeithG]

Did she follow a published IWR protocol?

Did her boat have the necessary equipment?

 

[boulderjohn]

Did her boat have the necessary equipment?

It was a typical Cozumel dive boat. They have easy access to a chamber, so there is normally no need for IWR. When she surfaced, she was already in trouble. Under the best of circumstances, the boat should have motored as fast as possible to a dock, radioing for an ambulance. She had been doing a super deep bounce dive (300 feet planned; 400 feet actual) with 2 friends. They jumped in about the same time as a group of divers doing a typical recreational dive. Their dive took little time, so they surfaced long before the regular dive group. That put the captain in a dilemma, because it is strictly forbidden for a boat to leave with its divers still in the water. (In a normal DCS case, the DCS occurs at the end of a dive, not the beginning.)

Please remember that this thread is not about that case, which was discussed at great length when it happened.

 

[KeithG]

It was a typical Cozumel dive boat. They have easy access to a chamber, so there is normally no need for IWR. When she surfaced, she was already in trouble. Under the best of circumstances, the boat should have motored as fast as possible to a dock, radioing for an ambulance. She had been doing a super deep bounce dive (300 feet planned; 400 feet actual) with 2 friends. They jumped in about the same time as a group of divers doing a typical recreational dive. Their dive took little time, so they surfaced long before the regular dive group. That put the captain in a dilemma, because it is strictly forbidden for a boat to leave with its divers still in the water. (In a normal DCS case, the DCS occurs at the end of a dive, not the beginning.)

Please remember that this thread is not about that case, which was discussed at great length when it happened.

Agreed. My point being that many (most, all) of the dive ops used by the majority of divers are NOT equipt for IWR.

She did not follow accepted IWR procedures since the boat was not equipt to provide them. So IWR for the vast majority of divers is your last choice, not your first.

 

[boulderjohn]

So IWR for the vast majority of divers is your last choice, not your first.

It should rarely be a first choice.

 

[rjack321]

It should rarely be a first choice.

Maybe in Cozumel or the Channel Islands.

When you're on Lake Huron and the time-to-treat in the nearest chamber in Detroit is 8 hours on a good day perhaps getting back in and doing some extra deco is wise. Anywhere on north Vancouver Island you are 12+ hours from a chamber. In Seattle, with one of the best equipped and staffed chambers (willing to treat divers) you are looking at 4+hrs to treat. If you are out on the Olympic peninsula you're a ferry and a ton of traffic away and ~10hrs to treatment is the norm not the exception. If you only have some joint pain fine, if you surface with neuro symptoms sure it could be a stroke. You gotta make a decision based on the profile and exposure how to proceed because you could very well die or be maimed while on your way to care. Or you can get back in and try self treating (and you still might die, but probably not from the treatment itself).

 

[rjack321]

It was a typical Cozumel dive boat. They have easy access to a chamber, so there is normally no need for IWR. When she surfaced, she was already in trouble. Under the best of circumstances, the boat should have motored as fast as possible to a dock, radioing for an ambulance. She had been doing a super deep bounce dive (300 feet planned; 400 feet actual) with 2 friends. They jumped in about the same time as a group of divers doing a typical recreational dive. Their dive took little time, so they surfaced long before the regular dive group. That put the captain in a dilemma, because it is strictly forbidden for a boat to leave with its divers still in the water. (In a normal DCS case, the DCS occurs at the end of a dive, not the beginning.)

Please remember that this thread is not about that case, which was discussed at great length when it happened.

Blaming IWR for her death is ridiculous. The 300ft "plan" and massive omitted deco is where the blame lies here.

 

[KeithG]

Maybe in Cozumel or the Channel Islands.

When you're on Lake Huron and the time-to-treat in the nearest chamber in Detroit is 8 hours on a good day perhaps getting back in and doing some extra deco is wise. Anywhere on north Vancouver Island you are 12+ hours from a chamber. In Seattle, with one of the best equipped and staffed chambers (willing to treat divers) you are looking at 4+hrs to treat. If you are out on the Olympic peninsula you're a ferry and a ton of traffic away and ~10hrs to treatment is the norm not the exception. If you only have some joint pain fine, if you surface with neuro symptoms sure it could be a stroke. You gotta make a decision based on the profile and exposure how to proceed because you could very well die or be maimed while on your way to care. Or you can get back in and try self treating (and you still might die, but probably not from the treatment itself).

Are these boats equipt for IWR?