Worst dive so far - Vertigo

[Raystafarian]

My wife experienced barotrauma in her ear on a dive in the keys that resulted in complete vertigo and vomiting somewhere around 30ft - from what I could tell it was god-awful, ended up at the hospital once we were off the boat. From what she describes, I want nothing to do with it underwater.

 

[Mike1967]

I know you should analyse the gas. There wasn’t any available.

Shouldn't have dived then, simple. I bet you never do it again, luckily you get the chance to make the right decision next time.

 

[Raystafarian]

Shouldn't have dived then, simple. I bet you never do it again, luckily you get the chance to make the right decision next time.

I'm not Nitrox certified, in this case would it be that the mix might be poisonous, so you can't just assume it's the highest (safe) concentration?

 

[CT-Rich]

When diving enriched air you get pluses and minuses. The plus is you extend your NDL. the minus is with the higher O2 concentration you have to watch your maximum depth. You will reach a pressure where oxygen will become toxic at much shallower depth. For the dive described he would have been fine breathing just air. He wasn't going to get any of the benefits of diving nitrox one way or the other. It doesn't improve your air consumption or prevent you from peeing in your wetsuit.

The problems the OP had with this dive had pretty much nothing to do with the nitrox. He got vertigo from something.or other. Was it best practices to skip testing the gas with a meter? No, but he knew it was at least 21% or a maximum of 40%. Knowing this, he planned a dive with a conservative max depth. People will often dive Nitrox and tell their computer it is air, to keep them well away from the NDL, an extra margin of safety.

 

[EireDiver606]

Shouldn't have dived then, simple. I bet you never do it again, luckily you get the chance to make the right decision next time.

You’re right you should always analyze gas but I didn’t get vertigo from the gas and I knew it was a max of 40%. What was bad was the fact that you don’t want to build s habit of not analysing.

 

[yle]

I'm not Nitrox certified, in this case would it be that the mix might be poisonous, so you can't just assume it's the highest (safe) concentration?

Simple answer: no, you can't just assume.

There's more to it. Which is why there is a class, and why a shop giving you nitrox should ask to see your nitrox card.

 

[yle]

You’re right you should always analyze gas but I didn’t get vertigo from the gas and I knew it was a max of 40%. What was bad was the fact that you don’t want to build s habit of not analysing.

I'm a bit confused as to how assuming you were breathing 40% (although knowing it was less...) was "safe".

Incidentally, if you had 80 bar of air and topped it off with 120 bar of 40%, a simple weighted average calculation (two parts air at 21% to three parts 40%) would mean your gas was a bit more than 32%.

As others have posted here, always analyze. If you don't, you're rolling the dice and the stakes are very high. People have died due to assumptions of the gas they're breathing.

 

[chillyinCanada]

My wife experienced barotrauma in her ear on a dive in the keys that resulted in complete vertigo and vomiting somewhere around 30ft - from what I could tell it was god-awful, ended up at the hospital once we were off the boat. From what she describes, I want nothing to do with it underwater.

If your wife suffers periodically from vertigo, out of the water as well, potentially she has Menierre's Disease.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I had extreme vertigo a couple weeks ago while posting to SB. I was lying in bed and BAM! I felt like I was a kid again on my sister's Sit-N-Spin. I had never encountered anything like it. Lying down was worse than sitting up and sitting up was bad. Lying down was torture. Any time I was seasick or had a fever lying down helped. I kid you not. I was crying. I just wanted it to stop and it lasted for hours. I was puking a lot. I first thought it was an ear thing then I started to worry I was having a stroke or a brain issue. The next day, it was a bit better, but still fairly wonky. I decided that maybe I had the beginnings of an infection and self-medicated with Cipro and ibuprofen. A day or two later I was fine. It was my only week off from diving. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to do things like go to the mall and get a cheese pretzel like a normal person, but fortunately, it didn't cause me to cancel classes. This week, I'm back underwater teaching trimix and things sound far louder. My first dive I felt a little wonky.

According to my girlfriend, the above happens to her any time she gets an ear infection. She's never cried though. She's tougher than I.

Hopefully that's all it was an not the first bout of Meniere's.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Don't drink so much Trace. It can help if you keep one foot on the floor, whilst laying in the bed.

LOL

Seriously, though, you should bring it up with your doc sooner rather than later.