Yet, another diver dies.. Marathon, FL.

[crispos]

I have an Instructor buddy from the old school who I DM'd for. The first thing he tells the students, who are all geared up and in a semi-circle in the shallow end of the pool:

Don't hold your breath on SCUBA, cause you'll blow your lungs and DIE!

You should have seen their faces....

 

[FreeFloat]

My instructor's favorite phrase, repeated daily, was, "Never, EVER, hold your breath."

 

[crispos]

This post is pretty much filled with misinformation.

Yes, you can embolise from 30 feet, in fact you can do it from about 4 feet. You cannot, however, do it while free diving. Air embolism/lung expansion injury/AGE is caused by the expansion of compressed air within your lungs caused by holding one's breath while ascending.

The "soda can anology" deals with decompression sickness, not AGE/embolism.

I suggest a re-read of your basic scuba textbook.

WW

WW, what I think was being referred to, is the sometimes read/heard advice to not, after scuba diving and becoming N2 saturated, exercise, free dive, or even take a hot shower, etc. The rationale being, that vigorous exercise can assist N2 microbubbles to become actual bubbles. As to the hot shower, I assume that has to do with the effect of blood going to the extremities to assist in heat removal.

As I would enjoy swimming between and after diving, please give us the actual situation here.

P.S. Please send me a free copy of your book on free diving.

 

[crispos]

My instructor's favorite phrase, repeated daily, was, "Never, EVER, hold your breath."

Yes, FF

Also add:

Stop Breathe Think Act
Never Panic

 

[Bob3]

they can't be trolling with info this basic

Hmmm ... what about that el Grande Bean Burrito, those things can cause an overexpansion injury without even needing to be in the water.:devious:

 

[crispos]

His is believed to be the sixth death that occurred in 2003 while the victim was scuba diving (one woman disappeared and is believed dead). One person died while free-diving.

In 2002, there were four apparent scuba-related deaths and two deaths while snorkeling.

***END OF ARTICLE***

We had 11 scuba related fatalities in Canada last year, according to DAN.
That is compared to 3-5 per year from 1998-2002. Have we gotten complacent on this web-site? Quick to point out what went wrong and brag how we would never have done that? Why are ANY scuba diving deaths, acceptable?

I'm going to leave out the high risk, on some sort of pills, heart attack victims.

 

[RiverRat]

Hmmm ... what about that el Grande Bean Burrito, those things can cause an overexpansion injury without even needing to be in the water.:devious:

Yeah, and have a Coke with it, that's the soda can analogy right?

 

[DandyDon]

... but I agree, the lack of knowledge is worrying, especially as RobinHoods profile states he is a DM...

:errrr: We have a practicing DM that didn't know the risk of embolism from 30 feet. :bonk:

Okay, I can see a little chance of confusion - slow ascents are part of decreasing the chance of either Embolism or DCS, but the Pros are really supposed to know the difference, as assistant instructors, aren't they?

In fact you can get an embolism just free diving esp. after a dive because of the soda can analogy - the more up and down or physical exertion you do, the more the Nitrogen bubbles expand and can wreak havock on your body.

:amazed: I make mistakes, and I say things I wish I hadn't, but...?!

Okay, here's a link to a good article on AGE:

http://www.scuba-doc.com/artgsemb.htm

don

 

[rjens]

ok, this was the scariest thread I have ever read on the board. No, not that someone apearently had a heart attack while diving --- but all the future Darwin Award winners that don't know DCS from a hole in their chest. Yikes... :amazed: Just breath in, and breath out, Now isnt that better.

 

[Zippsy]

When I took my OW course a zillion years ago (just after air embolisms were invented), I managed to get only one question wrong on the final PADI exam. It went something like this:

You have the greatest chance of getting an air embolism:
A) moving from 33' to 0'
B) moving from 66' to 33'
C) moving from 99' to 66'
D) moving from 99' to 0'

I obviously chose D figuring that logic over-rules what I read in the book but the instructor (known to be the best town) insisted that the PADI answer was A. I never agreed with it but I never forgot it either.