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On Sat, 7 May 1994, Epic Dive Shop wrote: > yeah it all comes together... and adds up to what i call "mental stamina", > might say "sensory adatpation" contributes as well... > > on decent lets say "all-of-the-above" contributes to the narcosis, upon > reaching the buzz one either accepts it and realizes he\she will live and > goes on with the dive thus overcoming the "mind killer" fear... at this > point the narc is in the background and the diver concentrates on the > goal of the dive (hopefully any diver at this depth *will* have a goal > in mind): walaha, mental stamina prevails. > > or: the diver thinks about all the things that *might* go wrong; air > supply, reg malfunction, black out, large hungry fish, ufo's that want > to take someone back to thier planet, their sister ending up with their > new porsche if they don't get back to the boat... you get the picture, > and the narc grows... EXPOTENTIALLY. (physology: increased respiration, > adrenalin and co2.. opnions here please, on what, if any, affect these > combined may have) I agree that having a goal and/or specific task helps keep the narcosis from becoming overwhelming. I also agree that "mental stamina" plays an important role. And I agree that a vicious cycle of narcosis-> problems -> panic -> narcosis, etc., etc. can easily develop in undertrained & inexperienced deep divers. However, this isn't exactly what I was refering to. Some people (myself included) have a few moments of minimal or virtually no narcosis immediately upon reaching depth after a direct descent (to, say, 200 ft. on air), and then the narcosis GRADUALLY increases over the course of the dive at a steady, almost linear rate (controling for levels of exertion, stress, etc. - factors with more direct affects on narcosis intensity). No panic or fear or confusion or anything like that involved. To me, this seems intuitive for how narcosis should become manifest - gradually increasing throughout the dive as more nitrogen gets into more tissues and hinders more neural transmissions. (BTW, by "gradual" I mean over the course of 10-15 minutes....) However, there also seems to be a common pattern of individuals who experience the strongest narcosis immediately upon descent, and then 'clear up' throughout the course of the dive. I think your explanation of "mental stamina" and focusing on a particular task may well account for this. Because it seems to be a fairly consistent pattern (regardless of experience level, tasks, etc.), I have been seeking a more physiological explanation (rather than just psychological). I thought the blood pooling hypothesis might have been a good one, but thus far it doesn't seem to be receiving a lot of support from the medical experts here. > i agree with everyone that "you get what you expect", and the more you > experience the effect of narcosis the more you *learn* to deal with it, > this is not saying that you physologically adapt, i'm not sure on that > one yet. i think there are too many if's in that area, and too many > factors that change from day to day and from diver to diver... I fully agree! I have strong reason to believe that most of the "adaption" to narcosis is really "learning to deal with a messed-up brain". On the other hand, I had a very interesting discussion with Sheck Exley last January wherein he shared some experiences which suggest there really is a physiological adaptation (based largely on his experiences with symptoms of HPNS on his ultra-deep dives with relation to the level of "short-term" narcosis adaption). He explained a hypothesis involving cellular-level responses to repeated exposures of high PPN2 & PPHe, but I can't recall the specifics. > lastly on the subject of mental stamnia... "argue for your limitations > and they will become yours" Amen. Aloha, Rich
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