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JR Oldroyd
>
[ ... brief overview of AquaCorps N5 "Bent" articles elided ... ]
> These articles make one point: that in-water treatment can and does save
> lives. One of the articles indicates that treatment in ANY case of DCI
> should be commenced within 5 minutes of the onset of symptoms, because
> this greatly increases the effectiveness of all subsequent treatment.
I'm not sure from whence this magic number comes. I could as easily
say that treatment commenced within one hour or even 24 hours greatly
increases the effectiveness of all subsequent treatment. Sooner is
better, yes, but IMHO the downsides of improper inwater recompression
far outweigh the upsides.
> In some cases, it
> may be necessary to reimmerse on oxygen to 50m; in other cases, 9m
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Surely this is a typo.
> To me, this reinforces the need to carry supplementary oxygen tanks that
> are not considered to be part of the dive plan.
I'm not opposed to this as an idea, but I would like to highlight the
practical considerations. A few sentences ago you stated:
> [...] highlight the need
> for divers to understand the physiology of nitrogen absorbtion, and the
> need to have to ability to determine the most appropriate course of
> treatment for the problem that you have encountered. There is no
> simple treatment plan that will guarantee a cure.
And then proceeded to make what I must assume is a typo about a 50m
pure O2 recompression. This simple mistake points out (to me, at
least) the ease with which mistakes can be made, and the potential
fatality of those mistakes in the case of inwater O2 recompression.
I certainly don't expect the vast majority of "technical" divers who
dive without major logistical surface support to be able to make such
a decision "within 5 minutes of the onset of symptoms?"
> I submit, and I counter Bill
> Mayne's point in an earlier article, here, that NONE of us here really
> do dive sufficiently close to a recompression chamber to be able to rely
> on making it to the chamber for treatment.
I submit the following three items in response:
1) I believe most of us can rely on making it to a chamber for
treatment. Some of us do most of our diving within 10 minutes drive
of a chamber (e.g., Monterey Bay area.) I also draw your attention to
the most recent Alert Diver and an article in which DAN describes
several anecdotes from widely varying locales in which the victim of
DCI received treatment within one hour of symptom onset.
2) I believe that in all likelihood everyone reading this message is
unqualified to perform emergency in-water recompression.
3) Finally, a one-hour wait on oxygen for professional chamber
recompression treatment is less likely to have deleterious
consequences than an improperly administered inwater recompression.
> I would much prefer to have
> the option of commencing a treatment program myself, than to not be
> prepared to do so, and be forced to suffer potentially dehabilitating
> consequences.
I agree, but I believe the only treatment program suitable for
layperson administration is surface O2.
The only in-water recompression procedure I would consider is one
utilizing pure O2, such as Dr. Edmonds', but I do not believe it to be
practical except in extremely remote locales. I believe his article
makes the same point: when transportation is available, the victim
should be transported, not recompressed.
Cheers,
David Story NAUI AI Z9588, PADI DM 43922, EMT
story@be*.wp*.sg*.co* Oxygen is a drug in California.
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