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>From: ddoolett@me*.ad*.ed*.au* (David Doolette) > >During longer push dives into caves here divers rehydrate during the swim, >as we may be faced with 2-4 hours swimming. Any flexible bag with a tube >that can be closed works well, I have seen the camelbacks that Christina >mentioned in an outdoor shop, and they look ideal, but have not seen them >used. An i.v. bag and giving set with the drip chamber removed works well, >but unfortunately the solution plasticises, picking up a nauseating taste >from the bag. This is unfortunate because a sterile 5% glucose solution >that you can get in these bags would be useful, providing some 're-carbing' >during prolonged exercise, reducing hypotonic diuresis, and the bags can be >cached in the caves without growing bugs. They can be emptied and easily >refilled with your own drink through the giving set by starting a siphon >(stick the tube in the drink, put the bag down lower and pull the sides >apart to create some suction). The solution remains drinkable for a couple >hours. The bladder from a wine cask (do they have these outside of An i.v. bag sounds a great idea! Can non-medicos get them anywhere ? I think I would empty the glucose and fill it with something a bit more apetising though! >Australia?) would work well, with the tap modified to take a giving set. >Fruit boxes with straws work well (the fruit juice bags that have been I've tried a fruit box, but found that it is quite difficult to insert the straw when the box becomes soft from immersion. It's like trying to push a straw into a water filled balloon! >described sound better) but you have to drink the whole lot at once. Some >friends of mine had problems with bad buildup of mucus during a dive that >they attributed to drinking from fruit boxes, I cannot imagine why and I >have not had this problem myself, but they are experienced and thoughtful >divers, and this makes their observation credible. Anyway it left them in >some difficulty in descending sufficiently to clear the cave roof to make it >to their air chamber camp after a 2500 metre swim. The issue of mucus build up is interesting. I find that I get significantly more mucus build up diving in fresh water than in salt. I've had my only reverse block during a fresh water (sinkhole) dive after I was totally clear at the start of the dive. We had been doing some mask flood exercises during the dive. Is there an osmotic effect in fresh water which causes mucus to cross the nasal membranes and collect ? This would explain why it occurs in fresh, but not salt water. Is there any way to reduce the build up ? My guess would be to try and avoid getting any water up your nose. Cheers, David. (At last off to do the IANTD Nitrox course this weekend !) ______________________________________________________________________________ David Giddy, | Voice: +61 3 253 6388 Telstra Corporation, | Fax: +61 3 253 6144 P.O. Box 249, Rosebank MDC, 3169, AUSTRALIA | Internet: d.giddy@tr*.oz*.au* ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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