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INTRODUCTION:
Last October I was bent after doing decompression diving on air. Overall,
I'd say that the incident was caused by my poor attitude about undertaking
a risky activity. I'm posting this report primarily in the hope that my
experience will help someone else. I'd also like to see your comments. I
would appreciate it if people with access to decompression programs would
run the profiles and give me some feeling for how safe/dangerous they were.
I'll be able to use your feedback in a talk I'm giving at the upcoming
SeaViews show in Oakland California.
MY BACKGOUND:
I had an advanced NAUI certification with 140 logged dives, 10 to over 130
feet, and 3 years experience diving in similar conditions.
DIVES AND SYMPTOMS:
I dove two dives on air, timed according to what I believed was
conservative use of my computer. The first dive was multilevel to a maximum
of 170 feet requiring 11 minutes of decompression and a total dive time of
48 minutes. The second dive was also multilevel to a maximum of 60 feet
with a total dive time of 42 minutes. An hour surface interval separated
the two. The water temperature was approximately 52 degrees F, normal for
this region, and didn't make me particularly cold. I underwent moderate
exertion during underwater swims back to shore. I drank water before,
between, and after the dives to remain hydrated. Contrary to my usual
practice, I was drinking alcohol the night before, and was slightly hung
over that morning. (Note that my profiles were reconstructed from my dive
plan, slate notes, and memory. I didn't have a profile recorder.) My first
dive profile was as follows:
time depth status
(min) (ft)
0 0 start dive. computer clean.
descend quickly to max depth.
2 160 level off.
6 170 drift down then up.
12 160 start ascent ~40 fpm.
computer indicates 11 min deco starting at 30'.
14 80 level off for 2 minutes at "deep stop".
16-24 80-40 sight-seeing while slowly ascending.
computer stays at 11 min deco.
24-25 40 wait till clear 30 foot stop on computer.
ascend ~45fpm.
25-27 30 wait till clear 20 foot stop on computer.
ascend ~45fpm.
27-29 20 pause at 20'.
29-43 17-12 slowly ascend towards 10' stop.
clear deco requirement at ~39 min.
43-48 25-10 swim to shore along bottom. moderate exertion.
48 0 end dive. exit onto beach.
One hour to 1.25 hour surface interval between dives. My second dive
profile was as follows:
time depth status
(min) (ft)
0 0 swim out and start dive.
computer indicates 45 min available at 60'.
1 40 quick descent to 40'.
1-32 40-60-40 slow profile from 40' down to 60 and up to 40'.
computer never indicates <12 min remaining till
deco during dive.
32-42 40-15 swim to shore along gently sloping bottom.
moderate exertion.
42 0 end dive. exit to beach.
My symptoms (following the second dive) were as follows:
time symptom
(hours)
-1 hour "not quite right" feeling after first dive.
10 min. minor elbow niggle after second dive.
elbow feels stiff and a little painful inside.
minor shoulder "niggle". shoulder feels a little painful inside.
1-2 drove home. moderate fatigue during drive.
4-5 hip joint pain. increases steadily in severity.
feels like its inside the joint.
elbow and shoulder pain start again.
5 contacted DAN and started entry into medical system.
became nervous. becoming difficult to concentrate.
7-8 pain starting in many locations in body. rash on forehead.
very difficult to concentrate. delayed reactions to questions.
felt like I was deteriorating rapidly in the last half hour
before entering chamber
TREATMENT:
By calling DAN, I was directed to a nearby hyperbaric chamber. I underwent
four chamber treatments in all, separated by 12 hours each: all for 90
minutes at 2.6 ata (53 fsw) pure oxygen. Before entering the chamber for
the first time I was getting really scared. I was starting to hurt all over
and it was getting difficult to remain in touch with what was happening
around me. After 30 minutes in the chamber I felt much better. At the
conclusion of my chamber ride I felt very sore with joint pain in various
parts of my body, but I could think clearly and I felt the pain in fewer
places. The next morning I again felt pain starting in many areas of my
body and needed to be driven to the hospital. I started to worry that day
that I might not recover. After all, I had already been on two chamber
rides and expected to feel mostly cured. As the treatments went on, I felt
better after each one. Finally, a day or two after the last I had a few
very painful spots but felt I could survive. I noticed what I presume was
minor pulmonary oxygen toxicity during the treatment. I would come out of
the chamber with a cough and a feeling that my throat and lungs were
irrated. These symptoms got worse after each ride, but only to the point
that they were annoying, never that I had trouble breathing.
After four chamber rides many but not all of my symptoms were gone. Two
weeks later virtually all of my symptoms were gone. After a months time out
of the water, I was able to resume regular diving. Now, four months after
the accident, I feel fully recovered except for occasional short lived pain
in various parts of my body.
There were a few aspects of the medical treatment that I disagreed with.
First of all was the delay between when I arrived at the hospital and I was
placed in the chamber. When I entered the hospital through the emergency
entrance, the emergency room would not let me walk to the pulmonary lab for
treatment. About 1 to1.5 hours were wasted waiting for the emergency room
to sort out (their) confusion, before I could go down to the chamber and be
treated. During that time I got much worse. Second, I was not given any
oxygen while waiting for chamber treatment. When I asked about it, I was
told that "it didn't really help".
CONCLUSIONS:
I feel the primary cause was a poor attitude I had about undertaking a
risky activity. Basically I didn't believe that I would (could?) get bent,
so didn't take proper precautions. Some contributing factors were:
1. Denial of symptoms and delaying treatment. There was a chamber 20
minutes drive from the dive site. I have insurance. Rather than going to
the chamber after I felt symptoms I chose to drive home. My reasons were
(pick one): It can't be me, I don't want to go through all the hassle, I'll
just wait a while and maybe it will go away. (This makes me mad because
I've been told about denial and "promised" myself I wouldn't do this.)
2. Using the wrong equipment. My computer wasn't intended for deep diving
or repetitive dives after a decompression dive. The manufacturer states in
the instruction book that its database is incomplete in these areas. I read
the book when I purchased the computer but (conviently) forgot about its
limitations before starting decompression diving. (I won't mention the
brand because I believe it isn't relevant to the discussion. It isn't a
model that techdiver divers seem to be recommending.)
3. Drinking the night before. This is the first time I ever did this before
diving. While I didn't feel particularly bad before the dive I certainly
didn't feel 100%.
4. Pushing my limits. I had done the 160 foot deco dive several times
before. I sometimes felt "not quite right" afterwards. This was the first
time that I did a second dive. The conditions were excellent that day, the
computer said "OK", so I went in again.
5. Lack of technical training. Perhaps this would have made me more aware
of important factors/procedures.
Oliver
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