Diving and medicine

OK, at the risk of having to do some work, how about we pick a topic in diving and medicine, and all talk about it. Everyone has an issue with what some uninformed medical person told you about diving, or not being able to. For example, know what the official DAN policy is about diving and pregnancy? Don't do it. Know why? Cause "we don't know".
How about the big 3D for starters. Drinking, Diving and Dehydration. Any takers?

Oooooh some serious diving and medicine related discussions!!! Thanks Doc...
-ww

How about the big 3D for starters. Drinking, Diving and Dehydration. Any takers?

I'll bite....so more and more I'm discovered very experienced divers who are NOT violating tables....they are NOT diving aggressively or even that deep...nor are they necessarily doing repetitive dives....however they are coming up bent.

One factor that seems to be in common is either sleep deprivation and/or dehydration. In fact...on my last dive trip I had a 7am dive that I aborted because I had less then 3 hours of sleep and even though I was well hydrated...I was spooked due to recent diving incidents I've seen entailing the same or very similar situations.

To your knowledge...are they finally tying DCS to dehydration and sleep deprivation?

OK, at the risk of having to do some work, how about we pick a topic in diving and medicine, and all talk about it. Everyone has an issue with what some uninformed medical person told you about diving, or not being able to. For example, know what the official DAN policy is about diving and pregnancy? Don't do it.  Know why? Cause "we don't know". 
How about the big 3D for starters.  Drinking, Diving and Dehydration. Any takers?

I am old school on the drinking, dehydration, and diving. I happen to follow my IANTD training which basically says that your risk of DCS goes up as you get dehydradated. There are myraid reasons for that, but the simplist way that I know of to look at it is that the with less fluid, you have less blood flow (thicker plasma, basically). With less blood flow, your ability to off-gas nitrogen is decreased. Hence, vacation diving where people are generally not taking as good of care of themselves as they should to begin with is NOT the time to be pushing tables and dive computers (although many of us do it). Water and juice on a dive boat is a god send for that reason. I normally bring two full jugs of water with me on a dive boat in case the captain doesn't have any water available.

Caffiene and alcohol are no-no's, but I am guilty of being a caffiene addict. Caffiene will tend to dehydrate a diver, though.

Alcohol has other factors, but dehydration is the biggest reason DCS wise that my first drink of the day signals that I have had my last dive of the day. I also try to keep my alcohol comsumption down to a moderate amount for that reason. I don't drink much anymore in any case. I also don't like the fact of diving with impaired judgement. That is a really not a cool idea. If something does happen down there, I need to be able to think my way out of it and if I am wall diving, I may be slightly narc'ed to boot. I like to get photos of the big fish at the start of a dive and they like to hang out deep.

That would be my beginning contribution to this topic.

Edited by Diverbrian, 10 April 2004 - 11:17 PM.

How about the big 3D for starters.  Drinking, Diving and Dehydration. Any takers?

I'll bite....so more and more I'm discovered very experienced divers who are NOT violating tables....they are NOT diving aggressively or even that deep...nor are they necessarily doing repetitive dives....however they are coming up bent.

One factor that seems to be in common is either sleep deprivation and/or dehydration. In fact...on my last dive trip I had a 7am dive that I aborted because I had less then 3 hours of sleep and even though I was well hydrated...I was spooked due to recent diving incidents I've seen entailing the same or very similar situations.

To your knowledge...are they finally tying DCS to dehydration and sleep deprivation?

They have been making those tie-ins for a while. I need to dig out my tech diver's encyclopedia, but the medical articles can't seem to go a paragraph without mentioning how well hydrated the diver is and any form of stress will contribute as well. Sleep deprivation counts as a form of stress, so be sure to get your beauty sleep. (Not that most of the ladies here need that to be good-looking ).

To your knowledge...are they finally tying DCS to dehydration and sleep deprivation?

Uh, I think that increased risk from dehydration has been well established for a long time. I've only been diving 3 years now, but I've heard this from the go. And it's pretty logical, I think...

The more dehydrated the diver, the less the total blood volume to handle the increased N2 load, therefore the more concentrated the N2, and the more chance of too much. Am I right on that, Doc, or is that too basic?

My buddy Jer has seen me party many times, dive a few times, and he'll support that it's like I'm different people. When I'm diving, no party.

And I work at hydrating. Since I never sweat when I'm diving, I don't feel thirst, but I know that I'm peeing, so - I remind myelf to drink. And I am a coffee hound, but I take DeCaf on boats now, along with High Sodium/High Potasium drinks.

Am I on the right track here, or do I need redirection...?

...sleep deprivation...

This is not so direct, is it - having to do more with the general ability of the body to function at it's best...?


thanks, don

Edited by DandyDon, 11 April 2004 - 12:40 AM.

I always drink tons of water when diving and try to get a good nights sleep. On a live aboard after doing 5 dives it's usually no problem getting a good nights sleep. The problem I have is drinking all that water makes me want to pee. Which brings up the fact that there are two types of divers: those that pee in there wet suits and those that lie.

- Chuck

Chuck,

That's not a fact, that's an opinion based on no evidence.

Walter

Walter,

You know I think there was a smiley after that so maybe I was joking?

- Chuck

Chuck, I was teasing you too.

I always drink tons of water when diving and try to get a good nights sleep. On a live aboard after doing 5 dives it's usually no problem getting a good nights sleep. The problem I have is drinking all that water makes me want to pee. Which brings up the fact that there are two types of divers: those that pee in there wet suits and those that lie.

- Chuck

What about divers like me? I dive dry most of the time and I am NOT going in my drysuit if there is any way around it . I have actually had a dive buddy call the dive after 50 minutes because we were both in cold water and she had to go. I didn't figure out what her hand signal as to reason meant until we got topside, but I understood the thumb's up well enough. It was all that I could do to keep a straight face when she told me the reason for it.

I guess thats why they call it a dry suit.

I always drink tons of water when diving and try to get a good nights sleep. On a live aboard after doing 5 dives it's usually no problem getting a good nights sleep. The problem I have is drinking all that water makes me want to pee. Which brings up the fact that there are two types of divers: those that pee in there wet suits and those that lie.

- Chuck

No matter how hard I try, I CANNOT pee in my wetsuit. I can't even pee in the ocean. It's a mental block or something

Some of us are potty trained better than others. Don't sweat it, Jennifer, it's a disgusting practice anyway. You might want to work on the ocean aspect, some boats don't have heads.

Some of us are potty trained better than others. Don't sweat it, Jennifer, it's a disgusting practice anyway. You might want to work on the ocean aspect, some boats don't have heads.

I KNOW, Walter, sometimes those rough rides back in are a killer! I think I will blame my mom today when I see her. It must've been that potty training!