On Fri, 29 Nov 2002 09:30:20 -0000, Carol Reid <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Hi Bob,
>
>I read your Google report with interest and was surprised to see that the
>hyperbaric physician said a CHAMBER diagnosis is the only way to ascertain
>whether a diver has been hit.

Because that was a "freak accident" in which the PAIN persisted after
a day and no bruise appeared!  This was the situation 12 years ago:

>> For detail about that story, written up in Scuba-L in 1992, go to the
>> "advanced search" in http://groups.google.com, and specify
>>
>> ONLY author =       reef fish
>> and keyword =       Miami chamber Table 5 recompression schedule

----------  excerpt from post in 1992 -------------
My wife had such an experience about two years ago.  After a relatively
short dive of max. 71 ft., she experienced a sharp pain in her elbow the
INSTANT she hit the water on the second dive (from a dive boat in the
Florida Keys).  She didn't tell me until after that dive, and both of us
thought her elbow must have accidentally hit some hard object.  When no
bruise appeared the next morning and her elbow pain persisted, we consulted
DAN which referred us to a chamber physician in Miami.  Given the dive
profiles and the oddity of the elbow-pain appearing exactly at the instant
she entered water from the boat made me assess the probability of a DCS hit
no more than one chance in a million.  Nevertheless, DCS is a POSSIBILITY,
however remote, and the physician gave essentially the advice I paraphrased
in the preceding paragraph.  Risk adverse that we were, I took her to the
Miami chamber.  The physician put her through a Table 5 recompression
schedule (which lasted approx. two and a half hours).  When her elbow pain
did not improve, we then knew FOR SURE that it was NOT DCS.  He then took a
series of X-rays of the elbow and found no fracture of any kind.  The
entire DIAGNOSTIC TEST came to a total bill of several thousand dollars,
with the final diagnosis and treatment, "no DCS, no fracture;  take two
asprins."  -- that's exactly what happened.  To this day, nobody knew what
happened or what caused her elbow pain (which eventually went away a week
or so later), but for a recompression in a chamber (possibly the same
schedule for a known DCS hit), we KNEW it WASN'T a DCS hit.   :-)
----------  end excerpt from 1992 post ----------

Note added 2002:   It actually cost us only several hundred dollars because
we didn't have DAN insurance at the time and our primary insurance didn't
cover all of the expenses.  We have had DAN insurance ever since.  DAN
is a SECONDARY insurance which would have covered the entire amount
the PRIMARY insurance didn't cover.  So, if that chamber ride had
occurred after we had DAN insurance, it would have cost us nothing.


>OK I know I'm Scottish but would a few breaths of O2 not have been a cheaper
>way :-)  to find out whether the pain was caused by DCI.
>However, I dunno if "pain" is same as "numbness" AFA DCI diagnosis is
>concerned.
>My own case of "numbness/tingling" disappeared after about 5 mins on O2 -
>all three times!
>Whether the chamber then effected a cure is a moot point!

I can't answer that question other than saying that may well be the
case of the "usual" symptoms, but whether further treatment is needed,
I don't know.  A hyperbaric physician would have to the one to make
the call.

I had one case of symptoms of "subclinical bends" and I went to
the Cozumel chamber for DIAGNOSIS.  I was given a "treatment"
of 10 minutes of O2 and released.  But that was an entirely
different situation.

This one is much easier to retrieve.  The relevant excerpts are:

--------- excerpt from  my Cozumel chamber visit post ----------
And so it came to pass, that on a three-week trip in Coz in 1977 when
I decided to do a systematic survey of the deep WALL along the usual
sites dived by all divers, for 20 consecutive days, I dove to an
AVERAGE MAX depth of 197 fsw on the first dive.  :-)  Actually they
were more or less around 199 fsw.

By the 19th day, I was beginning to feel some sub-clinical symptoms
of DCS -- extreme fatique and some shoulder aches after the 2nd
dive.  But both quickly dissipated.  When the SAME symptoms were
there on the 20th and last day of my diving, I walked to the Cozumel
hyperbaric chamber a block away, with my laptop containing ALL my
detailed profiles (in case needed) to have myself checked out.

The subclinical DCS symptoms were so mild that the physician went
through the pins and needles check and gave me a 10-minute shot of
O2 and told me I was as good as gnu.  :-)

It has dawned on me since that by turned the computer off PREMATURELY
thinking it was cleared, I was TRUNCATING the model where it monitored
the SLOWEST tissue groups, and over a period of 20 consecutive days
of such diving, it FINALLY showed that good ole' ORCA was doing it's
job when I started to get some subclinical DCS symptoms, by having
(unwittingly) ignored the cleanance times of the slowest compartments!

Since that time, I've NEVER turned my ORCA computers off until they
show  "turn me off" indicating clearance.  In all my liveaboard diving,
they have NOT shown a "turn me off" during any of the 5 days.  :-)))
----------- end excerpt from my 2002 post ----------

See the full post (about OTHER issues) by clicking:

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-- Bob.