As soon as I sent that loooooong email I knew this would happen -
people would just skim through it or not read it at all  (I know 'coz I'm
guilty of doing it to long emails)   :-)  ...
     Well I wasn't asking for a medical opinion - I did write in my email
that I called up the Singapore Hyperbaric Centre (listed in the DAN card)
and talked to a doctor. I just wanted to hear the experiences of divers
here - how you guys coped up with 'slight' DCS-like symptoms ? If you guys
call up DAN at the slightest hint of a symptom (becoming too paranoid) or
if you guys wait for a few days (becoming too complacent) etc ....

- Angelo






                    Chuck
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                    Sent by:              Subject:     Re: [SCUBA-SE] DCS experiences (less
                    SouthEast US          severe ones)
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                    14/09/01 06:28
                    PM
                    Please respond
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Call DAN.  This is not the place to get a medical opinion.  Not that you
wont get some but there are probably not a lot of qualified hyperbaric
doctors on the list.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Angelo Pardinas" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 12:56 AM
Subject: [SCUBA-SE] DCS experiences (less severe ones)


> Hi list,
>
>      The list has been understandably quiet for some days now, I'm pretty
> sure all of us has been pretty shocked by what happened to the U.S. Let
us
> continue praying for the souls of those who perished and for those who
are
> still trapped in the rubble that they may be rescued in time.
>
>     Anyway, I again need to ask something dive-related. How many of you
> guys here have had DCS ? I'm especially curious to those who had the
> less-severe DCS with less symptoms. Reason I'm asking was that I just had
a
> DCS-scare. I think I had a paranoia attack where I thought that I had DCS
> due to my dives last Sept. 1-2. I know that it's been a long time (about
12
> days) but the thing is - I had a nagging slight dull ache in my shoulder
> since that dive. Plus I always felt sleepy and exhausted.
>     These are the only 2 "symptoms" that I had and hence the problem in
> determining whether I have DCS.
>
>     Let me give you a background of my dive :
>         1. Left Singapore Aug. 31 (Fri) night (around 8:30 pm) and rode
via
> a cramp van to Mersing, Malaysia for a ferry ride. The van ride was about
4
> hrs. with a 30 min. dinner-stopover in-between.
>         2. At Mersing (12:30 pm) we carried our heavy dive gears (I
carried
> the gears for me and my gf plus some other 'extra' gears brought by the
> dive shop) from the van to the ferry. We rode the ferry 'till 4:30 am
> (Sat.) to Pulau Dayang where we will dive - I had some sleep during the
> ferry ride.
>         3. Arriving at Dayang, carried our gears to the room. Prepared
some
> stuff and then went to sleep. At 8 am we woke up, had breakfast and then
> did 3 dives during the day.
>         4. Slept around 10 pm then woke up at 7 am (Sun) for 2 more dives
> 'till 12:00 pm. 2 dives were kinda exhausting since there was a slight
> current. Lunch, rinse dive gear, pack up, carry stuff to ferry which left
> at 1:30 pm for Mersing (6 pm).
>        5. Carry stuff from ferry to van. Ride back to Singapore. Arrive
at
> home about 11:30 pm then rinse dive gears again 'till about 1 am then
sleep
> 'coz need to go to work.
>
>     So base on this, I would really feel exhausted and sleepy plus my
> shoulder muscles would really get sore 'coz of the stuff I had to carry.
I
> also had a dislocated shoulder when I was in high school, which makes my
> left shoulder more prone to aching and soreness than my right - and if I
> carried stuff the wrong way my left shoulder would have sharp pains. Ever
> since that dive, I had been so busy at work (even working on a Saturday)
> and had several things to do that I really had no time to rest. I haven't
> had a day where I woke up without the alarm clock ringing. So then, how
> would I know if the 'symptoms' that I had were due to DCS or just pure
> exhaustion and heat ?
>
>    Anyway I did call up the Singapore Hyperbaric centre for an
appointment.
> They referred me first to a doctor for a preliminary 'phone' diagnosis -
> after several questions over the phone the doctor said that I don't have
> DCS. He said that if I had DCS the shoulder pain would've gotten worse.
And
> I would've noticed it getting worse especially 1 - 2 days after the dive.
>
>    I want to know if you guys (or your friends) ever had DCS whose
symptoms
> were so slight that you did not take notice at first ? How did the you
(or
> the doctor) finally recognize this as DCS ? I'm more curious of these
less
> severe DCS - I mean hey, if I fainted, had a severe headache and kept
> throwing up or had severe joint pains there would no doubt that I had
DCS -
> no questions asked. But for slight symptoms - how would I know ?
>
>
> - Angelo
>