Have you always thought "What actually makes people more susceptible to Decompression Sickness DCS?"
A question that is more frequently asked nowadays with the increasing incidence of DCS amongst professional and recreational scuba divers? It would take more than an article to answer this question so; I will only mention some of the more important factors in this article.
Generally, any physiological or environmental factor that increases the uptake (absorption) of the inert gas (which is mainly nitrogen) of the breathing mixture during compression or hinders its elimination during decompression, is a risk factor.
At least one time, we all have experienced the feeling of dizziness, giddiness, unsteadiness, or lightheadedness. We understand that all these syllables would mean some kind of body balance disturbance. The causes of such disturbances are diverse ranging from simple and well known causes to most of us like low blood pressure, low blood glucose level, fever, sea sickness, electrolyte imbalance and gastro- intestinal problems to a serious number of central and peripheral nervous system illnesses.
Diving Physicians world wide would recommend applying one or a few of the following approaches for people who would like to eventually end in a recompression chamber:
O. A. was a Technical Diving Instructor with several years of experience in teaching all levels of technical diving. The events leading to his tragic death started on Saturday, the 27th December 2008, when he made a Trimix dive to the depth of 100 meters in the area of Marsa Alam in order to locate the body of a dead friend. This dive itself went uneventful and O. A. was successful in locating the body of his friend which he intended to retrieve the following day.
During the last two weeks, six cases of Skin Decompression Sickness were reported to our chambers, in four of these cases, skin bends (Type I) were described to be the only symptom and in the other two cases it was associated with the more serious neurological DCS (Type II). These divers had variations in their body fat content, their ages and sexes, they had variable times of onset of the rash, variable dive profiles and diving experience; but they all reported conducting 2- 3 dives a day for a few days in more than 20 meters of water in all exposures.
Decompression sickness (DCS) is a syndrome that follows the reduction in environmental pressure massively or rapidly enough to cause the formation of bubbles from gases already dissolved within body tissues. It represents one of the many man made illnesses though; its exact nature is still not fully understood.
Any pregnant woman who would not take any medication or may even avoid drinking coffee in order to protect her baby (fetus) from any unknown risk, will still ask if it is safe to dive during pregnancy?
As a matter of fact, research on humans is quite defective regarding the direct effect of diving on the fetus, being a passive passenger at depth. Still most workers investigating DCS and fetal risk agree that the fetus is not at increased risk.
Recreational divers frequently return home after diving holidays by air.
Divers using compressed gases for breathing under water will have an excess of nitrogen or any other inert gas dissolved within their body tissues after each dive for a considerable amount of time (known as the supersaturation period). Flying shortly after diving puts the diver under increased risk of Decompression Sickness (DCS) since flying is known to decreases the pressure to which the body is exposed. (the same effect as ascending to an altitude shortly after diving).
Dehydration (the decrease of the fluid content of the body) is one of the major predisposing factors in the occurrence of Decompression Sickness (DCS) as it renders the blood more viscous. This condition reduces perfusion of tissues interfering with the effective elimination of inert gas from the body.
During diving there is a continuous loss in body fluids due to three factors:
Is the child a small adult when it comes to diving?
Definitely not.
Participation of children in Scuba diving is growing every year. Instructors, dive masters, parents and pediatricians are all in growing need to understand the physiological differences between children and adults that relate specifically to scuba diving.
Apnea is a state in which one ceases to breathe either voluntarily as in case of breath-hold diving, or involuntarily.
Man has recognized breath-hold diving as one of the earliest professions in history when ancient Egyptians, Greeks & south-east Asians dived for sponges, pearls & corals.
The diver submerges under water after taking one or many deep breaths then submerges holding his breath the act that does not mean that he does not breathe at all as the 2 processes of cellular & pulmonary respiration (oxygen consumption & carbon dioxide production) continue or even accelerate as a result of physical activity, cold exposure or raised pressure.
In simple words, Asthma precipitates as a result of an increase in airway resistance developing from varying degrees of bronchospasm, which is narrowing of the respiratory tract. i.e., air meets resistance during inhalation and more commonly during exhalation.
