Decompression Sickness

Decompression Sickness and the diver
Most of the air we breathe consists of nitrogen. The deeper you travel underwater, the more nitrogen dissolves in your blood and fatty tissues. Consequently, if you remain underwater for too long and then return to the surface too quickly, your blood will be unable to contain the excess gas. The resulting bubbles that occur in your blood could block vital arteries, causing varying degrees of damage due to blockage. This condition is known as decompression sickness (dcs), or the Bends. If you are aware of the symptoms and adhere to the guidelines, the chances of getting it are minimal.

Safe Planning
Take care to plan every dive. Know the depth to which you will travel and the maxium time you will stay down. The longer and deeper your dive, the more risk of Dcs. Your deepest dive should be your first of the day, and any successive dives shallower. Ascend slowly, 15m (50ft) per minute is recommended-the speed of your slowest breath exhaust bubbles.

Symptoms
Most of the symptoms of Decompression Sickness appear within the first hour of you coming back to surface. However, some may take up to 24 hours to appear. Symptoms are wide ranging and variable. Those that you must be able to recognize include:
Aches and pains in your joints, especially your shoulders and knees.
Rashes or swellings.
Nausea and Vomiting.
Numbness and Tingling.
Difficulty with Breathing or Standing.
Confusion, Convulsions, Paralysis.
Unconsciousness.

Know your limits
All those responsible for divers must be acquainted with Decompression tables. To plan dives safely and avoid DCS, tables or a dive computer must be used. These tell you how long you can safely stay under without doing decompression stops. Astop of at least one minute at 20 ft on your ascend is recommended, to allow the elimination of nitrogen. Ideally, sport divers should not do dives that require longer stops.

Treatment and the Chamber
Any diver who shows symptoms of DCS or burst lung, must be taken to a chamber. Transport chambers are now available so that divers may be taken, under pressure, to the larger chambers. The only effective way to treat DCS is in a Decompression chamber. The patient breathes oxygen using a mask, and is recompressed. They are then gradually decompressed back to normal atmospheric pressure so that the nitrogen bubbles do not reappear.

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