Preventing the ‘bends’
PAYING ATTENTION to proper diving protocols can and has been making the difference for trained and certified divers as against those who are expert divers but have had no formal training, according to information provided by the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, which is under the direction of the Centre for Marine Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus.
Decompression Sickness (DCS) or the ‘bends’ as the condition is commonly referred to, can be prevented or the risk reduced by safe diving practices and is rarely seen in trained and certified recreational or commercial divers, about 10-15 per cent, compared with more than 80 per cent of those with limited or no formal training.
Members of the latter group put themselves at risk, by diving well outside industry standards and recommended safety limits, which is reflected in the 80 per cent of the reported DCS cases. These unsafe practices are inclusive of but not limited to the direct use of compressors (hookah), doing multiple successive dives, spending too long at depths and surfacing took quickly.
“Consequently, the victim may start experiencing a range of symptoms immediately or up to 40 hours after surfacing, starting from extreme tiredness, tingling and numbness, nausea, sudden vision and hearing loss, to loss of consciousness, paralysis or even death,” according to a release from the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory.
With these in mind, it has sent out some basic tips which scuba/hookah divers should follow during and after their dives, to avoid or minimise the risk of experiencing decompression sickness.
Outreach officer for the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, Delroy Thorney, explained that though treatment in a hyperbaric chamber may relieve much of the patient’s discomfort and greatly increase their chances of survival, depending on the severity of their symptoms, treatment in the chamber does not always result in full recovery.
“Therefore, it is highly recommended that divers stay well within their limits and dive conservatively. For suspected cases of decompression sickness (DCS) if you experience abnormal feelings after a dive, do not go back into the water to decompress. Instead, the diver should go immediately to the nearest hospital, breathe high-flow oxygen and contact the UWI, Discovery Bay Marine Lab’s hyperbaric treatment facility.