Posted by North Coast Diver on May 27, 2005 at 19:00:41:
In Reply to: Re: the proper way to treat the bends: duh posted by FARMHAND on May 27, 2005 at 17:38:52:
That may be the textbook answer for whatever slang attributes to the syndrome called "the bends," and I am sure many pay homage and lip service to that answer.
"The bends" is slang for a slew of "symptoms." "Skin bends" is another term floating around.
Some people run to the hospital for every little thing. The textbook answer indeed may be to run to the hospital for every little thing, and cyberdivingpros with basic open water certs and nitrox cards may rant and rave over that answer.
You may however find that most tech divers will have O2 with them and go onto that as their primary response to any odd "feelings," then monitor symptoms from that point on, and make the call as matters progress. And you may not find that, particularly if you are not a tech diver yourself. Because there are many things they did not teach you in your open water class and for your nitrox card.
I know of a GUE diver who did exactly that in the case of omitted decompression due to gauge failure based on his own account of the situation. The issue for him was not running right over to the Monterey Bay hospital or the Pacific Grove recompression facility, but rather whether he should breathe O2 at the surface and monitor symptoms versus some other immediate approach. He felt fine after some oxygen on the boat. He actually fared quite well compared to various other GUE divers who did end up in the local recompression chamber.
Do as you see fit. I will be glad to share my oxygen bottles with anyone who feels queer. However what you do has to be your own call. Cyberdivingpros with basic open water certs and nitrox cards love to tell other people how to dive. They have however exempted themselves from any strenuous training such as a dive master course or an ITC or even tech training. In reality, you cannot tell anyone else how to dive nor what to do.