Posted by John Walker on August 02, 2001 at 14:47:04:
In Reply to: Question posted by SLANG on August 02, 2001 at 12:55:17:
Lots of Yes's.
The suit is obviously going to be exposed to greater ambient pressure at its lowest point in the water column. Example could be, when I am in a horizontal position most of the gas is going to be at the calf, handstring, lower back, and shoulder areas. In a vertical position the gas is all going to be in my shoulders. If you look at were the Kindeys are, the lower back is an important place to maintain warmth. If the kindeys stay warm, so will the blood.
I typically burp my suit on the surface before climbing into my scuba. I generally don't put any more gas into it until I am around 20'-30'.
(Disclamer: I know this is'nt a technical group but I want to breifly talk of decompression stops)
Decompression stops (or even safety stops) are critical areas of a dive that warmth in vital. Maintaining good vascular diameter can only be obtained when a diver is comfortably warm. If a diver is chilled at depth suggestions say less gas uptake may be possible but I don't want to go any further with that.
Issues with adrenaline are impotant conciderations when using enriched oxygen mixtures. Depth is not an issue. Toxicity can take place at any depth.
Im my earlier days of mixed gas diving Karl Huggins did a doppler test on me following a deep deco dive. He detected a grade 4 bubble count in my right clavical area. This is where the vena cava inters the heart. He suggested that these gases were comming from my lower extremities, possibly my legs. Thinking to myself,"if the suit is compressed around my legs but not my torso, well I guess that could be possible". Another freind made the same suggestion. Back then I use to deco in a vertical position. So to answer your question, Yes,I think so. As far as arterial flow restriction, watch the hood.