Posted by Maddiver on November 27, 2001 at 00:23:37:
In Reply to: Re: Why isn't oxygen narcotic? posted by MHK on November 26, 2001 at 12:38:39:
Mike my personal observations on the three gases listed in the subject line when using the same dive profile (roughly) as you know I did a few dives in devils and some of these were on each type of gas listed above (including normoxic trimix that was mixed routinely for Alachua and/or indian and we got blown out) I judge the results based on recollection of dive elements. Basically no perceived difference to little perception diferential between air and nitrox 28-33% standard mix for devils...big difference (night and day) on normoxic trimix. Main issue is that my senses were so much more 'dialed in' that the same dive times produced a feeling of longer, extremely longer dives as I recalled vividly each nook and cranny of the cave and never had any question where I was within 50 ft. Sometimes on nitrox or air it was easy to have estimates run 300-450 ft off on penetrations beyond 3K. I realize that this is hardly 'scientific evidence' yet it speaks to the point of honest introspective and the value of conservative logic with gas laws............does it hurt if I believe that nitrox is as narcotic or more narcotic than air? I argue not, except in my pocketbook. When JJ and Ted did the recovery of the American Airlines pilot in Devils who died solo diving, Tom Kowaski and I assisted recovering evidence (knobs, springs, reels and noting odd marks and trenches on cave floor and ceilings) which we did on normoxic trimix and even given the 'sobering' situation at hand, the results of the notes and uw investigation were much more than we could generally have hoped for on a given dive. You know the drill and have done enough of these to understand the multitude of tasks that need to be acomplished.