Posted by Wayne on December 12, 2001 at 13:23:11:
In Reply to: Narced at 40ftsw posted by randy54 on December 12, 2001 at 13:03:12:
A good friend had a bad narc experience at 75 fsw. He was under stress, had taken OTC medications, was bobbing around in the cold water for 30 minutes waiting for a lame-o buddy struggling with gear issues on shore -- all before the descent. At about 75 fsw, he felt strange and had perceptual problems. He felt as though he could not control himself. He was convinced he could not get his legs to operate or his hand to add air to his BCD. He was "falling deeper and deeper" and was near panic because of his inability to control is descent and the loss of the buddy who abandoned him by swimming a different direction and getting lost. At 90fsw he finally managed to get his focus back enough to add air to the BCD. At 50 fsw, he was totally normal again and ended his dive. he was so scared byt eh experience that it was a while before he was willing to dive again.
If you look at the symptons of rigid inflexible thinking (he thought he was unable to control his movements), loss of normal problem solving skills, etc., it looks like he was narced. My guess is that the cold water, cold & seasick medication, stress all added up to a case of the narcs in water much shallower than we would expect. He says that it all seemed like a dream when it was happening.
So be warned: Do not dive unless you feel 100%! Do not take medications to make a dive possible. Don't dive with buddies who will abandon you if you have trouble.
Wayne