Posted by Kendall Raine on October 03, 2002 at 17:08:42:
In Reply to: Re: Are computers Really Safe? posted by Ken Kurtis on October 01, 2002 at 12:21:38:
Really controversial topic here. There is risk in IWR and in not doing IWR. With the chamber so close to most dive sites in SoCal, and O2 available on the boats, and IWR, for most people, involving breathing air or some other low ox mix, I would opt for surface O2 rather than get back in the water on air or nitrox. That's not because I'm afraid of IWR, but because I think the benefit of breathing air or nitrox for IWR is negligable. Surface O2 is better than air at any depth. The experience of Hawaiian fish collectors in IWR on air is really mixed. Some get better, some get much worse. The one's who get worse are the one's doing IWR on air. This is intuitive.
Having said that, we are prepared to get back in the water if someone takes a minor hit on one of our remote technical trips. That's because we'll breathe O2 at 30 fsw on an Australian IWR protocol with tenders and drysuits. True, it would be better to have a full face mask, but 30 minutes on O2 at 30 fsw with no excercise is still not a massive O2 exposure. Any time spent at elevated PO2 will help. This is not true with air or nitrox.
This is for a pain only or minor neurological hit. Any major neurological hit is too dangerous for wet recompression.
Flame away.