Posted by lragsac on August 19, 2004 at 11:12:57:
In Reply to: Re: Trip Report: Diving in Southern California Hyperbaric Chambers posted by Jon Davies on August 15, 2004 at 08:36:58:
I echo Jon's sentiments. Very courageous of you to give that achingly candid account of your experience and bring to light the very real problem of denial. To that point, I was particularly struck by your comment "I didn’t want treatment for DCS if I wasn’t bent, that would be really embarrassing." As someone who recently took a chamber ride myself (but apparently did not have DCI), I can't emphasize enough how important it is to just err on the side of being a "hypochondriac" and get to a chamber pronto. (In my case I had such distressing symptoms I really had no choice; I experienced severe vertigo and uncontrollable nausea/vomiting shortly after surfacing). The time element is crucial to post-treatment outcome. Yes, it's a PITA to have to raise your hand on the boat and say give me O2, I think we've got a problem here, but look at it this way: would you rather feel some embarassment or risk long term disability. Again, thanks for sharing your experience and may you enjoy many more years of safe diving.