Posted by Elaine on August 19, 2004 at 20:10:41:
In Reply to: Re: O2 posted by coralcuts on August 19, 2004 at 18:37:46:
I can understand where you are coming from, but, I firmly believe that if I would have had O2, with no further obligation to seek medical care, the day that I was bent, it would have cut through my denial faster than anything. Normal aches and pains do not improve with O2.
As divers, we are much better at diagnosing our own problems than most of the medical community is. From my experience, one of the strongest factors that led me to stay quiet was a) not wanting to trigger a system that I really didn't need - if I wasn't bent and b) not having a quietly accessable means to determine if I was bent or not.
In my case, I also live at an altitude around than 2,000ft. After this experience, I believe that nitrogen washout, simply for the sake of nitrogen washout, may be a real good idea. I do a HUGE amount of diving every year and I follow every dive day with an hour long drive to altitude (less than the recognized 3,000 ft, but still altitude). I'm wondering, more than ever before, what this is doing in the long run. I don't think that there are any studies.