Treating The Bends Underwater
Reasons Why Scuba Decompression Sickness Cannot Be Cured Underwater
Oct 18, 2008
For information on how the Bends occurs, refer to The Bends In Scuba Diving.
For information on how to treat the Bends, refer to Treating And Preventing Bends In Scuba Diving
Do Not Treat The Bends Underwater
Theoretically, to reduce the nitrogen bubbles in a diver with the Bends, the procedure of recompression followed by decompression can be achieved by taking the patient underwater. However, scuba diving textbooks and medical opinions don’t recommended this because:
- Once bubbles have formed, they need to be subjected to greater pressure for longer to force them back into solution. The logistics of this are difficult, as the patient will require fresh tanks, support divers.
- The diver needs to be monitored to confirm the procedure is working, again, difficult.
- Recompression in a decompression chamber, or hyperbaric chamber, may require two or three sessions over a few days. This would be impractical underwater.
- While underwater, the patient would be breathing more nitrogen, compounding the problem. In a decompression chamber, the patient may breathe 100% oxygen to remove the impact of this extra nitrogen in the patient’s body. Difficult to achieve underwater.
- A diver with the Bends would be exhibiting symptoms like soreness, dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath. Also, the patient could go unconsciousness. Not good symptoms when underwater on scuba.
- A Bends patient should be kept at normal body temperature. Too hot could cause nitrogen to bubble out quicker. The cold causes constriction of blood vessels in the skin and reduces the body’s blood circulation capability which lessens the chance for the body to re-absorb nitrogen.
Trying to decompress a Bends patient underwater should only be used in a life or death situation where no hyperbaric chamber is available. That is, if likely the patient is going to die, then maybe it is the time to try.
Time Out Of The Water
As nitrogen is slow to bubble out of solution, symptoms of the Bends can exhibit immediately on surfacing, to six hours later. Rare cases can take days.
“Let’s Go Diving” by US Divers states that a diver with the possibility of getting the Bends can surface and return to the water within three minutes. This might be where the diver needs a fresh tank to carry out a decompression stop. This should only be done in an emergency. To reduce the need for this action, a fresh tank with regulator should be left at the three metre mark.
Example Of Underwater Bends Treatment
A woman once told the author of an experience when she got the Bends and went through decompression underwater. She was diving in Vanuatu in the 1980s and did some deep dives on World War Two wrecks; all within calculated limits. Other divers on the trip didn’t have a problem.
A few hours after the day’s diving, she collapsed. There was no decompression chamber available, so after frantic telephone calls to medical diving specialists in Australia, it was decided to treat her underwater.
Depths and times were calculated, support divers remained with her during the night, and a steady stream of fresh tanks had to be kept up. She survived the ordeal, but her future diving depth was limited to 10 metres.
It is best not to get the Bends, or decompression sickness, in the first place, but the possibility is always present. A smart diver will always stay around the three metre mark for as long as possible when ascending at the end of a dive. If symptoms of the Bends are present, specialized medical attention should be sought urgently.
