For some reason, whenever I go diving, i always have the 'bends',,i smoke 5 cigarettes a day, i exercise to keep my lungs aerated all the time....so does the 'bends' have anything to do with my bad habit. I dont want to give up diving...and yet i dont want to give up smoking as well. I can ask my diving instructor but he doesnt know I smoke.
2006-11-08 16:53:42 · 6 answers · asked by questionnaire1 1 in Sports ➔ Swimming & Diving
Smoking can predispose you to taking a DCS hit a little, but where it really comes into play is the severity of the symptoms. I doubt very much you actually got a dose, though. If you did, your diving career is pretty much over. Once you take one DCS hit, you're more than likely to take more additional ones, gaining in severity, so if you did get hit, that's it, no more diving. Ever. It's only smart.
You sound like an open water certed diver or one that's just getting the cert. If so, the chances of you getting "the bends" at the depths you're diving and the typical training dive bottom time, are slim to none. You'd be in an out of air situation before sliding past NDL into deco. A too fast ascent MAY do it with no safety stop, but you ARE following the rules, right.
You aren't confusing airspace equalization (sinus & ears) with DCS are you?
Two different animals.
Here's a little light reading for you. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asma/asem/2003/00000074/00000012/art00008
and here for more DCS specific info (sounds like you need to read this bit) http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic121.htm
And, by the way, I smoke a half pack a day. About half of the divers I know do. There's nothing in any training medical that precludes it and your instructor isn't going to kick you out of class because of it nor are you going to lose your card. That's bunk!!!!
2006-11-09 03:21:00 · answer #1 · answered by scubabob 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
How do you know that you had the bends? Did you come to that conclusion on your own, or were you diagnosed and treated by a professional? Decompression illnes can be very serious and is not something to be taken lightly.
Regarding the cigarettes, I do not smoke anymore but I used to smoke two packs a day when I was a diver as did several of my dive buddies. It did not cause anyone to ever get the bends. The only divers who ever got the bends in my group did so because they stayed under beyond the safe depth & time limit and neglected to decompress on their way up. Two of them had to be treated in a hyperbaric chamber.
You should be discussing your medical symptoms with your diving instructor or a medical professional. Perhaps your symptoms are not from the bends at all.
Lastly, why are you so worried about your 5-cigarette-a-day habit being discovered? That seems so trivial. Is smoking banned?
2006-11-08 17:30:12 · answer #2 · answered by fishtown_jimmy 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'm just going to echo what you've been told, but I find it surprising that you always get bent when diving. Are you sure it's the bends? How many times have you been in the chamber?
If it is then forget the smoking. How deep are you diving? How long is your bottom time? How quickly are you ascending? Are you taking safety stops? Are you keeping to your computer / tables? Let us know the answer to these before worrying about smoking a few tabs ;)
Happy diving.
2006-11-10 03:05:31 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you're getting bent everytime you dive that means you're diving in at least six month intervals or you're probably dead. Not likely the case. You mave be getting a little seasick or you could be getting showing some signs of decompression illness, but that doesnt necessarily mean you are getting bent. If you were bent, it would involve an almost mandatory trip to a decompression chamber. Doctors will tell you to stay out of the water for a minimum of 6 months.
If your instructor doesnt know you smoke that mean you lied about it on your instruction waiver when signing up for classes and you could lose your c-card.
If you actually did get bent it would probably kill your diving career, I have know people who have been bent in arms and hands and been able to continue diving but if it were to occur in your head or torso, thats it no more diving
2006-11-09 18:17:53 · answer #4 · answered by tevasmurf 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
U need to quit smoking. or quit diving. the bends and decompression disorders can KILL you.you should want to give up smoking, for many reasons.
2006-11-09 05:43:11 · answer #5 · answered by bb 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The bends has nothing to do with smoking. I have no idea who certified you for diving but they didn't train you well or you wouldn't be even asking this question.
2006-11-09 02:02:55 · answer #6 · answered by namsaev 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋