What are the 3 symptoms of decompression sickness?

(Decompression Illness; Caisson Disease; The Bends)

• Symptoms can include fatigue and pain in muscles and joints.
• In the more severe type, symptoms may be similar to those of stroke or can include numbness, tingling, arm or leg weakness, unsteadiness, vertigo (spinning), difficulty breathing, and chest pain.

How do you know if you have decompression sickness?

The symptoms of decompression sickness vary, because the nitrogen bubbles can form in different parts of the body. The diver may complain of headache or vertigo, unusual tiredness, or fatigue. They may experience a rash, joint pain, tingling or a dull ache in the arms or legs, muscular weakness, or even paralysis.

What are the four types of decompression sickness and its bubble location?

Signs and symptoms of decompression sickness

DCS type	Bubble location
Musculoskeletal	Mostly large joints of the limbs (elbows, shoulders, hip, wrists, knees, ankles)
Cutaneous	Skin
Neurologic	Brain
Neurologic	Spinal cord

What can you do for mild decompression sickness?

What to do

1. Contact emergency services. Watch for symptoms of decompression sickness.
2. Contact DAN. You can also contact DAN, which operates an emergency phone line 24 hours a day.
3. Concentrated oxygen. In more mild cases, you may not notice symptoms until a few hours or even days after a dive.
4. Recompression therapy.

What happens if decompression sickness goes untreated?

Untreated bends cause damage! Failure to treat promptly and appropriately may lead to permanent impairment.

Will mild decompression sickness go away?

While very minor symptoms of DCS may go away with just rest and over the counter pain medications, it is thought that treatment with recompression and oxygen is ideal to prevent any possible long term effects from the injury.

At what depth do the bends occur?

About 40 percent of the bent divers made a single dive with only one ascent. The shallowest depth for a single dive producing bends symptoms was ten feet (three meters), with the bottom time unknown. However, most of the divers made several shallow dives and sometimes multiple ascents.

What happens if you fart in a drysuit?

But a drysuit auto dump maintains a constant volume of gas in your suit, and by farting you’ve just added to the volume in the suit. Lose that gas and there will be a tiny drop in your overall buoyancy. Some of those bacteria produce gas as a consequence.

Can the bends go away on its own?

In some cases, symptoms may remain mild or even go away by themselves. Often, however, they strengthen in severity until you must seek medical attention, and they may have longer-term repercussions.

What happens if decompression sickness is not treated?

Untreated joint pain that subsides could cause small areas of bone damage (osteonecrosis). If this happens through repeated instances of DCS, there may be enough damage to cause the bone to become brittle, or for joints to collapse or become arthritic.

What causes the bends in the decompression sickness?

Disorder caused by dissolved gases in the tissues forming bubbles during reduction of the surrounding pressure. Decompression sickness (DCS; also known as divers’ disease, the bends, aerobullosis, or caisson disease) describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurisation.

What are the symptoms of decompression sickness ( DCS )?

Since bubbles can form in or migrate to any part of the body, DCS can produce many symptoms, and its effects may vary from joint pain and rashes to paralysis and death. Individual susceptibility can vary from day to day, and different individuals under the same conditions may be affected differently or not at all.

How does depressurisation cause decompression sickness in humans?

Depressurisation causes inert gases, which were dissolved under higher pressure, to come out of physical solution and form gas bubbles within the body. These bubbles produce the symptoms of decompression sickness.

What’s the best ascent rate for decompression sickness?

To prevent the excess formation of bubbles that can lead to decompression sickness, divers limit their ascent rate—the recommended ascent rate used by popular decompression models is about 10 metres (33 ft) per minute—and carry out a decompression schedule as necessary.