As we saw in our previous post, Nitrogen Narcosis is much more serious than just a feeling of being ‘high’ or ‘drunk’ as it is often described (if you missed it- Click Here). Since no one is immune to narcosis and it’s almost 100% that at 100feet (30m) or more you’ll experience it, it’s best to know how to deal with it or try and reduce it’s effects.

Obviously the best way is to prevent getting narced at all. In other words being very careful of your depth and training levels before risking those few extra meters or feet. But as the amount of narcosis you may experience on a given day is a function of depth, it’s hard to predict what depth is “unsafe.” It’s harder still as the narcosis effects every diver differently and some are more susceptible on some dives than on others. As a rule of thumb though, it’s safe to say that most divers get affected at 60ft but it’s more noticeable at 100 ft and at 130ft virtually all divers will have significant narcosis however, they may show it or be able to manage it differently. But that doesn’t mean you should miss out on all dives that go below 60ft now does it?

Here are a few tips for dealing with nitrogen Narcosis on a dive-

• Firstly, if  you’re diving below 60 ft it’s best to assume you’ll get narced and it’s better to be prepared than not.  So remember the K.I.S.S  principle- Keep It Simple, Stupid. Plan a simple dive which can be hard to mess up, don’t try an set too many tasks up so you’re less likely to mess any thing up. For eg. stick to a point- shoot camera if you want to take pictures on that dive instead of some expensive, super complicated underwater photography equipment that you’ll find harder using if you’re impaired or no underwater camera at all.
• Write everything down. Use a dive slate to write down even the most trivial of stuff, so you won’t have to struggle to remember if affected like dive plan, how the camera controls work, where your BCD inflate and deflate buttons are and so on.
• Wear only familiar scuba equipment that you’re used to on a deep dive. It’s best that you know your gear so well that you can instinctively function and not have to figure out. If you can’t avoid new dive gear, familiarize yourself with the equipment very well above water and at shallower depths before you dive any deeper. Diving with only one piece of new equipment at a time is always a good rule. Below 100 feet, it’s a rule to live by.
• You can never know your emergency skills too well. So whether you’re diving deep or not, you and your buddy should practice skills like weight ditching and air sharing until they are second nature to you.  If they aren’t practiced enough in normal circumstances it’ll be harder for you to perform them if you get narced. You can’t depend on having to remember something you were taught months ago or years ago or tried just once when narcosis hits.  So practice, practice, practice before!
• Try diving with a familiar dive buddy you trust. It’s easier for someone who knows you well to recognize that you’re not behaving normally and may be narced than someone you don’t know at all.
• Schedule gauge checks with your dive buddy at regular intervals (like 5 mins for example) and agree to look out for each other and signal okay or any other special hand signal with eye contact at specific intervals . If you buddy misses any of these checks assume he’s narced and get him to ascend a few feet until you feel he’s at safer depths.
• Being well rested, warm and and confident have shown to keep the effects of narcosis at bay better than if a diver were cold, tired or anxious. Try to take slow, deep breaths with complete exhalations and dive calm to help battle getting narced.
• Lastly, a guideline you should dive with whether you fear narcosis or not, is to never drink alcohol or have drugs and dive and be very careful what medication you’re on as it’s well-known that several drugs can interact in surprisingly intense ways and can promote nitrogen narcosis which acts like a drug on it’s own.

*Photo Credits: photos by Daniel Kwok and jrover on flickr

© Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog, 2010. | Dealing With Nitrogen Narcosis is an original article from Aquaviews.net | One comment

Nitrogen Narcosis may be called the ‘Martini Effect’ and might be compared to being ‘drunk’ or ‘high’ but at 100 feet or deeper underwater, it can spell disaster. And if you still think it can’t happen to you, let me tell you that if you dive to 100 feet on air, your chance of getting narced is almost 100 percent!! No one is immune to nitrogen narcosis, it’s effects just happen to vary from diver to diver.

You’ve probably been that deep or even deeper and never felt narced, right? and that’s exactly why it can be dangerous. The first symptoms of nitrogen narcosis are subtle and can make you feel silly, slightly excited, normal or even great. Chances are you’ve never even noticed the effects of narcosis cause not cause you haven’t been narced but rather you haven’t noticed. Most times when nitrogen narcosis hits, you haven’t had do anything but breathe normally through your regulator, which is almost second nature if you’ve been diving a while. It’s when and if you have react or deal with anything that requires some thoughtful response you’ll be in trouble. So while you must have heard about decompression Illness being the biggest risk of diving, some consider Nitrogen narcosis more dangerous as it attacks the most important piece of life-support diving equipment a diver has- their brain.

Symptoms of Nitrogen Narcosis
In some cases you’ll be able to see the effects of the narcosis right away. Divers have been known to do some pretty amusing things as if they were drunk on alcohol, like start to chase the pretty fishes, hear fish sing or talk, hump coral heads and so on while some behave in ways that cause more concern, like checking their octopus for air pressure instead of their gauge or in the case of the picture, almost kill their own dive buddy because they were hallucinating. Still think it’s pretty harmless? Think again. The effects of the nitrogen absorbed into the bloodstream causing a high nitrogen concentration and in turn slowing the nervous system and brain function does more than just messing with your mind.

It slows down your thinking process: Because of the depth and breathing compressed air, the nitrogen starts acting like an anesthetic and can reduce mental powers to those of a staggering drunk. As an advanced diver certification student, you probably remember your instructor making you do a puzzle or math problem on the surface and underwater at around 100 ft (30m). This was to test your response time and compare the two to test if you got narced.Needless to say incase of an emergency underwater a diver needs the ability to think quick and react according.
You can’t multitask: The increased pressure of nitrogen on the nervous system and the slowing down of the brain function makes it harder for a diver to think of multiple things at the same time. And since diving is a multitasking activity as you have several things to consider at once to make decisions like buoyancy, depth, tank pressure, your buddy etc, if a problem arises your brain limits your options for dealing with it which could lead to trouble.
Short-term memory loss: Narcosis often makes divers show signs of short-term memory loss. They can forget their most recent training or how to work their rental scuba gear and equipment (like BCDs) or even forget the task they were sent down to do. So, when you’re advised to practice your emergency skills over and over again even when not in need, you may want to pay heed as if you get narced it could very well save your life.

Luckily, ascending about 10 feet or so, depending on your depth can clear the effects of narcosis almost immediately and there’s no permanent damage or after-effects of it. The major problem faced by divers is recognizing the symptoms and or accepting that you’re narced to deal with it.

Learn How To Deal With Nitrogen Narcosis in our next post…

*Photo credits: photos by Daniel Kwok, Gagliardo_Daniel, Daniel Kwok on flickr.

© Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog, 2010. | Nitrogen Narcosis Is Not Just A High Feeling, It’s Dangerous is an original article from Aquaviews.net | Be the first to comment!

Nitrogen Narcosis also called Rapture of the Deep or the ‘Martini Effect’, is a the intoxicating condition that Scuba Divers breathing compressed air, experience while diving in depths exceeding  30m or 100 feet. The condition begins at around 10m (33ft) but negligible and becomes noticeable at 100ft ; symptoms progressively worsen and can become can be fatal at 90m (300+ feet). Its effects are comparable to that of being ‘drunk’ on alcohol causing severe impairment to a diver’s judgment and co-ordination ability.

Known as the Martini Effect or informally known as “Martini’s law” ; is the idea that the narcosis effect is similar to the feeling one gets when consuming one martini for every 10 meters below 20 meters depth (30 feet below 60 foots depth).

Nitrogen Narcosis is a direct effect of gas dissolving into nerve membranes and causing temporary disruption in nerve transmissions. As a Diver goes deeper, more nitrogen gets absorbed into the bloodstream causing a high nitrogen concentration which slows the nervous system and mimics the effects of alcohol or narcotics.

The symptoms of Narcosis are:  Sleepiness, impaired judgment, confusion, Hallucinations, severe delay in response to signals, instructions and other stimuli, tunnel vision, dizziness and often a sense of euphoria.

The effects of Nitrogen Narcosis are completely reversible as the pressure of the nitrogen decreases, when the diver ascends from his depth. Thankfully Narcosis has no long term effect or ‘hangover’ and a diver who has felt the effects of narcosis recovers almost immediately.

Narcosis seems to vary from diver to diver, and those accustomed to diving often or at depths appear to feel its effects lesser. A good way to avoid Narcosis is to limit your deep dive times and avoid doing any strenuous activity while deep diving. Also recognizing its symptoms and onset early will help divers in making the decision to ascend to clear its effects. Conducting simple checks and tests of mental ability, at regular intervals on a deep dive will also help divers assess the need to ascend.  Mixed gas diving i.e. using helium mixed with oxygen instead of Nitrogen helps prevent Narcosis, however it is more expensive and may also cause dizziness and nausea for the diver.

*Photographs by: Daniel Kwok and Gagliardo

© Aquaviews - SCUBA Blog, 2009. | Nitrogen Narcosis: Rapture of the Deep is an original article from Aquaviews.net | One comment