| With any 'undeserved' bend, it may be worth getting a check for PFO. A quick glance at the BSAC Incident reports and the DAN Annual Reports will show many examples of well run dives that resulted in bends...normally with the closing comment that the diver in question was subsequently diagnosed and treated for PFO.
If PFO check is a negative, then just accept that sometimes we have a bad day. Maybe dehydrated, maybe too cold...or maybe something simpler....
Last year I did a 70m wreck dive with 25min bottom time. Me and my buddy completed the dive without incident - decompressing conservatively (according to Pro-Planner) using Nitrox32 and O2.
Immediately, upon leaving the water my buddy started coughing violently (a sort of asthmatic cough/choke). He peeled off his wetsuit to reveal a nasty skin bend that stretched from wrist to wrist and abdomen to neck. Within 5 minutes he was displaying weakness in the knee and gait alterations. This was followed by nausea and sleepiness....
He was treated on the boat with O2 for 4 hours, hydrated and closely monitored (by qualified Dive Medic Technician). Unfortunately, we were 18 hours from nearest land/chamber and diving in the Gulf of Thailand...so quick evacuation was a near impossibility. Luckily, the O2 treatment fully resolved his symptoms!
Following the incident, it was determined that the most likely cause for his bend was that he had been wearing his harness to tightly around the shoulders and that this would have prevented effective off-gassing from those limbs. As soon as he removed the harness post-dive, the nitrogen surged from the limbs into his torso.
I experienced no problems from this dive and, happily, my buddy was back in the water within a week.  |