Ever narked? Never!

[Bardo]

There are two problems that stop most from admitting that they're affected by narcosis - ego and recognition. The first one is simple enough - a lot of divers simply see an admission that they were narced as a sign of weakness so it tends to bring out the ego in many.

The second problem - recognition - is a lot more difficult to get over as many simply fail to recognise the signs - mainly, of course, because they're narced! It's a vicious circle - fact is, divers are often too narced to spot that they're narced! To them the world is good but anyone diving with them on mix can clearly see a change in their behaviour.

The problem is that narcosis can manifest itself in many different ways so spotting the signs isn't that easy - as IANTD instructor Phil Short put it on a course I attended, narcosis is best described as a 'mood amplifier' ie. it'll amplify how you feel, whether that's good or bad. If you're slightly apprehensive pre-dive, you'll be suffering from utter paranoia by the time you hit 40m!

Narcosis also tends to slow everything down too so that something you'd normally manage to do in a matter of seconds can take several minutes! It's quite an eye-opener to see yourself on video after a dive - with the benefit of a clear head and a warm cup of tea, I challenge anyone diving below 30m without mix to not recognise some change in their behaviour!

[hilrosepaul]

Originally Posted by SoggyFox

...i wanted one with a Sonar Ping on it...

The 'underwater' one on this page is a sonar ping A1 Radio Sounds - Free Sound Effects Downloads as WAV files

[Sean]

The year before last I started getting panic attacks with the feeling I need to get the flip out of here around 25 – 30m range, it took a lot of willpower and rassurance from my buddy that all was ok and I don’t need to bolt for the surface.
I had no idea why and felt embarrassed to tell anyone, I have been diving off and on since 78 and this has never happened before I spoke to a very experienced instructor at my LDS and he suggested maybe I was narked, it only used to happen at the start of the dive once I got into it I was fine. I now slow my descent as much as possible and only dive on Nitrox I found this helps. I also told my buddy and now he stays very close to me almost touching until we are into the dive.

[Kirstie]

Originally Posted by Buoyant Babe

Glad to have been of assistance my dear

Remember the 40m dive where we 'climbed' back up the sea-bed Batman and Robin stylee? It never seemed that steep going down!

Sometimes I hear a telephone ringing underwater, even on relatively shallow dives. The bells, the bells!

I do remember that, and the feeling of relief as we got shallower. And, of course, your perfect navigation (the first time )

I hear a wah-wah sound at depth, which I suspect is my blood thumping in my head.

[Garf]

I'm slow between 30 and 40 and twatted below 40m. At 50M on air I might as well not have bothered. I can't remember anything, and realistically an accident waiting to happen.

I don't like the feeling, so use mix below 35 metres. Now enjoying wrecks like the Mol and the salsette like I'm diving them for the first time.

[dublinbay]

Remember our little talks all those years ago Graham, about DIR, standard gases and shallow trimix ,triox etc. Trail blazer, thats me. Funny old world, Irish diving

[Captain Calamity]

Up until a couple of year ago I had never felt narked, even at 46 metres wreck diving in PNG (which surprised me, as I really expected to notice at that depth). Only on one occasion have I been aware of narcosis, on a 42 metre bounce dive in blue water with an AOW student. I had to head a fair old way north before I felt back to normal.

Generally though I have no problem with signals, reading my SPG etc at depth, but I accept I must be narked - I think there are some people who manage the narcosis by sticking to the usual drills and habits. I read somewhere it's a bit like driving a car drunk - on the whole you can do it, but if something goes wrong - like someone steps out in front of you - then you have no chance (and probably nor do they).

I guess I'll find out just how narked I am when something goes pear shaped at depth and I have to sort it. I wonder if this was the same thing that led 2 experienced divers to continue a dive for 5 minutes at 30m whilst sharing air after one ran out during my recent trip to Cozumel?

CC

[Mal Bridgeman]

I am sure we have discussed this a number of times and at the end of the day people will subscribe to whatever voodoo works for them .... if you've been out for a night on the town with a bunch of mates who are drinking and you are not, and they try to behave like they are sober then I think you pretty much have the scene of the Narcosis deny-ers

Narcosis is a physical thing so can be tolerated by some more easily than others but to deny it affects one at all, is somewhat ill-informed. The increases in partial pressure affects the brain and the rate of change of that partial pressure seems to be a contributory factor too.

Nitrogen is the initial cause and gives the slightly intoxicated feeling and you do the "I must be super alert" routine so you check your guages and buddies a little too frequently but since you don't really absorb the info you need to check them again pretty soon just to prove you are on top of your game.

A CO2 related narcosis has a much bigger effect and causes those panicky types of narcosis.

Neither is good since they impair the diver's ability to make good decisions.

Recognising this in yourself takes a little getting used to but for me, it's better to recognise it and find strategies to deal with it than it is to live in the fuzzy world of denial waiting for something bad to happen.

Me? I subscribe to the view that I get narc'd on every dive and there have been a couple of dives where decisions I made were a little too dumb even for my liking, mainly in the 40m plus range, and it's why I now like to use helium.

Mal

[Big Kahuna]

last year following the chain to the sterngarth. I could not see the bloody great tug right in front of me. My buddy pointed it out and signalled up from 21m to 18m and I was then fine!
Apparently I was tapping my compass and shrugging and trying to swim off towards the bus.

[BJ]

Narked? I thought this was an anthias!