Ever narked? Never!

[scuba g]

A question I notice on some forums when you are putting information in about yourself and in quite alot of responces, Never. Since narcosis occurs to some small extent at any depth, but doesn't become noticeable until deeper depths, (commonly 30m to 40m range), why do divers still say they have never been narked? I can understand that some may say "I have never felt it" but the thing is in most cases you dont realise you have been affected by it! So just seeing what other divers views or on this.

[Whale Shark]

I have been. Twice. First time in Wastwater at 42m, vision was blurring a bit. Second time doing the Rondo at 50metres, felt like having one pint too many.

[MartyC]

Yeah,
It's quite funny, I didn't notice it on any dive until I had an "oh f###k" moment

[uwila]

Every single dive below 20m - the first thing to go is your judgement so it's incredibly easy to believe you aren't affected.

If you don't believe you're narked at 20m, get your buddy to prepare a few simple maths questions on a slate and then time yourself to answer them. Then have a barrel of laughs when you check the answers...

Cheers, Chris

[tootricky]

I thought I had never been narked at depth until I did a trimix course. The clarity I experienced at 40m was a real eye opener for me. I have noticed it more often since then when not diving mix.

[Kirstie]

I've had euphoric narks at 39m (on air) at Porthkerris in crystal clear water, when I felt like the best diver in the world.

I've had unhappy, tunnel-vision, anxious narks in 30m on a wreck in Tenerife. Twice, on different days on the same wreck. Thankfully I was diving with the lovely Buoyant Babe on both occasions, and she was most attentive to my mild panic, ushering me to shallower depths where I came to my senses.

[RogerViking]

being dived up to the depth that you want to go to helps too .
there are thousands of deep air dives conducted every year using nitrox for deco bu you can only go to max depth of 66 mtrs po2 at 1.6 on air having said that you have to be so carefull ..ive dived a few times to 50m last year on air and 50% , being narked to me is being more aware of watching the times and gauges and trying to stay on top of things.

[ratcliffe]

When I get narked, I get more anxious. When I get anxious I get extra (almost anally) attentive to my contents gauge for some reason. I think its more a case of check, now what did that say ? Hmmm I'm a little anxious, check my gauge to put myself at rest as I know I have plenty of air.... etc etc
It has never gone further than that, but I know when I get the edges whats coming

[Steve Jones]

Whenever I have been narked it has been in dark conditions and it was never a pleasant experiance.

Last year one of our group didn't have enough helium in his mix and was trying to wrestle with me at 75 metres. He couldn't remember a thing about it when he got back on the boat.

Another instance last year when a different diver had an END of 66 metres, was videod "climbing" up the side of the wreck.

Steve

[nigelH]

I always run mix in the Inspo (14/55 in the pool last night doing a buoyancy check on the new undersuit) and I notice buddies on air/nitrox going slower and slower as we get deeper.

Faced with something just a bit out of the ordinary at 30m they really put the brakes on but when asked, back on the boat, what the problem was they deny any problem and think they were running at full speed.

Myself, when faced with a rebreather fault at 60m on 20/26 (brain at 37m), I single tracked on it and needed forcibly reminding that <up><ok?> means <UP NOW!>