Got myself bent - not much fun.

[mud_diver]

Dive profiles 1 and 2

Air as the gas

Tank information, air used, sac rates not valid - have not loaded personal info for these dives yet.

[mud_diver]

Dive profiles 3 and 4

[mud_diver]

Dive profiles 5 and 6

[mud_diver]

Profile 7

[LKunze]

Thanks for the info on the dive profiles.  Looks like you did some reverse profiles.  I know generally that is not recommended, I usually avoid doing that by doing the deeper dives first and then the repetive dives shallower each dive for dives in one day.  Not sure that played a factor, I've heard mixed views on reverse profiles but like I said, personally I try to avoid reverse profiles.  Just my two cents.

[DiveCaptDean]

I certainly hope you are feeling better each day.......

While it looks like you reverse profiled..the diving appears to be pretty tame......I spoke with my new doctor..He is a physiatrist..he specializes in back problems....He is also a fellow diver and a member of DAN.....He quite saddened by the complete lackof information that DAN has on back issues and diving....I mentioned your story to him.....he figures you definetly had the back issue prior to the diving...he did have concerns that you may not have been bent..( keep in mind i had no idea of your prifiles at the time)..his reasoning was that it took a long to for the pain to surface, and the specific pain that you had is very common pain for a disc issue..which you have and had to have surgery for.....He did tell me that if a totally healthy person goes for a ride in a chamber that many times they feel better due only to the oxygen saturation........I am not trying to debunk your story,  i truly hope that you werent bent  as your future in diving could be much more limited if you were in fact bent....

again, i hope you are feeling better and i wish you a speedy recovery

[mud_diver]

Thanks for the input. I never really contemplated the reverse profiles.

As far as being bent, I have to trust what my hyperbaric doctor told me. I figure if anyone should know, it would be him, he unbends about a dozen divers a year, as well as several hyperbaric nurses (they somewhat  frequently get bent while doing their job. That's why they get paid so much. I was told they are the highest paid nurses in the hospital. Make more $ than the ER nurses or the ones in the ICU). He said that hyperbaric oxygen can aleviate back pain in some instances, but  the way I responded to the varying pressures, he knew I was bent. But maybe he was wrong, wouldn't be the first time a doctor made a wrong diagnosis of someone. Who knows? Like I said, until a different hyperbaric doctor tells me otherwise, I will trust what he says. ( He did have some interesting stories about bending rats when he was in school, but that is off the subject)

As far as the pain goes, it might have come on earlier than I said, but I ignored it. I regularly take pain killers for my arthritis ( I need a hip replacement) which could have masked some of the pain. (yes the ones I usually take should not affect my diving, I had my doctor check them out.)  Also I have an unusually high tolerance for pain ( I onced sawed off the part of my finger, and basically only said "oh shit. looks like I screwed up again" No tears, I didn't think the pain was that bad.)

[DiveCaptDean]

Very well,
I am glad to hear that you dont plan to stop diving.....I hope you get betterquickly......but man.!!!!!you really need to stop sawing body parts!!!!


as you can see there are plenty of people that have concern for you.
So get well asap

[underwateraddict]

Sorry to hear about your injury.  I hope you recover well.  Thanks for sharing your info with us.

[moneysavr]

Hey Brian,
Man hope all is well!
get well and take it easy!  The reverse profile could of been the reason for the hit but glad to see you had DAN,I do dives with lots of folks but man they need to have some source of dive Ins!
  I dove with you several times and had you back on my boat and thought you were a good newer diver with great skills and looked as you were continuing your training,
 
Hey hope all is well and remember before you listen to any one about diving or not  you got a great wife and kids to think of and I know several divers that are managing with the effects of being bent (i.e. due to diving work related  diving for Abalone ) and are some hurting guys all crippled up, Make sure to get a thumbs up by a diving medicine doc prior to another splash.
Good luck As I  was looking forward to this summer to take you on some new sites!
Brad