Table of Contents
What gases cause the bends?
Decompression sickness: Often called “the bends,” decompression sickness happens when a scuba diver ascends too quickly. Divers breathe compressed air that contains nitrogen. At higher pressure under water, the nitrogen gas goes into the body’s tissues.
How do bubbles from decompression affect the body?
Symptoms of lung involvement caused by gas bubbles that travel through the veins to the lungs, produce cough, chest pain, and progressively worsening difficulty breathing (the chokes). Severe cases, which are rare, may result in shock and death.
Why are nitrogen bubbles formed during decompression sickness?
As you swim back toward the surface after a deep dive, the water pressure around you decreases. If this transition occurs too quickly, the nitrogen does not have time to clear from your blood. Instead, it separates out of your blood and forms bubbles in your tissues or blood.
What causes bends in diving?
Decompression sickness, also called generalized barotrauma or the bends, refers to injuries caused by a rapid decrease in the pressure that surrounds you, of either air or water. It occurs most commonly in scuba or deep-sea divers, although it also can occur during high-altitude or unpressurized air travel.
Can you get the bends at 30 feet?
While sometimes there may be predisposing medical factors such as patent foramen ovale, divers must still treat shallow dives with as much care and respect as any other dive. If you’re one of those divers who was taught that “you can’t get bent shallower than 30 feet,” it’s time to revise the theory.
How are bends treated?
Treatment for the Bends The bends are treated in a hyperbaric recompression chamber. The doctor will first treat immediate life threats, such as breathing problems or shock, if present. The diver will need high-flow oxygen and IV fluids.
What are the symptoms of bends in the body?
Minor cases cause itching, rash, joint pain, or skin discoloration. Severe cases cause symptoms such as extreme pain at the joints, headache, seizures, hearing problems, nausea and vomiting, back or abdominal pain, vision disturbances, or chest pain.
What do you call bends in the water?
Scuba diving. The bends is also called decompression sickness or caisson * sickness. When a person is scuba diving, the water pressure increases with depth.
What causes bends in the body when scuba diving?
Scuba diving. The bends is also called decompression sickness or caisson * sickness. When a person is scuba diving, the water pressure increases with depth. As depth increases, the pressure of the air breathed also must increase. This causes more of the air to dissolve in the bloodstream.
What causes the bends in the decompression sickness?
Disorder caused by dissolved gases in the tissues forming bubbles during reduction of the surrounding pressure. Decompression sickness (DCS; also known as divers’ disease, the bends, aerobullosis, or caisson disease) describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurisation.