Skin Bends ( NHZ )

[H20doctor]

Last saturday was a 3 tank dive for me on whidbey island with Pensacola diver .... our first dives for the day was some hunting and sight seeing around camano island ... first dive was at 1130 , I was on my Lp 95 and I Had a max depth of 52 feet or so , and I got 48 mins ... Next tank was the same spot , I was out of the water for an Hour and 15 mins , got in with my alumin 90 shot 38 mins of video , got on the anchor , and did a 3 min saftey stop at 15 feet ..
Then we ent back home to oak harbor , refilled tanks ate dinner and headed to Keystone to do a drift dive ... Splash time was 830 pm... we did our drift from Driftwood beach to the Boat ... Max depth was 56 feet ... Now hear is what the dive was ... I was bottle hunting the drift as we were being blown North with a slight current ... there were times when i had to turn around and Kick in the current to stay in one spot as i looked and examined a bottle to see if it was Old or not... then back to the drift .. I did have some hard breathing moments at times trying to look at stuff and stay put... so we made it to the boat I had 1000 Psi , and we went up the slope , I felt that I came up the slope slow and at my normal rate ... dive time was now 48 mins and we did a 3 min safety stop at 15 feet ... complete time was 54 mins , and we were out of the water ... Now getting out of the water , was a B*tch because the beach here is large gravel rocks and when you walk on it , you sink in the gravel and loose footing... then you come into a huge driftwood debris , and then the beach bank , with logs and such .. i was huffing and really had to work to get to the road with all my gear on .... walk from the beach to the raod was 50 feet or so... at the road i took off my gear , cause i was exhausted , and walked to the car that was parked 100 feet away ....
Now I am back at chads house relaxing and its 1015 or so and my belly starts Burning.... Its Hot , and then its starts to itch ... Bad like Shingles ... I lift up my shirt and see that some redness has formed next to my Belly Button and there is now a patch of Red raised spots... It is really Burning Hot , and when i poke it with my finger it Hurts .... Like i got punched in the gut.... By 1130 , 1145 Its burnin Hot and I cant take it any more !!! so i grabbed something from the freezer and hit it with Ice for about an Hour...The next morning it was completly Gone ... But the skin tissue is still sore when I poke it ... Even now if i poke it its still Tender today ... So i got the skin Bends , and it was Hot, burning , and Itchy ... and It was very intersting ... I think due to the dive with Depth , parts of heavy breathing , and then a tough exit out of the water , I was loaded up with Nitrogen ... I wear a BC and the comber Burn strap thingy , is right there around my Abs section , and its generally tight .. so the skin there was very compressed .... Here are the pics from my phone ..

[Jaksonbrown]

ouch.. that sucks dude!

On a lighter note.....

Nice tiddy whities you sex machine you!

[dieseldude]

So what did you learn about yourself based on this experience?
MJ

[H20doctor]

Ya those are my Thermals.. I figure there are going to be some Belly Jokes , or undie Jokes.. So that's why I posted the NHZ .. We had fun diving with you Saturday Corey .. Good times..

[Nwbrewer]

Wow, that sucks.

So all 3 dives had a max depth above 60 fsw? That's kind of strange that you'd get skin bends from that, but anything's possible. Were you staying hydrated?

[H20doctor]

I learned that having a physical dive .. IE , lots of kicking , combined with working up a sweat underwater , maybe needs a stepped Saftey stop.. 3 mins at 20 feet ... 3 mins at 10 feet .. Allowing that I have enough Gas to support it..

[H20doctor]

Yep .. Lots of water all day , I make sure I drink lots of water when I have that many sched dives , cause it sucks the Moisture right out of the lungs

[airsix]

I learned that having a physical dive .. IE , lots of kicking , combined with working up a sweat underwater , maybe needs a stepped Saftey stop.. 3 mins at 20 feet ... 3 mins at 10 feet .. Allowing that I have enough Gas to support it..

Chris, how were you managing your no-deco? Computer? Tables? Seat-of-the-pants? (No offense - just asking)
I assume you were on air, right? I grabbed a NAUI air table and plugged your 3 dives in and it looks like you went over by several minutes on dives 2 and 3. (But I know the table assumes deep the entire dive.)

[H20doctor]

Hmmmmm .. I rechecked my My Dive computer .. Keystone was Max depth was 59 Feet.. 48 mins .. Second dive at Camano was 59 feet max depth.. At 52 mins Long .. My dive computer is a Tusa Imprex 2

[H20doctor]

I was on Regular air for all dives ... From Camano to Keystone I Had a a Good 6 Hours of topside time ..

[spatman]

sorry to hear about this, dude, but glad it's getting better.

so what else is recommended for skin bends besides icing?

[scottsax]

I'm sorry if I missed it in your original post, but have you contacted DAN?

Oh, and I'm glad you're OK, Chris!

[airsix]

Hmmmmm .. I rechecked my My Dive computer .. Keystone was Max depth was 59 Feet.. 48 mins .. Second dive at Camano was 59 feet max depth.. At 52 mins Long .. My dive computer is a Tusa Imprex 2

Were you at those depths for most of the dive?
Plug the above into a dive table with your 1:15 surface interval. I've already done it, but you should see it.

Glad you're feeling better!

-Ben

[H20doctor]

Hmmmmm .. I rechecked my My Dive computer .. Keystone was Max depth was 59 Feet.. 48 mins .. Second dive at Camano was 59 feet max depth.. At 52 mins Long .. My dive computer is a Tusa Imprex 2

Were you at those depths for most of the dive?
Plug the above into a dive table with your 1:15 surface interval. I've already done it, but you should see it.

Glad you're feeling better!

-Ben

Yes Keystone was a steady 55 feet ... So what is the coclusion ? What does it calculate Ben ? .. Just Curious

[Nwbrewer]

Hmmmmm .. I rechecked my My Dive computer .. Keystone was Max depth was 59 Feet.. 48 mins .. Second dive at Camano was 59 feet max depth.. At 52 mins Long .. My dive computer is a Tusa Imprex 2

Were you at those depths for most of the dive?
Plug the above into a dive table with your 1:15 surface interval. I've already done it, but you should see it.

Glad you're feeling better!

-Ben

Yes Keystone was a steady 55 feet ... So what is the coclusion ? What does it calculate Ben ? .. Just Curious

Deco...

[spatman]

chris, this is what vplanner shows for your first 2 dives. granted, it doesn't calculate a 3min stop at 15 ft, but it does show your 2nd dive requiring 14 minutes at a 10ft stop.

i certainly found that surprising. looking at your runtime, SI, and depth, i wouldn't have guessed you be in deco...

[cardiver]

I'm glad that you're okay, Chris.
That 14 minute stop at 10 fsw is a surprise! I wonder why his computer didn't give him a deco obligation?
It will definitely make me think about a long, shallow stop on a multi dive day.......

[Nwbrewer]

That's only if he went to max depth and stayed there (square profile). I would guess his computer didn't tell him he was in deco because he multi-leveled it with an average depth much shallower than his max depth. Chris can you download the profiles and post them?

[spatman]

That's only if he went to max depth and stayed there (square profile).

very true, which is the same as ben using the NAUI tables.

chris, does your computer or download software tell you average depth?

[Sounder]

On multiple days of multiple dives (4-5 aggressive 32% dives per day) I bring O2 for deco... obviously there is training that comes with that, but it's pretty common on my Channel Islands trip to see people decoing on O2 even if their profiles don't require deco. Added safety and I feel a million-times better when I do it.

Sounds like residual nitrogen may be a real contender for cause here.

[airsix]

That's only if he went to max depth and stayed there (square profile). I would guess his computer didn't tell him he was in deco because he multi-leveled it with an average depth much shallower than his max depth. Chris can you download the profiles and post them?

Chris indicated it was a pretty square profile:

Yes Keystone was a steady 55 feet ... So what is the coclusion ? What does it calculate Ben ? .. Just Curious

[Nwbrewer]

That's only if he went to max depth and stayed there (square profile). I would guess his computer didn't tell him he was in deco because he multi-leveled it with an average depth much shallower than his max depth. Chris can you download the profiles and post them?

Chris indicated it was a pretty square profile:

Yes Keystone was a steady 55 feet ... So what is the coclusion ? What does it calculate Ben ? .. Just Curious

Dive 3 was, but spatty was running dives 1 & 2.

[H20doctor]

Hmmmm my puter doesn't do profiles .. Its a Hockey Puck style .. Wow I had a deco Obligation .. Strange very strange ... Chad only did 1 dive at Camano , so that's why he didn't have the same Fate as me .. LOL .. I will post the screen shots of my dive computer later tonight when I get home, But that makes total sense That I had a Deco Obligation at Keystone , Because I remember seeing my Deco Bars all the way across the Bottom of the computer ..BUT as I came up the slope to shallow water the Bars went away ...( When my computer does show a Deco , its displays Deco..and the depth I have to stay at.. And for How Long ) So there was never a Deco on my Puter.. As I would have 100 % did a deco stop.. I never Called Dan sockmonkey because I didn't think it was a Major Issue to myself .. I have read about skin bends and in all cases I read it went away the next Day , with no other complications.. I posted this so that I could Learn the How and why's of my Burning rash .. Hmmmmm Deco .. Not good

[Buster]

This is something that probably could have been avoided by using EANx 36%, correct? Can I ask why air was your breathing gas of choice?

[cardiver]

This is something that probably could have been avoided by using EANx 36%, correct? Can I ask why air was your breathing gas of choice?

Hmmm... Maybe Chris isn't nitrox "certified"....