Medical Questions » Sports Questions » Question No. 944
Question:My son is determined to learn scuba diving, but I am very scared about the dangers to him. I remember hearing about divers dying from the bends. Is this still a problem? Can this be treated?
Answer:When we breathe, the oxygen and nitrogen in the air are taken into the lungs, and fill up millions of tiny bubbles (called alveoli) that are covered by a fine network of capillaries (very small blood vessels). The gases pass across a fine membrane and are dissolved into the bloodstream. If the air pressure is high, more gases (oxygen and nitrogen) will be dissolved into the blood than if the air pressure is low. Underwater divers must breathe air at a pressure equivalent to the depth of water in which they are diving. As a result, more oxygen and nitrogen than normal is dissolved into their bloodstream. When they surface, they must do so slowly (following rates of ascent that have been worked out from tables that allow for depth and time), or the lower pressure around their bodies and in their lungs will allow the previously dissolved gases to come out of solution, and form actual tiny bubbles within the blood. Exactly the same phenomenon can be seen when the top is removed from a bottle of carbonated soft drink or beer, and it starts to fizz. Divers who develop the bends have blood that fizzes. The symptoms depend greatly on the fitness, age, and weight of the diver, as well as die amount of physical exertion s/he has undertaken. Joint pain may be excruciatingly severe, and permanent joint damage can result. If the bends remains untreated, it may progress to coma and death. The only effective treatment is to recompress the patient as rapidly as possible. Compression chambers are maintained by the Navy, government and private institutions at a number of points around the Australian coastline. They are a reinforced cylinder that can have air pumped into it at the required pressure. The patient, and often a medical attendant, are placed in the chamber, the air pressure inside is increased to the necessary level, and then over several hours or days, slowly reduced back to normal again. This has the effect of redissolving the nitrogen bubbles into the bloodstream, and then allowing the gas to escape slowly and naturally through the lungs. Prevention is better than treatment, and all divers should be aware of the correct procedures for the dive they undertake, and should avoid diving to greater depths, or for longer periods than planned. There is no reason for your son not to learn scuba diving provided he is careful and responsible. It will certainly give him a great deal of pleasure.

       
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