Scuba diving and decompression sickness?
Hey everyone,
So I wanted to get PADI certified for open water scuba diving but I'm a little worried about the bends. Training for scuba diving isn't cheap so if I decide to go for it I have to commit. I tried beginners diving at 3-4 meters and I loved it however I'm not sure how risky this whole bends thing is. My primary fear is permanent damage like paralysis. If I do get certified I'll only go for the first degree for now which are dives around 18 meters max. With the correct prevention methods (Safety stops, hydration, etc, etc), what could be risk of permanent damage from diving? Thanks!
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
Like the others said, if you do what you are told, take care of yourself and stay within your certified limits for recreational diving, your chances of getting bent are really small. Nothing is garanteed and it all IS theory, but really, the chance are something 1 in 10,000.
In commercial/deep sea diving we say "It's not a question of if, but when..." but recreational scuba diving is pretty safe.
The issue of getting "permanant damage" from a DCI hit is largely relevent to how fast you can get to a recrompression chamber. The sooner the better. But you have to screw up in a worst case kind of way for that. A mild DCI 1 hit would only cause some pain and maybe a rash.
I run recrompression chambers for a commercial dive company. I have a few friends who have been bent and I hav been bent. While it is not something any of us wants to do again we have all made complete recoveries.
The reality is, if you follow your training, you are not likely to ever have a problem.
The questions you are asking will be covered during the training and certification.