Do Samba's have a pattern?

[Pezman]

I had my 2nd ever in-water samba about 10 days ago (swam too far before the dive, dived too soon after the swim, stayed down too long etc.) I knew I was in trouble on the way up, then thought I was ok after surfacing. Shortly after that, though, I realized that my right leg was doing a rather vigorous cancan on its own accord.

This was similar to my first samba (same deal -- right leg started doing its own thing). One of my buddies was having samba troubles a while back and, again, he had a very consistent pattern (temporary loss of control of his trunk and diaphragm).

Is there a tendency for sambas tend to occur in patters (i.e. will person A tend to samba one way more often than not and person B samba another way more often than not)?

Another observation is that after the samba, my breathholds seemed to get a lot easier. This was an accidental discovery since I basically ended my day of diving after the incident, but did shallow dive on the way in. It was done with no breathup while I was slightly winded from a swim and in pretty strong currents and it was still one of the longer dives of the day.

 

[efattah]

The exact type of loss of motor control depends on a host of complicated variables in your nervous system. While no one can predict what will happen to you, if your right leg tends to twitch, that may occur consistently. People who are dehydrated, too warm, have low blood pressure, or imbalanced electrolytes are more likely to samba/bo. Overventilating is also a main factor.

After the samba, once you have taken quite a while to recover, your dives are good because the samba induces a full 'reflex', I wouldn't necessary call it a diving reflex, but a hypoxic reflex, which is similar to the dive reflex. That's why I did my static pb after having a samba in my warm up. However, most people say to stop apnea after having a samba. Everyone agrees that a long recovery is needed after the samba, but beyond that people disagree as to what to do or not to do.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

 

[shaneshac]

Can dehydration increase your chances of Samba/BO?

Is this why this has happened to me after a long training session the night prior to a morning dive?

Thanks.

 

[efattah]

Dehydration is a major factor in samba/bo, and a long diving session dehydrates you so much that it is not possible to rehydrate by the next day. Personally I believe that even using superhydration methods (i.e. ORT, glycerol etc...), it is not possible to enter the water in peak shape except every other day, taking one day off between diving days to recharge and rehydrate. This is why I invented the ATRC test to gauge your BP/hydration level before entering the water.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

 

[shaneshac]

Where can I find info on that test?

 

[JimGlynn]

Eric- how does one balance electrolytes?
Jim

 

[OceanSwimmer]

ATRC test....

---You got my attention, Eric!
Tell us more about the ATRC test (unless it's on a thread/topic already....tell me to use the search, and I'll do so)
Thank you !
OceanSwimmer

 

[Pezman]

Ocean,

Here's a quick description:

http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?threadid=36969#post267306