Freediving and DCI

[Frank O'Donnell]

Good luck getting it sorted out. I've heard knowledgeable hyperbaric medicine people say that PFO is only an issue if you are diving profiles where significant bubbling occurs -- so normally a PFO wouldn't be an issue in a shallow dive setting. I was therefore surprised by the PFO story featured on deeperblue.net recently, because the author felt that she was having chronic low-grade DCI symptoms from shallow dives due to her PFO. I plan to take a workshop in advanced decompression physiology in a few weeks, and look forward to learning more on the topic.

 

[samdive]

my docs would agree with you Frank. They say it is unlikely to be due to PFO as PFO bends tend to be really obvious within half an hour of surfacing, not the kind of grumbly low grade aches and niggles described in that article (or that I had until my went a bit worse...)

still hope it is a PFO though, would be nice to know there was something to blame it on!

sam

 

[zipy]

hi
this may sound stupid... but hey i don't know everything..
What does PFO stand for?

Jure

 

[AltSaint]

PFO = Patent Foramen Ovale =

Hole in the Heart

Sam - There was an article a while back in 'Freediver' about tissue compartment saturation relating to freedivers. Not much practical advice, I seem to remember, but you might be able to relate the theory to a 'model' situation. If you haven't seen it, I'll dig it out for you.

Mark

 

[jvoets]

there's a nice article on deeperblue too on PFO although related to scuba diving, it still explains nicely what it is