Understanding Decompression Sickness - Risk Factors Involved - Prevention of DCS and The Treatment

Risk Factors
We are not all at the same risk, even if we dive to the same depth and for the same diving conditions as every diver will have their own level of DCS. Therefore two people doing the same dive might end up with one with DCS and the other with no symptoms. Not all the factors are fully understood but the factors listed below are generally understood to increase the chances or risk of getting decompression sickness:
Gender - As women have a higher body fat content than males it should be theoretically females will have higher chance to get DCS. However this has yet to be proven in studies.

Age - The older you are the higher at risk you are from DCS due to less efficient circulatory and respiratory systems.

Body Fat - Nitrogen absorbs easier into fat than muscle, therefore a diver who is overweight will be at higher risk than others.

Fitness Level - A fitter person is able to tolerate more physical stress, including Decompression Sickness.

Exercise - exercise can work both ways with DCS, both positive and negative. To explain a little further, if you exercise at least 12 hours before a dive your body produces proteins within the body which decreases the risk of Decompression sickness. Whereas if you exercise less than 12 hours before a dive can raise the number of gas micronuclei on which bubbles form and this increases the risk of Decompression Sickness. Exercise immediately after a dive increases the risk of bubbles forming as blood pressure is increased and bubbles can more easily be transferred from the venous to the arterial side of the circulatory system.

Alcohol - taking some alcohol before or after a dive can increase circulation which in turn will help the tissues load with gas. Alcohol can help to dilate capillaries which can help the rate of nitrogen released.

Dehydration - When we are dehydrated it causes less blood for gas exchange which decreases the off gas ability of our bodies which will increase the risk of DCS.

Cold - due to the cold water increase the risk of DCS, as the body works harder to keep warm as it becomes colder. When the body is warm it is easier to off gases and hence older harder to off these gases.

Altitude and flying after diving - when the atmospheric pressure changes it increases the chance of DCS so it is highly recommended to not fly until the gases are removed from your body.

Hole in the Heart - We are born with a hole in the heart which will close up within a year of being born, but in a few people this does not. It is found that a large proportion of divers who suffered from Decompression Sickness had a Hole in the heart.

Prevention
The prevention methods to reduce the risk of decompression sickness are much about the opposite to the risks:

• Don't push beyond your limits and due the correct safety stops
• Keep yourself physically fit and healthy
• Ascend slowly for every dive.
• Don't exercise close to diving
• Don't go to altitude or fly immediately after diving
• Keep hydrated
• Don't drink alcohol before or after diving

Treatment
Immediate begin treatment with oxygen therapy and other basic first aid if required. Follow up as quickly as possible by recompression treatment in a recompression chamber. When treating Decompression Sickness the delay in beginning recompression treatment can be the biggest single cause of residual effects.