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What are the effects on the body if Decompression Sickness is left untreated?
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
"Bubbles, tiny bubbles". Not good for you and they can travel around before they reabsorb doing damage that is irreversible. This can be a bladder dysfunction, sexual dysfunction or muscular weakness. There may be permanent damage to the spinal cord.
Untreated joint pains that subside are believed to cause small areas of bone damage called osteonecrosis. There may be enough damage to cause the bone to become brittle or for joints to collapse or become arthritic.
Wiki User
∙ 14y ago
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Does decompression sickness affect the bones?
how does decompression sickness effect the body
What is decompression illness?
It is any illness that is related to a release of pressure from the body such as barotrauma .. baro (pressure) trauma (injury). It includes decompression sickness, but it is not limited to decompression sickness. It is also not limited to diving even though that is what is mostly thought of when discussing decompression illness or DCI.
What are the two effects that hazardous materials have on your body?
Two effects of hazardous materials on your body are sickness and death.
Why do submariners not get decompression sickness when they surface?
Because the pressure inside a submarine is the same as at the surface. In otherwords, they never experience any pressure increase on their body since the submarine is protecting them.
How does decompression sickness occur?
There is no guarantee that you can prevent decompression sickness since everyone has an individual susceptibility to it. But there are things that can be done to lessen your chances and some are not well taught. One very big thing that can be done is to minimize your exertion both before during and after the dive. So when carrying your gear, do what you can to reduce your "work" and activity. Also, hydration is a big factor, so stay well hydrated. Of course, there are the obvious answers such as dive "conservative" by staying well within recognized time limits. Also, do safety stops. Safety stops can drastically reduce bubble formation and your risk of decompression sickness. I added 2 links that discuss this topic in more detail which include strategies to minimize decompression sickness.
Can i get pneumonia from my roommate's flu?
You can get sickness from anywhere, even from your room mates flu. That tiny bacteria can spread inside your body into a vast number and that can cause you to be ill. Although pneumonia is the extreme case for a flu, it could happen if your sickness goes untreated.
What is bends or decompression sickness?
It is the symptoms caused by the formation of gas bubbles (usually nitrogen) within the body; caused by lowering the pressure on the body (thus reducing the solubility of gases in general) faster than the body can remove those gases (mainly via the blood and lungs).
What do divers call decompression sickness?
Decompression sickness is the term used to describe the medical condition known as acute embolism caused by a sudden loss of air pressure. This disease is characterized by the appearance of small bubbles and inflammation at subcutaneous, but unequivocal symptom is the appearance of a strong pain, which affects various parts of the body. Certain body regions may suffer temporary paralysis and sometimes permanent injuries occur and even death.This decompression sickness is also known as "the bends" or "evil pressure."AdditionDecompression sickness (DCS) and embolisms are two different things. DCS is caused from the gas a diver absorbs during a dive coming out of solution in a divers tissue and thus bubbling. These bubbles push on nerves in the body causing pain as well as an injury. The two common types of DCS are know as Type I (pain only bends) and Type II (central nervous system bends). It is likely a diver will develop both. Bubbles that are just below the skin (subcutaneous) are not from DCS, but are another type of diving injury. All of these these together are know as Decompression Illness - which takes into account all diving pressure related injuries (also known as barotrauma). But DCS is very specific to excessive gas in the body bubbling and exceeding the bodies capacity to deal with the bubbles.
Why do scuba divers need to be depressurised?
That only occurs when divers remain under longer than the recommended no-decompression limits. But it is done to allow the body to slowly rid itself of nitrogen that has built up in the bloodstream due to breathing pressurized air at depth. If it isn't done, the bubbles pop in a blood and cause decompression sickness, which is very dangerous.
What causes decompression for divers?
Decompression is where you de-compress or return to the surface or shallower water. Under pressure, gasses dissolve into the blood. Sometimes decompressing quickly can mean that these gasses cannot come out of your lungs easily and the result on your body is similar to opening a bottle of carbonated drink. These bubbles are very dangerous and can cause decompression sickness. also known as the bends or caisson's disease. This can be avoided by not going very deep or staying down too long and returning to the surface slowly.
What does decompression mean in diving?
There are 2 possible answers. One is a simple answer to what is decompression in diving. The answer to that is simply ascending back to the surface. Any time pressure is reduced (i.e swimming shallower), the diver is decompressing. So many divers will say that all dives are decompression dives since that is an accurate description. The other possible answer is what is decompression sickness or illness. This occurs when a diver has not adequately decompressed back to the surface. In recreational diving, actual decompression stops are not required even though a "safety" stop or stops are always recommended. The purpose of the stops is to allow some of the inert gas absorbed during the dive from breathing (which is nitrogen for air or oxygen enriched air mixtures) to be released from the body prior to surfacing so the extra nitrogen does not result in "too many" bubbles. Bubbles can occur since air is comprised of roughly 79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Nitrogen is an inert gas since it does nothing other than just sitting there (as compared to oxygen that is metabolized and used) ... so nitrogen can build up during a dive due to the pressure on the body from being underwater. Bubbles result in tissues after almost every dive, but the body can handle them nicely, so it is excessive or too many bubbles that become a problem. The same answer applies to dives that are planned decompression stop dives that technical or commercial divers do. These dives will require stops at multiple depths to reach the surface again often using multiple different decompression gases during the different stops to accelerate the decompression times. The longer the dive, the longer the required decompression due to greater absorption of inert gas. But if adequate decompression is not done, then bubbles will form in body tissues which will result in decompression sickness commonly known as the bends ... which requires treatment in a recompression chamber ... to recompress the diver and make the bubbles smaller so they can be reabsorbed by the diver during the treatment. See the links below for some other articles on decompression and diving.
Why is decompression sickness also called The Bends?
Decompression sickness the bends is a painful and potentially fatal malady an environment of high pressure to one of lower pressure.You may also want to see the answer in the question "What does decompression mean in diving?"
