Home :: Family Health :: Decompression Sickness

Decompression Sickness - Decompression Sickness symptom, treatment, causes

Decompression Sickness is a disease in which gas bubbles form in the blood andtissues. Decompression sickness is also known as 'the bends' (because the limbs are bent in pain) andcaisson disease. It affects people such as divers who have been breathing in an environment of increased pressure and have returned to normal atmosphericpressure too quickly.

Decompression sickness is a disorder in which nitrogen dissolved in the blood and tissues by high pressure forms bubbles as pressure decreases. It symptoms can be quite mild, however, and many cases certainly go unnoticed by divers. The risk of developing decompression sickness increases with increasing pressure and with the length of time spent in a pressurized environment. Other risk factors include rapid ascent, fatigue, exertion, dehydration, cold water, obesity, and older age. Because the nitrogen bubbles that cause decompression sickness can affect any of the body's tissues, including the blood, bones, nerves, and muscles, many kinds of symptoms are possible. Symptoms can appear minutes after a diver surfaces, and in about 80% of cases do so within eight hours. It is an occupational hazard of persons who work under greatly increased atmospheric pressure below the surface of the earth when their return to normal atmospheric pressure is made too quickly. When the body is subjected to high atmospheric pressure the respiratory gases are compressed and larger amounts are dissolved in the body tissues. However, decompression sickness is rare in pressurized aircraft, such as those used for commercial flights.

Someone with an abnormal hole or opening in the heart from a birth defect is at especially high risk of developing serious symptoms from decompression illness. In some cases, the disease is mild and not an immediate threat. In other cases, serious injury does occur; when this happens, the quicker treatment begins, the better the chance for a full recovery. Because bubbles create high blood pressure in the lungs, blood and bubbles from your veins may flow more readily through the heart's opening. This means your blood can re-circulate into arteries without first getting oxygen. It occurs most commonly in scuba or deep-sea divers, although it also can occur during high-altitude or unpressurized air travel. An air embolism can cause a stroke. People with asthma or another lung disease may have thin-walled air pockets in their lungs called bullae. These pockets do not empty quickly when the persons exhales. As they return to the surface after a deep dive, air in the bullae may expand. If a bulla ruptures, it could cause a collapsed lung or allow a large air bubble to enter the arteries. Emergency treatment for decompression sickness involves maintaining blood pressure and administering oxygen. Fluids also may be given.

Causes of Decompression sickness

When webreathe, oxygen and nitrogen from the air pass through our lungs into the blood, where these gases are dissolved. The amount of gas that can dissolve in a liquid increases with pressure. If the pressure is reduced, some of the dissolved gas comes out of solution. Divers must breathe air at the same pressure as that of the water around them, when air in the lungs is at this higher pressure, more oxygen and nitrogen become dissolved in the blood. If a diver surfaces too quickly, there is insufficient time for the extra dis-solved gases to be breathed out, and they come out of solution and form bubbles in the blood. The common causes and risk factor's of Decompression sickness include the following:

• A rapid decrease in the pressure that surrounds you, of either air or water.
• Use of alcohol or tobacco.
• Low cardiovascular fitness.
• Diving in cold water.
• High percentage of body fat.
• Injuries (old or current).
• Someone with an abnormal hole or opening in the heart from a birth defect is at especially high risk of developing serious symptoms from decompression illness.

Symptoms of Decompression sickness

People with decompression sickness suffer from pain in limb joints: abdominal pain nervous system symptoms such as abnormal sensa-tions or loss of feeling in limbs: muscle weakness or paralysis; dizziness: extreme fatigue: skin itch or rash: and breathing, difficulties Some sign and symptoms related to Decompression sickness are as follows:

• Itching (pruritis).
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Generalised rash.
• Dizziness, vertigo, ringing in the ears.
• Shortness of breath.
• Chest pain.
• Abdominal pain.

Treatment of Decompression sickness

Patients must be recompressed as quickly as possible so that the gas bubbles dissolve in the blood again: then they must be decompressed at the appropriate rate so that the extra dissolved gas can be breathed out. Many centres around the Australian coastline maintain decompression chambers for treatment of decompression sickness. Here is list of the methods to treat Decompression sickness:

• Emergency treatment for decompression sickness involves maintaining blood pressure and administering oxygen.
• People with lung-related symptoms, skin rashes or neurological symptoms of decompression sickness also should be treated with hyperbaric oxygen.
• Fluids also may be given.

All divers should understand the cause of decompression sickness and be taught how to surface at a safe rate. They need to watch for early symptoms and know what to do if problems are suspected.