Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail

MHD · 14th January 2007, 08:00

Flooded my unit on Saturday resulting in a cocktail. Suspected I had a leak even though the unit gave off no bubbles and ended up with a cocktail coming through the unit after 30 minutes. Was at fairly high level of alertness when in happened, so as soon as the resistance went high I blocked the DSV with my tongue to protect my air way. Even doing that I got in in my gums and on my tongue and in my mouth and it was ugly. For people who have got in in their air way it must be a truly terrifying experience. My first reaction was to spit out the mouth piece and even with the small hit I had I had to stop my self and close it and change over to my stand by reg while I deployed my off board bail out (I run a 2nd stage on a necklace off my onboard for a quick breath). I think my Rebreather was trying to tell me something as I was in the process of having my 2nd cell failure for the dive at that point so it was definitely time to breath off something else.

Spent the next 40 minutes swimming around with my mouth tingling and wondering what would of happened if I actually got a good mouth full.

Burnt the Sh*it out of me latter when I pulled the scrubber down and got it all over my hand. It's not nice stuff.

So as I said hats off to any body who has managed a big hit, it would truly be a scary event.

Matt

marekm · 14th January 2007, 08:52

Hi Matt,

Was the flood on the Sport KISS or the Azimuth? Also, have a talk to one of the instructors at D3 (the one selling his SK) about what inhaling a lung full of cocktail is like. Last I heard he was still not back to 100% health 6 months after the incident.

Glad to hear you came out of this incident relatively unscathed.

-Marek Mrozkiewicz

MHD · 14th January 2007, 09:16

AZi, its due for some TLC and new o rings through out (and new cells now

). Luckily for Brett he got a mouth full at a point where he could surface, but yes he was knocked about badly. The SK is bad in that aspect, that you are unlikely to get any warning. The Azi small hoses means you feel the change in resistance when the hose gets filled up. Gave me just a hint to get ready.

Matt

Chris · 14th January 2007, 09:23

Hey Matty
Glad you are ok
Bet Rachel didnt kiss you better

Cheers
Chriso

wizbang · 14th January 2007, 09:29

Hi Matty, also glad you are safe and sound.
I am glad you were on the ball to be able to pick it up and only get the slightest amount.
I had the opposite hit once and it took me 6mnths before my teeth were back to normal.

BTW what sorb were you using?
Was it a fresh fill or previously dived?

Wiz

MHD · 14th January 2007, 17:04

Quote: (Originally Posted by wizbang)

.

BTW what sorb were you using?
Was it a fresh fill or previously dived?

Wiz

Hi Wiz, sofnolime, stuff had an hour on it and been in the unit for 2 weeks.

Matt

silent running · 14th January 2007, 17:35

Quote: (Originally Posted by MHD)

Flooded my unit on Saturday resulting in a cocktail. Suspected I had a leak even though the unit gave off no bubbles and ended up with a cocktail coming through the unit after 30 minutes. Was at fairly high level of alertness when in happened, so as soon as the resistance went high I blocked the DSV with my tongue to protect my air way. Even doing that I got in in my gums and on my tongue and in my mouth and it was ugly. For people who have got in in their air way it must be a truly terrifying experience. My first reaction was to spit out the mouth piece and even with the small hit I had I had to stop my self and close it and change over to my stand by reg while I deployed my off board bail out (I run a 2nd stage on a necklace off my onboard for a quick breath). I think my Rebreather was trying to tell me something as I was in the process of having my 2nd cell failure for the dive at that point so it was definitely time to breath off something else.

Spent the next 40 minutes swimming around with my mouth tingling and wondering what would of happened if I actually got a good mouth full.

Burnt the Sh*it out of me latter when I pulled the scrubber down and got it all over my hand. It's not nice stuff.

So as I said hats off to any body who has managed a big hit, it would truly be a scary event.

Matt

Hello Matt, glad you're alright. I've tasted a tiny bit of the stuff just for fun on the surface, really awful. I can only imagine what a whole mouthful would be like. I flooded my scrubber on decent during a night dive. Felt the increased WOB, heard a lot of gurgling and started up in a vertical position. I was lucky, it happened in the first 10 minutes and I had no solution in the hoses. The f'ing P(iss)Port on my Dolphin scrubber inlet had not fully seated. Afterwords, I made sure I always gave a firm tug on all my PPorts before the pressure tests. Never made that mistake again. What caused your leak? -Andy

Skipbreather · 14th January 2007, 18:49

Saw my dive buddy (O2Slide) do it once. He mentioned something about Tequila, Ajax, and vomit........

Peter Piemonte · 14th January 2007, 19:00

Matt: I had a mouthful backwhen I was getting trained on the Dolphin. Like others, I had the unit leaking but did not notice due to unafmiliarity with rebreathers. This happened on my fourth open water dive. I was solo, and remember vividly the shock of taking a good slug of seawater soaked Dragersorb!
I had done the pos/neg pressure checks but I believe that when I jumped into the water, the force of hitting the water from a large boat, opened the snap on fitting on the exhaust bag. I have heard of other floods happening this way.
Anyway, it was a good advertisment for carrying plenty of bailout and for paying a lot of attention to bubbling and increased WOB.
It was a week before I could taste food again and I had residual symptoms for quite some time thereafter.
Glad you made it through yours in good shape. Regards, Peter

MHD · 14th January 2007, 21:40

Quote: (Originally Posted by Chris)

Hey Matty
Glad you are ok
Bet Rachel didnt kiss you better

Cheers
Chriso

she wasn't concerned at all, after i swam up to her and told her, she just shrugged and swam off, she figured I was fine by then!

14th January 2007, 08:00	#1 (permalink)
MHD Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Home Build Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia Posts: 235	Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail Flooded my unit on Saturday resulting in a cocktail. Suspected I had a leak even though the unit gave off no bubbles and ended up with a cocktail coming through the unit after 30 minutes. Was at fairly high level of alertness when in happened, so as soon as the resistance went high I blocked the DSV with my tongue to protect my air way. Even doing that I got in in my gums and on my tongue and in my mouth and it was ugly. For people who have got in in their air way it must be a truly terrifying experience. My first reaction was to spit out the mouth piece and even with the small hit I had I had to stop my self and close it and change over to my stand by reg while I deployed my off board bail out (I run a 2nd stage on a necklace off my onboard for a quick breath). I think my Rebreather was trying to tell me something as I was in the process of having my 2nd cell failure for the dive at that point so it was definitely time to breath off something else. Spent the next 40 minutes swimming around with my mouth tingling and wondering what would of happened if I actually got a good mouth full. Burnt the Shit out of me latter when I pulled the scrubber down and got it all over my hand. It's not nice stuff. So as I said hats off to any body who has managed a big hit, it would truly be a scary event. Matt Last edited by MHD : 14th January 2007 at 08:02. Reason: typo*
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14th January 2007, 08:52	#2 (permalink)
marekm Banned Current Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 196	Re: Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail Hi Matt, Was the flood on the Sport KISS or the Azimuth? Also, have a talk to one of the instructors at D3 (the one selling his SK) about what inhaling a lung full of cocktail is like. Last I heard he was still not back to 100% health 6 months after the incident. Glad to hear you came out of this incident relatively unscathed. -Marek Mrozkiewicz
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14th January 2007, 09:16	#3 (permalink)
MHD Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Home Build Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia Posts: 235	Re: Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail AZi, its due for some TLC and new o rings through out (and new cells now). Luckily for Brett he got a mouth full at a point where he could surface, but yes he was knocked about badly. The SK is bad in that aspect, that you are unlikely to get any warning. The Azi small hoses means you feel the change in resistance when the hose gets filled up. Gave me just a hint to get ready. Matt
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14th January 2007, 09:23	#4 (permalink)
Chris Go Nude Or Go Home Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Other Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Megalodon Prism Topaz Sport Kiss Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 599	Re: Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail Hey Matty Glad you are ok Bet Rachel didnt kiss you better Cheers Chriso __________________ Megalodon Sorb and Sensors whilst in Australia www.divetub.com.au Diving & Photography @ www.uwphotog.com
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14th January 2007, 09:29	#5 (permalink)
wizbang WEB MERMEN Current Rebreather/s: Inspiration Classic Dolphin Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Inspiration Vision Evolution Prism Topaz Sport Kiss Classic Kiss Dolphin Home Build Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Perth Australia Posts: 379	Re: Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail Hi Matty, also glad you are safe and sound. I am glad you were on the ball to be able to pick it up and only get the slightest amount. I had the opposite hit once and it took me 6mnths before my teeth were back to normal. BTW what sorb were you using? Was it a fresh fill or previously dived? Wiz
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14th January 2007, 17:04	#6 (permalink)
MHD Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Home Build Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia Posts: 235	Re: Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail Quote: (Originally Posted by wizbang) . BTW what sorb were you using? Was it a fresh fill or previously dived? Wiz Hi Wiz, sofnolime, stuff had an hour on it and been in the unit for 2 weeks. Matt
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14th January 2007, 17:35	#7 (permalink)
silent running Mature mouth breather Current Rebreather/s: Prism Topaz Other Rebreather/s: Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: U.S.A. Brooklyn, New York Posts: 1,740	Re: Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail Quote: (Originally Posted by MHD) Flooded my unit on Saturday resulting in a cocktail. Suspected I had a leak even though the unit gave off no bubbles and ended up with a cocktail coming through the unit after 30 minutes. Was at fairly high level of alertness when in happened, so as soon as the resistance went high I blocked the DSV with my tongue to protect my air way. Even doing that I got in in my gums and on my tongue and in my mouth and it was ugly. For people who have got in in their air way it must be a truly terrifying experience. My first reaction was to spit out the mouth piece and even with the small hit I had I had to stop my self and close it and change over to my stand by reg while I deployed my off board bail out (I run a 2nd stage on a necklace off my onboard for a quick breath). I think my Rebreather was trying to tell me something as I was in the process of having my 2nd cell failure for the dive at that point so it was definitely time to breath off something else. Spent the next 40 minutes swimming around with my mouth tingling and wondering what would of happened if I actually got a good mouth full. Burnt the Sh*it out of me latter when I pulled the scrubber down and got it all over my hand. It's not nice stuff. So as I said hats off to any body who has managed a big hit, it would truly be a scary event. Matt Hello Matt, glad you're alright. I've tasted a tiny bit of the stuff just for fun on the surface, really awful. I can only imagine what a whole mouthful would be like. I flooded my scrubber on decent during a night dive. Felt the increased WOB, heard a lot of gurgling and started up in a vertical position. I was lucky, it happened in the first 10 minutes and I had no solution in the hoses. The f'ing P(iss)Port on my Dolphin scrubber inlet had not fully seated. Afterwords, I made sure I always gave a firm tug on all my PPorts before the pressure tests. Never made that mistake again. What caused your leak? -Andy
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14th January 2007, 18:49	#8 (permalink)
Skipbreather WAY past the barber pole Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet MK 15.X Home Build Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA Posts: 523	Re: Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail Saw my dive buddy (O2Slide) do it once. He mentioned something about Tequila, Ajax, and vomit........ __________________ "Entropy RULES! Enjoy the interim."
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14th January 2007, 19:00	#9 (permalink)
Peter Piemonte KISS and rEvo diver Current Rebreather/s: Classic Kiss rEvo Other Rebreather/s: Classic Kiss rEvo Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Massachusetts, USA Posts: 135	Re: Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail Matt: I had a mouthful backwhen I was getting trained on the Dolphin. Like others, I had the unit leaking but did not notice due to unafmiliarity with rebreathers. This happened on my fourth open water dive. I was solo, and remember vividly the shock of taking a good slug of seawater soaked Dragersorb! I had done the pos/neg pressure checks but I believe that when I jumped into the water, the force of hitting the water from a large boat, opened the snap on fitting on the exhaust bag. I have heard of other floods happening this way. Anyway, it was a good advertisment for carrying plenty of bailout and for paying a lot of attention to bubbling and increased WOB. It was a week before I could taste food again and I had residual symptoms for quite some time thereafter. Glad you made it through yours in good shape. Regards, Peter
(Offline)

14th January 2007, 21:40	#10 (permalink)
MHD Custom Title Allowed! Current Rebreather/s: Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Sport Kiss Home Build Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia Posts: 235	Re: Hats off to anybody who has ever survived swallowing a caustic cocktail Quote: (Originally Posted by Chris) Hey Matty Glad you are ok Bet Rachel didnt kiss you better Cheers Chriso she wasn't concerned at all, after i swam up to her and told her, she just shrugged and swam off, she figured I was fine by then!
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