Case Study On Decompression Sickness

530 Words2 Pages

1. The possible disorder for Delilah is decompression sickness because she went scuba diving and now she has been experiencing fatigue, numbness, dizziness, and also a rash on her body.
2. Decompression illness affects people who change altitudes frequently, such as aviators, astronauts and scuba divers. Nitrogen makes up 70% of the air around us but at lower levels, the air pressure is higher so our body tissues absorb larger amount of hydrogen at these levels. While ascending, the pressure decreases and the nitrogen is breathed out of our bodies but if the ascend happens too quickly for the hydrogen to be breathed out, if forms bubbles (like opening a soda fast) that can attach to blood and tissues. The main factor affecting it is the reduction in ambient pressure for example having rapid ascents or deep/long dives. Age is closely related to this as older people tend to have a higher risk of sickness because older people tend to have less efficient circulatory and respiratory systems. Another risk factor is the amount of body fat a person has as body fat tends to absorb nitrogen e...

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