https://addhelium.com/what-are-the-bends/
"When you dive with compressed air your body gets more oxygen and nitrogen than it’s used to at the surface. The oxygen is used by your muscles and organs to continue functioning.
The nitrogen is not used. It dissolves into your blood and hangs out there until it can be filtered out by the liver and the kidneys.
The deeper you go, the more pressure your body is put under. This pressure encourages the gases in your body to dissolve into your blood more quickly and efficiently. This goes for the good and bad gasses.
When it’s time to come to the surface the pressure decreases as you swim upwards. This reduces the pressure on your body. Less pressure means that the gases that were previously dissolved in your blood become gas again.
Think of it like a bottle of soda. Before you open the bottle it looks liquid. When you turn the cap, bubbles rise out of nowhere to the surface. This is because the pressure within the bottle is reduced when it’s opened.
Now, think about what happens when you open an agitated bottle of soda. It fizzes over, right? Well, that’s what the bends is.
If you rise to the surface too quickly, the dissolved nitrogen turns back into gas and bubbles out of your tissues. In large quantities, this causes significant problems for your tissues.
After all, your blood and other bodily tissues are not designed to have huge amounts of high energy bubbles ripping through them."
Thank you, that was very interesting and informative!
She has weak lungs. Her asthma is much worse than mine. She said that the dive computer tells her what to do according to how her body is reacting.
Her dive instructor is a former military diver that is certified to 300 feet, is a cave diver, rescue diver, and free diver. His lungs and body are in MUCH better shape than hers and he can dive deeper before decompression becomes an issue, according to her.
So, I guess the answer to the question about how deep you can go without decompressing is, it depends. It’s less deep for her than for somebody else. I’m sure there are rules about it, especially when diving in a group.