the chokes


bends

A clinical complex caused by rapid whole-body decompression, with acute intravascular “boiling” of nitrogen and resultant morbidity (and mortality) in scuba divers and high-altitude pilots or workers in high-pressure environments (e.g., caissons) in chronic decompression sickness.
Clinical findings
Headache, nausea, vomiting, vertigo, tinnitus, dyspnoea, tachypnoea, joint and abdominal pain; nitrogen gas in the brain causes air bubbles in meningeal vessels separating the blood “column”, convulsions, shock and possibly death.

the 'chokes'

Sudden onset of respiratory distress in caisson's disease, which is associated with pulmonary edema, hemorrhage, atelectasis, and emphysema; the 'chokes' may be due to an ↑ in platelet adhesion to gas bubbles that release vasoconstrictors, platelet factor 3, causing coagulopathy. See the Bends, Caisson's disease.