allergy induced asthma

[jmishka]

Hi
I am in the process of getting an appointment with my doctor..but in the mean time I wanted to see if anyone had any good advice as I dont think my doctor scuba dives and I want to give him as much info as possible...

I have mild allergy induced asthma. I use an inhaler a couple of times year maximum and have around a peak flow of around 350-450 when having an attack. I have never had an "attack" like you see on the Serevent commercials it is more a tightness of my chest and not filling my lungs it all the way to the bottom. I have snorkelled to about 25 feet before during peak allergy season and never noticed a problem, but I know it only takes one time and I dont want to put myself or my buddy at risk. My mom has the same kind of asthma and dove for years.

Does anyone have this type of asthma or know of anyone who has this type of asthma who dives?

Thanks
jennifer

 

[AllenG]

If you search for previous threads re asthma and diving, you should be able to get a full exposure to the issues. I would not be inclined to see the differentiation of allergy-induced vs. other factors as particularly germane (although most on this board may disagree). As I see it, it isn't just the cause of the asthma that may drive your personal decision to dive/not dive, it is (1) the probability of an unwelcome onset at exactly the wrong moment, (2) your specific trigger factors, (3) the risk associated with your person symptoms vis-a-vis known DCS etc. problems, and (4) structural issues in your lungs. It really is important to find a diving doc allergist or pulmonologist.

Yes, I have allergy-induced asthma, along with exercise-induced asthma, and "twitchy lungs" (lungs shut down with congestion if someone looks at me cross-eyed, or if the day of the week ends with the letter "Y"), and yes I dive. But that frankly should not be regarded as ermane to your decision. You need an allergist or pulmonologist with diving medicine expertise who will engage you in an in-depth evaluation of your allegies and asthma tailored to factors that may/may not pose risk so that you, in turn, can make an informed choice (as posed to a doc telling what you can and cannot do).

Good luck.

Allen

DISCLAIMER: None of the information provided above should be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, nor should any individual forego diagnosis or treatment by a physician based on this posting of information. And to anyone who may ignore this counsel, may your medulla oblongata!



Good

 

[DocVikingo]

Couple of items you might find informative:

Here's a piece on asthma & diving that I wrote for my Dec '00 "Dive Workshop" column in "Rodale's Scuba Diving":

"Can I Dive With Asthma?

Asthma is a chronic but often largely controllable inflammatory & obstructive pulmonary disease that affects about eight to 10 percent of children and five to eight percent of adults in the U.S. Signs and symptoms include shortness of breath, wheezing, tightness in the chest and lasting cough. The potential adverse impact of a severe attack under water is obvious, and could be fatal. Arterial gas embolism (AGE) as a result of air trapping from the constriction and plugging characteristic of this disease has also been a frequent, but as yet inconclusive, concern.

Asthma Triggers

Asthma is a chronic irritation & hypersensitivity of the respiratory tract, and attacks can be triggered as a reaction to a variety of conditions including stress, cold or exercise, or allergens such as pollen and certain foods and medications. The asthmatic’s body reacts to these triggers, in varying order and severity, by constriction of smooth muscle in the bronchi and bronchioles, inflammation of the airway and increased mucous production. Attacks tend to be recurrent rather than continuous, and there is often much that can be done medically to reverse breathing difficulties when they do occur. In addition, since many of the precipitants of an attack are known, they can be avoided or controlled.

Diving with Asthma

Until the mid-1990s, asthma was largely considered an absolute contraindication to diving. However, thinking in the medical and professional dive community has rather radically altered since then, and those with asthma can now be certified under certain circumstances. Although they differ somewhat, the YMCA, BASC and Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society each offer protocols guiding medical clearance to dive.

For example, the YMCA* criteria include a requirement that all asthmatics have normal resting and exercise pulmonary function tests with no degradation after exercise. The criteria allow those taking routine preventative medications to be evaluated while continuing their treatment. Also required is the ability to exercise and tolerate stress without becoming symptomatic while on maintenance medications, and the absence of a need for “rescue” inhalers during times of stress or exertion.

If you suffer from asthma, it’s clearly unwise to deny or minimize this condition to yourself, or hide it from your instructor or the operators with whom you dive. Scuba can involve some of the asthma triggers discussed above, such as cold and exercise, not mention hyperdry scuba cylinder gas. If you have asthma and want to dive, or are already diving without medical clearance, it is critical that you consult a physician to obtain an appropriate pulmonary workup and permission to dive."

This is educational only and does not constitute or imply a doctor-patient relationship. It is not medical advice to you or any other individual, and should not be construed as such.

Hope you found this helpful.

DocVikingo

* The YMCA protcol & some background info on diving with asthma can be found here---> http://www.ymcascuba.org/ymcascub/asthmatc.html

Here's a coverage of Asthma & Diving by Dr. Ern Campbell (Scubadoc)--->

http://www.scuba-doc.com/asthma.htm

Hope this proves helpful.

DocVikingo

 

[DrSteve]

I have asthma of about the same severity as you. Maybe 1 inhaler per year. I take albuterol/salbutamol/whatever the latest incarnation is - it's the fast acting curative inhaler. If I am wheezy before a dive I can puff it and be OK. However, I know from experience when to be worried (and I've not had one of those attacks since I was first diagnosed 15 years ago).

There are preventative inhalers. I forget their formulation, but unlike the salbutamol which had a blue case, the preventative had a brown case. My GP in England (who was a BSAC dive doctor) said there would be no problems with taking the preventative 2-3 days before a dive to make sure an attack didn't happen.

Another thing to remember is, compressed air is *very* clean. No allergens, no dust, no nothing. Just being on that could cause relief of symptoms. Also (for me) being at the coast alleviates all allergy problems I have and I have never suffered an attack while on a boat (and again, I've been on boats a lot).

Good luck. Talk to your GP and see what they say.

 

[jbd]

thanks for the links and the info.