Anyone with PFO ?

[Tony Hutchings]

I am a scuba instructor and I have completed about 3000+ dives. I have a PFO which I knew about from a child hood illness. When I first started diving about 20 years ago no-one new or cared about them as far as diving was conserned. When I had a medical a few years ago, the doctor turned white and said you have a PFO as if he had just told me I have a brain tumour and I was about to die! I have never had any problems with my small PFO. I have never been bent and as I said I have logged 3000+ dives. Consult as many doctors as you can and have an echocardiagram performed so you can see how large the hole actually is. I have found through lots of research that no one will give you a clear black and white answer on this subject.

Is there a higher risk of DCS, maybe but DSC is a strange fellow who pops his head up when least expected and never shows up when he is expected. Many of my dives are not typical dive profiles from when I worked in places like PNG where we did muck dives that lasted 1 1/2 hours or 60 metre dives on air and as I said I have never been bent. If the rule was that if you have a PFO you should not dive because you will get bent I should be dead many times over.

Talk to DAN and other diving doctors and get the size checked. If it is large and you do want to dive as has already been stated you can get it closed.

 

[Externet]

Thanks for your responses, fellows
Yes, I did investigate and learned about the PFO details in most of the posted links and many more before asking. The frustration is such that I was hoping to hear what I wanted to hear.

But ignoring the risk is to much for a next of kin. In the other hand, shallow diving could bring her the pleasure of what we all know...

Engaging surgery will need some digesting of the idea. Time to let time go by and evaluate the magnitude of her condition before deciding.

Thanks again.
Miguel