Asthma?!? Me? But I dive!!!

[billeelou]

There is an older threads on here about asthma. Background:
Had allergies for years, a sudaphed and all is well.I have been diving for a number of years with absolutely no problems. I have never had a asthma "attack" but one week ago, after getting a flu shot,I took on a Hacking cough that I could not get rid of, kept me up at night, but no fever, I had a running nose and could not clear my throat.

After my spousal unit nagged, I went to the Dr.....He said I have Asthma, Man I am 50 PLUS, he gave me a "breathing treatment, a corticosteriodial inhaler( once a day), cough medicine and musicnex, said come back and see him in a couple weeks.

Now let me explain, The day before I saw him, I did 30 minutes on the stairclimber at a high rate, and swam 1,500 mtrs the day before that ( all the while I was "wheezing"), my BP was 140 over 85 and my temp was 96.7F....at 275 lbs 5'8"( former Powerlifter)

Now I get on the board and read, I am through with Diving cause I have Asthma!!

folks, quite frankly I'll lie to every DM, LDS and shop before I give up my diving!!!I have never had an "attack" and really there is no "shortness of breath" or chest pain, so what is the board"s general idea....there is no problem? or I am toast?

 

[spectrum]

I think the layman's consensus is that if it is not cold or exertion induced and other wise controlled you are OK.

My wife has mild allergy induced asthma and is cleared to dive and does so without issue. She does use her inhaler on the way to the dive site to make sure she goes in clean. Once diving the clean air is a delightful respite from many allergies.

Pete

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi billeelou,

This should get you started:

Can I dive with Asthma?
Doc Vikingo's Diving With Asthma

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[TSandM]

It is a good question, whether you have asthma at all. Some people make a distinction between true intrinsic asthma and what's called "reactive airways disease", which is wheezing that occurs in otherwise normal people in association with viral illness. Many people who have reactive airways disease are completely asymptomatic at all other times.

On the other hand, you do not tell us if you are a smoker. If you are, it is possible that the toll taken by years of smoking has resulted in a chronic bronchitis type of situation, where the lining of the airways has become thickened and hyperreactive to stimuli. This is a sort of acquired asthma which is unfortunately very common, and it rarely goes away once it has begun.

The danger with any obstructive pulmonary process is air trapping in the small air spaces, resulting in lung rupture (pneumothorax) or gas embolization. Anyone who is symptomatic with an obstructive process, whether that's from a viral infection, intrinsic asthma, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, the smoker's illness), is at risk of injury from diving. However, as I'm sure Doc's article discusses, someone whose obstructive process has a known, avoidable trigger (eg. viral infection or specific allergens) and who is asymptomatic most of the time, and not known for rapid, severe attacks, may be safe to dive.

For your safety and peace of mind, it might be reasonable to wait until your symptoms have abated, and then arrange pulmonary function testing. If your pulmonary function is normal, and shows no change with bronchodilators, that is a very good indication that you are safe to resume diving, and just be aware that you should be more vigilant than other people about not doing so when you are suffering from a viral respiratory infection.

 

[fisherdvm]

Based on what you have said, I am doubtful that a good pulmonary doc would label you as asthmatic.

Certainly viral bronchitis can cause airway reactivity, and just because it happened once, does not make you an asthmatic.

 

[billeelou]

I smoked for 20 years, but quit 15 years ago. I have run half marathons and power lifted... doc, thanks for the article, I'm about 1/2 way thru it....

 

[chickdiver]

Go to an allergist who specializes in treating asthma.

Several years ago I developed a dry cough- a really bad dry cough. Really bad as in I couldn't talk or laugh, as I would start coughing, and be unable to quit or to catch my breath. After 2 weeks of this I went to the doc. My idiot GP decided I had allergies to mold (this was the spring after Hurricane Ivan, so mold spores were prevalent in my area)- she scripped me Claritin and sent me on my way. Two weeks later I went back, becuase the cough wasn't any better. This time my idiot GP decided that I might have allergies, or I might have asthma, or I might have gostroesophogeal reflux- she threw some asthma inhalers at me, some more Claritin, and Tagamet and scheduled an pulmonary function test- for 3 weeks in the future. My reaction was the same as yours- asthma, me? No Way. No history of it ever, I'm 33 years old, and I have consistently been doing an hour on the treadmill WITH THIS COUGH for the last month. I called an allergist who specializes in treating asthma, and who is a family friend- he saw me the next day. After extensive allergy testing (I am so "not allergic" to anything that he had difficulty getting me to react to the histamine, much less anything else) we did the pulmonary function testing next. He has the machines in his office- he concluded that I did not have asthma- no question. He ended up diagnosing me with "irritated lungs"- basically something had caused irritation, which led to the cough, which kepth things irritated. He scripped an inhaled steriod for 2 weeks and told me to make a followup appt. Worked like a charm. He said he has occasionally come across thigns like that, and I might never have it happen again.

Moral of the story- see a doc who specializes in what they think you have. My GP (who I "fired" after that) had no apparent interest in getting to the heart of the matter or even finding out what was REALLY causing the problem. She just threw drugs at me and hoped one of them would solve the problem.

 

[DeputyDan]

One of my kids has asthma and dives

She knows her triggers - heavy exercise in cold conditions - thus we dive Bonaire - Roatan - with a liveaboard thrown in!

A tough life!

 

[hangdog]

What a timely post. My husband, certified for 2 years and totally hooked, is seeing a pulmonary specialist for what everyone seems to think is asthma. He is 39, generally healthy - exercises daily, runs half marathons, etc. He has always had an annoying cough - but it was intermittent. He started coughing in July and it just got worse. He would lose his breath when laughing. He saw his GP who gave him Advair, Claritin and prednisone. No change. So he referred him to a pulmonary specialist. He has seen the specialist twice now and is on a couple different preventative inhalers. He gave him a rescue inhaler, but he hasn't needed it. He hasn't officially been diagnosed as of yet - but the specialist is monitoring him, running tests and giving him trials of different medication. We have a couple of vacations coming up where hubby is supposed to go diving - so he'll need to get clearance from his doctor first. I decided to check this site out to see if it was hopeless. I'm glad to see if may not be a lost cause. He has been certified for just under 2 years but has been fortunate to dive in some amazing locations and he loves it. I just bought him his last pieces of equipment for his birthday in May, he has taken a buoyancy class with his new BCD, and he can't wait to get back out there! I, on the other hand, just want him safe. Thanks for the valuable information - hopefully he can get the "OK" from the doctor before our trip in December!

 

[a_siren]

9/11 and its aftermath caused a lot of problems for a lot of people; luckily I wasn't in my office that day and the only thing that happened to my body as a result was that I developed asthma.

I called DAN before I took my OW class. The nurse at DAN was very helpful (even though wasn’t even a member yet!) in talking me through medical issues and recommending a local pulmonologist that I got an appointment with. The pulmonologist was a diver and clearly knowledgable about all the risks of having an asthma attack underwater (stroke, collapsed lung, etc.). I passed all of his breathing tests, including cold air broncho provocation. He did put me on an inhaler to supress asthmatic response that I must take for two weeks before I dive. My asthma is evidently mild, and only triggered by dust and infection, not cold or exercise. The cold air broncho provocation test is essentially breathing hard off of a full SCUBA tank of cold compressed air to see if they can provoke an asthma attack. If they can provoke an asthma attack—the answer is usually no diving. If they can't, the pulmonologist will do as they did for me -- clear you to dive conditionally provided you take medication to prevent an asthma attack. My pulmonologist made it clear that he wouldn’t sign off unless he's confident I won't have an asthma attack while diving.

One of my friends actually recommended I lie on my medical form! I didn't feel comfortable with that because it isn't worth dying over or fair to those who may be diving with me if I were to get into trouble. I feel better being fully cleared (or not and knowing that ahead of time) and being able to tell whoever is diving with me to be aware I have this issue, even though it is not likely to present a problem.

Heh. It does freak people out to see me take hits off my maintenance inhaler before going down.

One thing for certain, I won’t dive for at least two weeks if I need to use an Albuterol inhaler (rescue inhaler for when you can’t breathe). I bring the Albuterol inhaler with me just as a safety measure, but I never expect to use it. Probably overkill, but better safe than sorry. I know from experience that it gets frightening fast if you need Albuterol and can’t get to one timely. Luckily I haven’t needed Albuterol hits in almost two years.

NB: I always carry copies of my medical signoff when diving, just in case the instructor/DM wants to see it.

Edited to add: I just rifled though some old threads on asthma and found that some people had to do a Echocardiogram with Bubble Study to R/O (PFO). My doc never did one of those on me. More relevant was a reminder that I did purchase and carry a peak flow meter. Junky little $10 piece of plastic, but quite helpful. If blow less that 85% of normal it means no diving and I have to start my maintenance meds.