diving after pneumonia

[scallop]

-Went to ER Friday night, determined to have a "mild" case of pneumonia. Kept me Fr and Sat and let me come home Sunday. My doc says he does not think it would be an issue as long as i was feeling fine and up to it, no shortness of breath, coughing ect. I will be seeing him again on Mon or Tues and will be flying to the Keys for a week there and original plan was to get some diving in. I plan on calling DAN tomorrow but wanted to see if anyone here had similar experiences or could provide some answers. We will be gone from Dec. 19-16 first four in Largo and last in Deerfield beach. Largo would be a boat dive with a commercial op Deerfield I was thinkng a shallow shore dive. My dive buddy is my 12yr old son. Wife and daughters do not scuba but will probably snorke.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

It wasn't that mild if you were admitted. If you have any residual mucus in your lungs you'll be at risk for air trapping and pulmonary barotrauma during diving, so I would make very sure that your physician is aware of this then proceed based on his advice.

 

[TSandM]

What DDM said. There are specific criteria for admitting people with pneumonia nowadays, and only people who are fairly sick are treated as inpatients. I would be very careful about diving unless you are COMPLETELY asymptomatic -- no cough, no sputum, no shortness of breath and no undue fatigue, among other things.

 

[scallop]

When I say mild I am using their terminology. I think I was admitted mostly because in 09 I went in on April 9th and woke up on April 21st with tubes down my throat and hooked to every machine available I think. Life support, induced coma was NOT fun! Then a week later was back in with a pulminary embolism (I think because they did not have the leg cuffs on me when I was immobile) so I think they just wanted to make sure nothing like that was happening again. I do agree with what you both have said and there is NO WAY I would attempt it if even feeling the slightest better than 100%. I wanted some actual medical advice from people that understand diving physiology. Any dives would be shallow less than 30' Thank you both for your quick answers.

Now, would there be an issue with snorkeling? 15-20 surface dive then back up?

 

[TSandM]

There shouldn't be a problem with snorkeling, because you don't have gas trying to expand the airways more than they were when you started on the surface. Still, I wouldn't do ANYTHING that involves vigorous exercise, unless you think your stamina is absolutely back to normal. There are some data in animals that exercising during a respiratory illness can prolong the symptoms.

 

[scallop]

Just got off the phone with DAN and they echoed everything said above. (Not that I doubted either of your responses in the slightest) Thank you very much for your advice and assistance! Looks like I will spend this vaca on the surface although I would be lying if I said I was happy about that! It will be better to be in sunny 80 degree weather with the ocean at my door than home in Ohio to cold grey skies and going to work.