Diving after Shingles

[KenGordon]

Thanks. I did look at DAN's Europe website, but I'm not a member and they state that 'specialised medical advice is reserved to active DAN members', which is understandable.

Talk to Oliver Firth. https://www.hyperdive.co.uk/

 

[Graeme Fraser]

This won't answer Graeme's question, but it may serve as a warning for others out there.

I felt as if I had cut my head somehow, in my scalp. I wondered how on Earth I had done that, but when my wife looked at it, she did not see a thing. Later that day, I was walking across a parking lot and a light breeze blew my hair a little. It hurt. I am usually quite the opposite of a hypochondriac, but if there is anything I know about medicine, it is that a light breeze blowing your hair should not hurt. I immediately called the doctor and got an appointment for a couple hours later, although not with my regular doctor. I told the nurse what had happened, and I believe she thought I was crazy. When I told the doctor, though, he immediately diagnosed shingles and put me on antivirals. He said that by getting on them so very early (within 24 hours of the first mild symptom), I had a good chance of beating it, and I did. My case was extremely mild.

Warnings:

• I always thought of shingles as a disease of the elderly, but I know people who have gotten it in their 20s-40s, with some of the cases pretty severe.
• When you get some strange symptom and you realize it is not normal (like a breeze hurting your hair; a rash appearing for no apparent reason), don't ignore it. Pay attention, and don't wait until things get severe. If you catch it early, you may escape a lot of pain.
• Get the vaccine!

Yes I'm afraid I did the typical bloke thing of shrugging it off as nothing. In hindsight an earlier call to the doc would've nipped it in the bud much sooner. Lesson learnt and all that.

BTW, I know exactly what you mean about even a slight breeze hurting. Even the bedsheets feel like sandpaper.

 

[Jcp2]

I had shingles twice, once as an infant, once in college. I never had a documented case of chickenpox so is likely I had some sort of in utero exposure. The nerve of that virus!

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Hi @Graeme Fraser ,

The blisters shed the virus, so you should avoid contact with anyone who hasn't had chicken pox. Recommend you avoid diving if the skin is not intact. Once the skin is healed over, you should be fine.

Highly recommend you speak with your practitioner about the vaccine. Here's a blurb from the US Centers for Disease Control: Shingrix Shingles Vaccination | What You Should Know | CDC

Best regards,
DDM

 

[Graeme Fraser]

Hi @Graeme Fraser ,

The blisters shed the virus, so you should avoid contact with anyone who hasn't had chicken pox. Recommend you avoid diving if the skin is not intact. Once the skin is healed over, you should be fine.

Highly recommend you speak with your practitioner about the vaccine. Here's a blurb from the US Centers for Disease Control: Shingrix Shingles Vaccination | What You Should Know | CDC

Best regards,
DDM

Thank you for your advice @Duke Dive Medicine I'm just at the scabby stage now so will certainly leave it a bit longer till the skin has healed.

Definitely going to get the vaccine as you and others have suggested.

 

[RyanT]

No advice, just wishing you a speedy recovery Graeme!

 

[Graeme Fraser]

No advice, just wishing you a speedy recovery Graeme!

Thank you Ryan. On the plus side I had a good excuse not to dig the garden up last week, although I think the wife's starting to get suspicious .

 

[Altamira]

A lot of people don't pay as much attention to Shingles as they should. After getting the old Shingles vaccine, I had a pretty mild case isolated to hip and thigh, but a good friend of mine lost an eye because the virus attacked her face. Now I have the new Shingrix vaccine, and am hoping I miss a repeat bout of the virus. Even a mild case was not fun.

 

[Cacherjoe]

I'm just getting over a bout of Shingles and wanted to know if there were any particular dive related concerns and how long after symptoms have subsided should I leave it before resuming activities.

As background, I'm a reasonably fit 54 year old with no known medical issues and, aside from Chickenpox as a child, have never suffered from this in the past.

Symptoms started about two weeks ago with tingling and mild numbness around my right lower waist. After a few days a rash appeared further to the right and the surrounding area became very sensitive and sore, with occasional 'stabing' pains. I then noticed the gland near my groin was swollen and tender and contacted my GP. She diagnosed Shingles and prescribed Acyclovir. Unfortunately as I'd left it more than 3 days after symptoms appeared, she confirmed that the anti-viral treatment may not be as effective.

Obviously I won't undertake any dive activities before I'm completely symptom free, but wanted to know if there were any specific hyperbaric considerations meaning I should abstain for a longer period. My diving activities include inshore commercial and tech instruction.

Thank you in advance and apologies for the rambling post.

Hey,

I know this is an old one, but wanted to chime in. Going for my second Shingles vaccine today. I dove the day after getting the first one. Everything was great, same routine and no reason to think that there was an issue. Shore dive at a location I've dove many times before. Got geared up as usual and into the water. We surface swam out a bit and descended down where the water was about 10 feet deep. When I got down close to the bottom I started to feel like I couldn't hold my balance and started to get dizzy. Signaled to my buddy and we surfaced. Took some time at the surface chatting it out and I was feeling better. We descended again and it was worse, I felt like I was going to roll over, dizzy and things spinning. Again signaled and surfaced. After a short discussion we called the dive.

The drive home was about an hour. I was increasingly getting more and more tired. I made it home but barely.

That afternoon I called DAN. The person I spoke to gave me the standard, "if you get worse go to the hospital". I was feeling better as they day went on so I didn't go into the hospital. The following morning I got a call from a medic from DAN. We talked about what happened, etc. She said that it is not common but some have had an issue after vaccines. She suggested not diving for a week after. I've done 10 or so dives since and no issues at all. I'll take their advice and sit it out for a week.

 

[Nemrod]

I dived through shingles. I had the original vaccine which was not especially effective. I have the new vaccine now. I came down with an odd pain in my side that hurt a bunch. I had projects to finish at work the day before the departure and by the time we got to the resort I was feeling better. Never had but two or three blisters and they healed fast. The main symptom for me was a strange pain deep inside. I just kept my rash guard on but the salt water I think helped.