Diving & Epilepsy

[scubaperro]

hey doc
can u scuba dive if your siezures are well controlled, only happen when you wake up in the morning, only last about 5 minutes,there is a warning like 5 to 10 minutes before the actual siezure, and i dont loose conciousness, my breathing stays normal My thinking isnt altered during most of the 5 minutes either.i also dont shake and have horrible convutions. just my right arm shakes a little. im quiet limber while i have them actually. I havent had a siezure in years to(but im on a very low dows of meds). if i had a helmet and maintained my breathing wouldnt i be safe


what im saying is do you think it would be safe enough

 

[Gene_Hobbs]

Vorosmarti J, Linaweaver PG (eds). Fitness to Dive. 34th Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society Workshop. UHMS Publication Number 70(WS-WD)5-1-87. Bethesda: Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society; 1987; 116 pages. RRR ID: 4249

Page 80 (pdf page 88) is the chapter on 'Neurologic Considerations I' by HD Greer III. The first topic he covered was Epilepsy.

Hope this helps!

 

[fisherdvm]

With all your posting about this topic, you seem to be very interested in diving and free diving.

The answer for you is a definitive NO, NO, NO, NO.

No one will clear you medically for the diving. You should not even attempt to dive, or to go on a "helmet" or "snuba" dive.

I have not read DocVikingdo or Gene Hobbs articles, but my little understanding of seizures suggests to me that the changes that occur with diving can lower your seizure threshold, "the thermostat" for your seizures.

Oxygen has a toxic effect on the nerves at depth due to higher partial pressure, and can trigger seizures.

Nitrogen bubbles forms in the blood stream of normal divers, while might not cause problems for them, might initiate a seizure in one with seizure disorders.

Even a "petit mal" seizure like you describe, can block a diver's ability to make critical decisions, and result in death.

It sounds like you enjoy free diving, and even then, I would suggest snorkeling or free diving only with a lifeguard's knowledge of your condition, so he/she can respond rapidly and keep a very close eye on you. Even freediving can cause nitrogen accumulation in your body, and the diving reflex might trigger more changes in your body that I do not know of. Hopefully someone else can give you more input into this area.

 

[DocVikingo]

IMHO, it probably is time to revisit the issues.

"Epilepsia. 2007 May;48(5):851-8.

Epilepsy and recreational scuba diving: an absolute contraindication or can there be exceptions? A call for discussion.

Almeida Mdo R, Bell GS, Sander JW.

Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy, UCL Institute of Neurology, and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, United Kingdom.

Recreational scuba diving is a popular sport, and people with epilepsy often ask physicians whether they may engage in diving. Scuba diving is not, however, without risk for anyone; apart from the risk of drowning, the main physiological problems, caused by exposure to gases at depth, are decompression illness, oxygen toxicity, and nitrogen narcosis. In the United Kingdom, the Sport Diving Medical Committee advises that, to dive, someone with epilepsy must be seizure free and off medication for at least 5 years. The reasons for this are largely theoretical. We review the available evidence in the medical literature and diving websites. The risk of seizures recurring decreases with increasing time in remission, but the risk is never completely abolished. We suggest that people with epilepsy who wish to engage in diving, and the physicians who certify fitness to dive, should be provided with all the available evidence. Those who have been entirely seizure-free on stable antiepileptic drug therapy for at least 4 years, who are not taking sedative antiepileptic drugs and who are able to understand the risks, should then be able to consider diving to shallow depths, provided both they and their diving buddy have fully understood the risks."

 

[Simon Wigglesworth]

Scuba diving and epilepsy

Regulations in many countries of the world in relation to scuba diving and epilepsy stop anyone who has epilepsy from diving until they are seizure free and off medication for five years.

I work for Epilepsy Action, a UK charity that supports people with epilepsy, and am also a BSAC Advanced Diver with over 500 UK and overseas dives.

Epilepsy Action does not encourage anyone or approve of anyone who dives outside the regulations of their dive organisation but we are investigating whether the current regulations are appropriate given the current levels of understanding of both epilepsy and scuba diving.

We are particularly interested to find out whether anyone with active or controlled epilepsy is currently diving, and whether the diving has had any impact on their epilepsy or their epilepsy on their diving.

If you have epilepsy and have ever scuba dived we would be grateful if you could complete the questionnaire which you can find at www.epilepsy.org.uk/scuba

Please be completely honest with us – we will not pass your details on to anyone else – but we do want to try to understand if and how diving may affect epilepsy and how epilepsy may affect diving.

It should only take 5 – 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Your help with this work is appreciated, thank you.

Please try and complete the questionnaire before the 20 October 2007.

I am not looking at this stage to start a debate on the forum about the merits of the current regulations in part the survey is an attempt to inform our, Epilepsy Action’s, view about these.

Once the results are in I will come back and post them and outline our views about the regulations when a debate may be of interest.

Thanks for any help you can give us.

Simon

 

[Simon Wigglesworth]

Hi

The questionnaire will be closing in a week or so - if anyone knows of anyone who has epilepsy and dives please pass the link on.

Thanks

Simon

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Simon,

Good stuff.

Please do post the results when the survey is complete.

Thanks,

DocVikingo

 

[Simon Wigglesworth]

Hi all

Further to my earlier posts about epilepsy and diving and my request for people who have epilepsy and do dive to complete a survey, I have published some brief results within an article about epilepsy and diving on Epilepsy Action’s website at this link epilepsy and diving

I would be pleased to hear any thoughts about epilepsy and diving, in particular whether there is support, or opposition, for a formal review of the current guidelines.

Many thanks

Simon

 

[DandyDon]

Very interesting Simon. The one epileptic diver I know dives to 130 ft that I've seen, to my knowledge does not inform all boat pick buddies - just pretends there is not problem. He was the only one on a liveaboard this summer not scheduled to dive Nitrox and we were planning deeper dives on the Texas Flower Gardens, so they pressured into a Discovery Nitrox course so he'd dive Nitrox all weekend, too. I wondered if this would increase his chance of a Oxtox hit, but have voiced plenty objections to him diving with us in the past - so let it go, and fortunately nothing happened this time.

 

[fairybasslet]

Very interesting Simon. The one epileptic diver I know dives to 130 ft that I've seen, to my knowledge does not inform all boat pick buddies - just pretends there is not problem.

He probably does that because of this:

have voiced plenty objections to him diving with us in the past -

He was the only one on a liveaboard this summer not scheduled to dive Nitrox and we were planning deeper dives on the Texas Flower Gardens, so they pressured into a Discovery Nitrox course so he'd dive Nitrox all weekend, too. I wondered if this would increase his chance of a Oxtox hit,

Not if he stays within the MOD.

-Oh, he has an underwater recovery business in ..

Was this necessary? I'm sure many people can figure out who he is now. There are many so-called "healthy" divers who are dangerous divers whom I would never want to dive with. I would take my chances with this dude who knows his limits than with some others who think they are the end all and be all of diving.