diving while taking medicine

[clive francis]

As more and more of us hunt for the virgin dive sites in the more untouched areas, we will open ourselves up to new diseases, unsean before.

my question/s is:

how do the medical profession expect to cope with these when they still have trouble treating disease that have been around for hundreds of years in some cases.

the most prolific one at the moment is HIV/aids, they can practically stop you getting now with medication if you get help straight away (was talking to a nurse down the pub the other night who specialises in HIV, and she got pricked and took the medication and is ok), they can slow it down etc.

she also said they have to take a huge amount of tablets every day (they must rattle like hell when they walk), there must be people out there who dive and take this medication?

every dive mag you read they have a medical sect., and we are always being told that you can't dive with this and that, how do these people get on?

the nurse said Oh yeah they carry on as normal........i said i don't think so!

 

[BillP]

clive francis once bubbled...

my question/s is:

how do the medical profession expect to cope with these when they still have trouble treating disease that have been around for hundreds of years in some cases.

Howdy Clive:

I'm not sure that I understand what you're asking. Is your question along the lines of the, "If we can put a man on the Moon, why can't we bring peace, order, happiness, and prosperity to all of mankind" kind of question?

How to cope with new diseases? Well, as best you can. Sorry Clive, medicine (and life in general) ain't perfect and it ain't that simple either. Be nice if it was though, wouldn't it?

HTH,

Bill

 

[DocVikingo]

Chatting with nurses in the pub is a good thing. Posting dive medicine questions from there is not.

Cheers.

DocVikingo

 

[clive francis]

i know the question was long and varried, but the main one was what the nurse was talking about

 

[BillP]

I gather from your original post that the nurse said the there are treatments for HIV infection that are effective in some cases, that it can involve taking large amount of medicines, that people continue to dive with HIV, and that some people on medication for HIV infections seem to carry on "as normal". All of that sounds good to me.

You can read more about HIV and diving on DAN's website at:

http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/faq/faq.asp?faqid=139

and on Scubadoc's website at:

http://scuba-doc.com/AIDSadv.htm

HTH,

Bill

 

[scubadoc]

Hi Clive:

I read something recently about why the chimpanzee is relatively immune to HIV. It seems that the researcher found evidence that there was an epidemic of 'chimpanzee HIV/AIDS" several million years ago and that the chimpanzee race was all but wiped out except for a few who had developed some kind of genetic immunity.

Could it be possible that the same thing will happen to the human race, wiping out those of us who persist in risky social and sexual activities that increase the risk of the disease?

DocV, chatting it up with the wrong nurse in the pub just might be one of those risky activities.

There are a lot of diseases that we haven't "cured" but have under various levels of control, such as malaria, tb, cancer, asthma, allergies, and on and on. HIV is just the next in line that an embattled medical profession is dealing with.

 

[John Reinertson]

If your question or curiosity was more about treatments to reduce risk of HIV infection after exposure, the answer is yes, there are protocols that reduce the risk a good amount. They do not eliminate risk and are most effective when used right after exposure.
Is HIV/AIDS conquered? Heck No. We can do more for this viral disease than almost any other virus we treat, but the treatments are incomplete, imperfect, and they control the disease without curing it.

We don't know yet how long we can keep it at bay in infected individuals. We don't know when the virus will mutate again to develop resistance to our current medicines.

We do what we can, but don't let anyone fool you that it is conquered or that exposures can be risk-free.

Be Careful out there,

John

 

[John Reinertson]

As I reread your post, The other question we haven't answered for you (unless one of my colleagues beats me to it again) is can a patient with HIV dive?

The answer there is yes, they can dive, but their risks depend on their state of health. A patient with good immune function who is HIV positive may well look and feel completely healthy and can dive unrestricted.

One with varying degrees of impairment or pulmonary scars from infections/ procedures or severe weakness and weight loss would be at a much higher risk and probably shouldn't pursue diving.

John

 

[clive francis]

scubadoc once bubbled...
Hi Clive:

I read something recently about why the chimpanzee is relatively immune to HIV. It seems that the researcher found evidence that there was an epidemic of 'chimpanzee HIV/AIDS" several million years ago and that the chimpanzee race was all but wiped out except for a few who had developed some kind of genetic immunity.

Could it be possible that the same thing will happen to the human race, wiping out those of us who persist in risky social and sexual activities that increase the risk of the disease?

DocV, chatting it up with the wrong nurse in the pub just might be one of those risky activities.

There are a lot of diseases that we haven't "cured" but have under various levels of control, such as malaria, tb, cancer, asthma, allergies, and on and on. HIV is just the next in line that an embattled medical profession is dealing with.

i thought malaria was on the increase again as it had grown resistant, and the same can be said for TB, trouble is people never finish their medication so bugs build up a resistance.

 

[clive francis]

scubadoc once bubbled...
Hi Clive:

I read something recently about why the chimpanzee is relatively immune to HIV. It seems that the researcher found evidence that there was an epidemic of 'chimpanzee HIV/AIDS" several million years ago and that the chimpanzee race was all but wiped out except for a few who had developed some kind of genetic immunity.

I read this too, trouble is we have sex for fun and monkeys don't, so we have a chance to breed ourselves to death.

Could it be possible that the same thing will happen to the human race, wiping out those of us who persist in risky social and sexual activities that increase the risk of the disease?

I have to disagree, some poeple are infected through no fault of their own, and when you are born with it because one of your parents, you had no choice.

in my local paper, 2 guys caught Hep from getting tatoos