Diving with asthma and bronchitis

[scorpenesub]

Hi, just checking if anyone with the above condition, taking regular maintenance medication, and is still diving by falsifying declarations on medical conditions to dive centres?

I want to know if my buddy is taking unnecessary risks. According to him, his consultant cardiologist says he can dive within his own comfort zone. As such only the patient knows his own limit. Yet he accompanies me to depths up to 40 metres, though such deep dives are rare.

I have always been worried about one scenario: What if he gets an asthma attack at 33 metres say 20 minutes into the dive? My buddy says he averts this by taking his puffs 10 minutes just before the dive....

What is the contingency plan for this? Please advice so I can be prepared....

Thanks...

 

[spectrum]

There are many prior threads on this to read while you wait for responses.

Of course plenty of dives falsify their medical history when filling out waivers. The risks range from voiding life insurance to putting others at risk.

Asthma is often not a black and white contra indicator to diving. As long as it is not cold or exertion induced a doctors clean bill of health to dive is often valid. My wife has allergy induced asthma and as long as it is controlled she's good to go. On waivers they will sometimes question her and then she explains the details and has been cleared to dive. There is always the risk on an ultraconservative operator of course.

As this persons buddy have a right to understand the details of his condition and decide accordingly.

Pete

 

[ronbeau]

Hi, just checking if anyone with the above condition, taking regular maintenance medication, and is still diving by falsifying declarations on medical conditions to dive centers?

I want to know if my buddy is taking unnecessary risks. According to him, his consultant cardiologist says he can dive within his own comfort zone. As such only the patient knows his own limit. Yet he accompanies me to depths up to 40 meters, though such deep dives are rare.

I have always been worried about one scenario: What if he gets an asthma attack at 33 meters say 20 minutes into the dive? My buddy says he averts this by taking his puffs 10 minutes just before the dive....

What is the contingency plan for this? Please advice so I can be prepared....

Thanks...

I am not in the medical professional but it seems to me that permission to dive with regard to asthma would come from a pulmonary doctor as opposed to a cardiologist.

Am I missing something here?

 

[simpkinsbd]

I have always been worried about one scenario: What if he gets an asthma attack at 33 metres say 20 minutes into the dive? My buddy says he averts this by taking his puffs 10 minutes just before the dive....

What is the contingency plan for this? Please advice so I can be prepared....

Thanks...

Hi - just a pulmonary critical care pharmacist chiming in here. I would consider it an interesting question to pose the following: What happens when the "puffs" wear off. As I'm sure many are aware, the duration of action for many inhalers vary from patient to patient, and from day to day. For instance, serevent has a half life of about 12 hours, while atrovent and albuterol can vary from minutes to hours. Just something to think about when diving with your friend. It would be helpful for them to see a pulmonologist or a physician familiar with diving physiology... Just my 0.02...

 

[Papa_Bear]

SCUBA diving has grown in popularity, with millions of divers enjoying the sport worldwide. However, people with asthma are generally advised not to dive. This advice is ignored by large numbers of asthma sufferers.

In a new study, Israeli researchers reviewed the scientific literature to evaluate the risks asthmatics take when diving.

They found that although there is some indication that asthmatics may be at an increased risk of pulmonary barotrauma (burst lung), the risk seems to be small.

Thus, under the right circumstances, they concluded that patients with asthma can safely dive without any apparent increased risk of an asthma-related event. They added that decisions on whether or not diving is hazardous must be made on an individual basis and be founded upon an informed decision shared by both patient and physician.

Journal Reference: Sade K et al. [Asthma and scuba diving: can...[PMID: 17476937]

 

[scorpenesub]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. Can I have more comments from diving doctors in Scuba Board? Thanks

 

[fisherdvm]

SSI has a very complete and thorough asthmatic evaluation guideline that was posted once before on this board. My guess is if your asthma is seasonal and allergen specific, you might be OK. But if it is cold, exercise induced, and frequent, diving is probably something you should avoid. Even if you passed your asthma diving eval with flying color in September, who know what lurks when you are at 100 ft, cold water, and swimming against the current in Jan after sucking up diesel fuem from your dive boat. Only you can make the decision with honest answer and a good diving medicine workup. Blowing an alveoli and having a stroke is not worth it.

Oh, there was an underwater device to dispence metered asthma dose.....

 

[fisherdvm]

Here is an extensive asthma eval. I believe that DocVikingo spoke well of the physician who wrote it.

www.scubasciences.com/pdf files/Medical Stuff/ssi-asthmatic information.pdf

 

[Ed Palma]

As a diver with mild, intermittent bronchial asthma, I usually take a precautionary prophylactic puff from my inhaler prior to a dive. I've never had an attack while diving - even under high current conditions. I would caution however that I'm a firm believer of diving within my limits - I would definitely thumb a dive if I thought the conditions weren't right, or if I felt uncomfortable with my physical state at the moment. It would be unfair to myself and to my dive buddies if I continued with a dive, even if felt I would be a potential hindrance to the execution of a dive.

 

[scorpenesub]

Thanks for your feedback fisherdvm and Doc Ed...