Help! Diving with chest cartilage inflammation ?

[agnies03]

I was diagnosed not long ago with chest cartilage inflammation (costochondritis), and I'm worried that I could not dive during my diving trip 2 weeks from now.. I hope to get some advice from the great diver community here regarding this, since I'm quite new at diving and since my doctor doesn't know much about diving he basically said to avoid sharp movement and to take some Advil. Can I still do some diving or is it risky/dangerous?
I did an x-ray of my lungs and everything was normal, I'm in good health otherwise, no breathing problems, and occasionally do some exercise. The symptoms of the imflammation are occasional chest pain and I don't have any breathing difficulties.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ronbeau]

I was diagnosed not long ago with chest cartilage inflammation (costochondritis), and I'm worried that I could not dive during my diving trip 2 weeks from now.. I hope to get some advice from the great diver community here regarding this, since I'm quite new at diving and since my doctor doesn't know much about diving he basically said to avoid sharp movement and to take some Advil. Can I still do some diving or is it risky/dangerous?
I did an x-ray of my lungs and everything was normal, I'm in good health otherwise, no breathing problems, and occasionally do some exercise. The symptoms of the inflammation are occasional chest pain and I don't have any breathing difficulties.

Thanks for your help!

Call DAN (Divers Alert Network)
1-800-446-2671 or 1-919-684-2948, Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm (ET)

They can either advise you directly or point you to a diving physician who can give you a qualified medical opinion.

 

[HilaryRN71]

Agree 100% that you should call DAN. Hopefully when you were learning to dive, your local shop educated you on DAN and the benefits of membership. If not, log on to www.diversalertnetwork.org. A membership is cheap, it covers you in the case of decompression sickness (your health insurance most likely does not) You might hear some dissenting opinions, but I think DAN is a good organization and has done alot to improve diver safety.

So log on if not already a DAN member, and they can give you some advice. As a very informal advice, (ie not as a medical professional but as a fellow diver) if you are not currently experiencing pain or symptoms, it should be fine to dive. The only thing that I would keep in mind is that if you are having a flare up of the inflammation that causes costochondritis, you might have a tendency to breathe shallow, which would not bode well for diving. The illness itself is musculoskeletal, and not pulmonary or cardiac. But it can cause some hypoventilation due to the pain...so be careful. And enjoy!!!

 

[agnies03]

Thank you for the replies so far. I've already contacted DAN and will sign up for membership and insurance before diving.

They basically said that as long as it doesn't interfere with breathing I might be able to dive, but they recommended that I see a diving specialist doctor; the problem is that since I'm leaving in 10 days I won't be able to get an appointment in time..

I'm worried about this but I guess I'll try some diving and see from there..hopefully someone here has experienced the same problem or can tell me more specifically about the interference/impact gravity of this inflammation with diving (as breating)..

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

I'm a cardiologist with an interest in diving medicine. Let me preface this by saying for the record (and any lurking malpractice attorneys!), I don't know anything about your medical history and I would recommend your seeing a diving medicine specialist before diving.

That having been said, the pain of costochrondritis may be aggravated by the weight of wearing a cylinder and BCD but there should not be any increased risk of a diving injury per se from costochondritis. Treatment is the same as any other joint inflammation -- rest (if possible) and anti-inflammatory agents (such as Advil, etc) or Tylenol, assuming you have no contraindications to taking them. Shore diving with its need to walk in your gear would probably cause more discomfort than boat diving, especially if you could get the crew to let you sit on the back platform, put on your gear and then do a controlled seated entry into the water rather than a giant stride. Upon returning to the boat, maybe they would let you take your gear off in the water and hand it up to them. Again, this would put less stress on your chest wall and should limit the discomfort. All of that being said, 10 days of treatment with NSAIDs like Advil before leaving on the trip will probably cure the problem and this will be simply an academic discussion. Good luck!

Check with a diving doc or your primary physician. If I can be of any other help, PM me.

Doug

 

[BurBunny]

While it's a bit different, I was diagnosed with Tietze Syndrome when I was 19 (hate to admit it, but that was 21 years ago). Similar symptoms, though a bit of a different cause (and usually more localized swelling as well as systemic inflammation). Because I was later diagnosed with fibromyalgia and lupus, it may have been misdiagnosed costochondritis. My docs never felt the need after I was diagnosed with the other two conditions to clarify the initial chest issue, as it really wouldn't have changed treatment.

My rheumotologist is well versed in dive med (his brother is an instructor) and his advise to me is that as long as I feel up to it, it's fine. However, I do not have a BC with cross chest straps and I take off my BC in the water to minimize stress to the area.

However, your condition may be different, your medical history is different, and your experiences may vary. This is from my history and what I've encountered.

In general, and this is my own experience only, I find that inflammatory processes seem to be eased when I dive and I feel better, as long as I don't over exert. Don't be afraid to ask for assistance with equipment. Being a stud (or stud chick as the case may be) isn't worth pain.

Oh, I do giant strides, front rolls and back rolls with no problem. Even when I'm very tender to the touch. Entries have never been an issue for me, only exits. But if I'm doing a giant stride entry, and the tank is at all recessed (any resistance to standing), I do ask for a mate to help me up. After that, it's all good.

Hope you are able to get in with a doc to get some good answers for you, and that your diving is as painless as I've experienced. Let me know if I can answer any questions from a personal perspective.

 

[TSandM]

You don't have any information about age in your profile (and it isn't possible to give good, specific medical advice over the internet, anyway). My one concern would be what the certainty of the diagnosis is. If you are young, have a history that suggests overuse or stress to your chest wall, and have an exam that is entirely convincing that this is, in fact, costochondritis, then you are almost certainly okay to moderate your activities according to your symptoms -- in other words, if it hurts a lot, don't do it, and if it doesn't hurt, it's okay.

But diagnosing chest pain can be difficult, and if you are of advanced age or have any risk factors for anything more serious (diabetes, autoimmune disease) then it would be well worth doing whatever your physician thinks is necessary to nail down the diagnosis of your pain before going underwater, at least in my opinion.

 

[agnies03]

Thank you so much everybody for your quite helpful comments/suggestions, I'm relieved to hear opinions that somehow converge to similar conclusions. I'm in my twenties and never had a problem with chest pain or any other serious health problem, so I guess it would be safe for me to start with a shallow dive and see from there..

I'll really gonna try to see a diving doctor this week since 2 days ago my throat started aching and I'm afraid that I'm having a cold/flu, which would be dangerous to dive with from what I learned..