high blood pressure

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

ishqueg

Guest
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
Savannah, GA
Hi every one. I just joined and I'm sure this question has been asked numerous times but once more would be appreciated. If one has high blood pressure then what level would be considered to high for diving? Also, what are the risks involved, warning symptoms, etc. Thanks.
 
The first step I would take (I'm borderline HBP, myself) is to consult with a doctor who is knowledgable in scuba diving. Your LDS or other shop should be able to reference you to one.
 
Hi ishqueg
The actual BP reading is only one factor that has to be considered. You also have to consider the cause, degree of control of your BP, any associated problems (heart disease, kidney disease, etc), effects of medications, and your exercise tolerance to name a few things. Certain drugs can limit your exercise tolerance and this may have to be tested witha treadmill test. gfisher4792 offers good advice, see a physician who understands diving.

Cheers
Peter
 
My guess is that high blood pressure in and of itself should not be a problem for diving unless it is extremely high where it can suddenly cause a stroke or if you prone to something like malignant hypertension where your blood pressure can go up very high and fast and can cause seizure.

generally speaking, if you have essential hypertention (ie high blood pressure that is not a result of some other disease such as tumor in your adrenal gland, blockages in your blood vessels in your kidney or some other hormonal imbalance etc) which is by far the most common type, if it is relatively well control, it should not post any extra problem. Blood, like water, is non compressible so your blood pressure should not go up by increasing pressure alone.
However your blood pressure will go up with exertion. Make sure you have good exercise tolerance, as mentioned in earlier post, some medication may give you less exercise tolerance, some may make you more dizzy. Some people are very sensitive to salt and make blood pressure go up, you are sure to get extra salt while diving.

I think if you talk to your MD about ability to exercise, limitation on physical activity, exertions etc, that should give you pretty good idea of what you can or cannot do.
 
I have hypertension and take two meds for it. You really can dive but you have to get your meds checked out. My personal doctor told me it was ok to dive with this one drug which name escapes me right now. Well you can't. While at depth I actually came very close to passing out. I got very very tired almost to the point of falling asleep. Returning to the surface didn't change things. My wife ended up towing me in for a long distance. I had trouble staying awake.

When onshore I checked my pulse, it was very slow and then we checked my BP which was very low.

Meds now changed, BP is usually normal and I have no more problems.
 
Medications used to treat hypertension are of concern if they limit the bodies ability to respond to cardiovascular stress. Of particular concern here are beta-blocking drugs. If such drugs are taken, an exercise stress test is advisable to determine their impact on exercise tolerance. This should only be done once on a stable medication regime with your blood pressure under control. Al's close call is warning enough.
 
Best advise is to consult your doctor... or better a physician experienced in Diving physiology...

Hope it turns out oOK
 
Thanks to all who responded. I'll let you know if I find any interesting tid bits. My hypertension is caused by a kidney problem and I'll be seing a nephrologist this week. I'll post any information that might be helpfull to others.
 
ishqueg once bubbled...
Thanks to all who responded. I'll let you know if I find any interesting tid bits. My hypertension is caused by a kidney problem and I'll be seing a nephrologist this week. I'll post any information that might be helpfull to others.

If you have renal artery stenosis ( blockages of artery to the kidney), check with your nephrologist about risk of flash pulmonary edema (sudden accumulation of fluid in your lung). I think RAS has increased risk of flash pulmonary edema, something that you definitely don't want to happen, even under the best situation, let alone diving. I can't remember off hand the percentage risk (it is quite low but higher than an average person) but certainly something that should be considered. Flash pulmonary edema does not occur with other high blood pressure associated with other kidney disease as far as I know.
 
My blood pressure is under control with Toperol XL, a beta blocker. I have noted no side effects with my 50 mg daily dose. However, one of the known side effects is that it can put you to sleep. A friend of mine could not tolerate it. Everyone is different.

Eric
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom