I have a cold and dive next week !

[steve_r0binson]

Hi,

I have just caught a cold and i'm blocked up, with a runny nose (yuk). It started yesterday and I am going to Sharm on Sunday. Is there anything you divers know about that will get rid of it by Sunday? I have been looking foward to this for a long while and do not want to miss out.

 

[Diver0001]

steve_r0binson once bubbled...
Hi,

I have just caught a cold and i'm blocked up, with a runny nose (yuk). It started yesterday and I am going to Sharm on Sunday. Is there anything you divers know about that will get rid of it by Sunday? I have been looking foward to this for a long while and do not want to miss out.

Get lots of rest, take your vitamines, eat well and drink lots of fluids and each chicken soup...

Avoid coffee, alchohol etc and hope for the best.

Did I say get lots of rest?

R..

 

[Amanda]

Last time I dove telling myself "Oh well, that's OK, it's just a little flu, come on, look at the viz you're gonna get today..."...

I couldn't equalize on the way up. Terrible experience, as NOTHING (staying as the same depth, going a little shallower, going a little deeper) could make the pain go away. At the end I had vertigos...

So this is obviously not an advice on medecine to cure the flu (cause I don't know any ) but if you can't make it go TOTALLY away (even a little sneezing is too much), don't dive...

 

[steve_r0binson]

Things dont look to good then! Thanks for the advice. Summing it all up I should start having Chicken a la Orange soup. and sleep in between ! will put some stuff on my web site www.seabubble.co.uk when I get back. Its just a template at the moment.

 

[Jonathan]

feel for you mate - I had to bin the last day of my last holiday due to a cold!!

I'd go with Diver0001's advice - plus call in sick, I hear it's cold back home at the moment and you don't want to be going outside...

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Just a warning: Do not dive with a head cold. I did that in Cozumel and broke a bone in my sinus trying to equalize. I had an emphysema of the eye that swelled it to the size of a golf ball. I spent two days looking like I went fifteen rounds with the champ. I would head to the doctor to make sure its not treatable flu. If its a cold I would start a regimen of degongestants to help clear it as soon as possible. Good luck and don't be stupid!

 

[jepuskar]

While Bonaire in November I dove with slight congestion. By the 3rd full day of diving I developed a reverse block and could not equalize at all. Went to the doc down there and he gave me prescription Sudafed along with Afrin which is nasal spray.

I was only out of diving for a full day but it seemed like an eternity. The next day all was good and so was the rest of the trip.

I am going back in about 3 weeks and the drugs are coming with. I might even start taking some a day or two before I go just to be on the safe side.

Be careful, dont try forced equalizing.

Jason

 

[nickjb]

I had a similar situation last time I went to the Sinai. Lemsip Max Strength before the trip and Vit C seemed to help. I still missed a couple of days diving. Snorkelling was very good though.

Even after the cold had gone I was still very snotty and couldn't equalise. After a GOOD clearout brought on by snorting salt water I was completely fine. It was a rapid transformation (although you do not want to see what came out of my nose )

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

nickjb once bubbled...
After a GOOD clearout brought on by snorting salt water I was completely fine. It was a rapid transformation (although you do not want to see what came out of my nose )

Yah man! Da tings we do for diving!

 

[kelpmermaid]

but there is a product here called Zicam - it's a nasal zinc gel that can work wonders if you start early.