interested in diving but wanted to ask a few questions please

[champ198]

i have never tried diving but have wanted to try it out for a very long time but never did. my older brother is a certified diver and has been wanting me to try it so he has someone to dive with. i love the water we spend a lot of time on it boating but i will say i am not the strongest swimmer. i can swim underwater and on top of the water but have never been able to tread water at all. i also have had Asthma since i was little and when swimming i get a lot of pressure on my chest and it is hard to breath. was wondering if anyone has any idea or opinions on any of this.

also if i do go through with it and get into it some where other than local dive shops do you get gear and is it jsut as easy to buy online as most things or is it better to buy from a dive shop. a lot of stuff to try and learn but i am a pretty quick learner but thought i would pop in here and ask a few of you what you thought of some of these things and get some opinions from you all.

Thanks in advance looking forward to some ideas and opinions.

 

[Quero]

Hi champ198, and welcome to ScubaBoard!

I understand completely why your brother would like you to get certified--I'm sure you're close and it's just so great to have a dive buddy that you really love to be around even when not diving. And I understand why you'd want to think seriously about it considering that you feel the same way about him as he feels about you, plus, you'd probably love to make your brother happy.

However, the questions you are bringing up are really typical of the sort of thing people talk about when down deep they actually aren't at all sure they even want to learn to dive. In addition, you're bringing in longer-term worries, such as the cost of purchasing equipment. While I admit that it's impossible to know your mind through just one post on an internet discussion board, what you wrote actually raises several red flags for me as a scuba instructor. If you were coming to me for a course and you asked me all this stuff, I'd be watching you like a hawk for indications of anxiety while you were in the water.

Here's my advice: baby steps.
• Forget for the moment about getting certified and think only about trying diving once, in a pool. You will most likely need a doctor's clearance before you can even stick your head underwater on scuba because of your history of asthma (and if your asthma is exercise- or cold-induced, it's very possible that you won't be cleared to dive anyway), so that is even a baby step to take before the trial dive.
• Stop worrying about not being a champion swimmer. Really all you need for the trial dive is to be reasonably comfortable in the water, particularly since you can do it in a pool where you'll feel safer. There isn't any floating requirement for the trial dive, so don't worry about that at this point.
• If, after your trial dive, you think you'd enjoy diving, then take a few swimming classes to increase your confidence in the water, and make sure to get your swimming coach to teach you how to drown-proof.
• Once you've become more confident and comfortable with your water skills, then sign up for a one-on-one scuba course. People who exhibit particular anxiety do much better when their specific issues can be worked on with no pressure to keep from holding the rest of the class back.
• Once you're certified, do a private class with you, your brother, and your instructor to focus specifically on buddy skills. You want not only to be a good buddy to your brother, but also to have complete confidence that he'll be there for you when the two of you are diving together.
• Put off thinking about major equipment purchases until you've got a really good reason to buy, which could happen if you get hooked on scuba and end up doing a lot of diving, or if you decide you want a specific sort of equipment setup.

Let us know how it turns out!

 

[vincent54]

Number 1 is to get a Pulmonary specialist to make sure your Asthma is controlled. As a chronic disease ,you treat but never cure, and long term untreated asthma can lead to bullae on the lung. Bullae/blebs can lead to all sorts of barotrauma. As an asthma sufferer myself, my primary doctor would not okay my diving until I went to the Pulmonologist for a work over. With no sign of blebs, he gave me Albuturol as a pre dive to keep things open and Advair as a daily drug for keeping the inflammation down. DAN ,Divers Alert Network, had good advice when I called, and gave me the name of my current doctor. Have fun.

 

[spectrum]

That's a lot of ground to cover......
Asthma is not an automatic disqualification but it requires medical scrutiny. In general if it is triggered by cold or exertion you may be out of luck. If it's alergens you may find diving to be a delightful respite, scuba air is wicked clean! Any other triggers need to be evluated. Bottom line, see a dive savvy doctor.

As for your swimming observations it could be astma, normal water pressure that you are hypersensitive to noticing, fitness or someting else. Again, let the doctor evaluate.

You can spend the weekend reading threads crossing the merits of local and online buying. To a new diver the safest advice is to buy local when fit matters. If fit does not matter or you can try a friends item in advance then you decide who to patronize and support. Just remember that a network of dive shops (air providers) is vital to all this fun.

Pete

 

[champ198]

thank you all very much for the info.
i am very interested in trying t dive and have been looking the last few days for a place to try and get in a pool and there is one fairly close to me that i might go to and talk to them. i do appriciate the info from all of you on the Asthma issue that is my one thing i would like to get figured out as far as if it would hinder me in diving or not.
Quero...i really appriciate the info comming from an instructor and do understand where somethings might raise a few flags with you as you said. i have been around the water all my life but have never done anything such as scuba. all of our family was raised on the water since we were kids and i can swim pretty well...other than treading water thats what i have a problem with in swimming.
as far as with me buying equiptment thats jsut me being courious about it all just trying to get some ideas on diffrent things.
other than trying to dig around for days on this site do any of you know where there would be some info online i could read through? i know there is a ton of stuff on this site but it can be hard to weed through all of the posts especially from a beginners stand point.
again i really appriciate all of the info.

 

[Quero]

That's all great to hear! If you're comfortable in the water. learning to tread water shouldn't present too much difficulty. But as I wrote above, you don't need to demonstrate swimming and floating skills for a trial dive (although you will need to pass a swimming and a floating test for the certification course). You do need to be fit to dive, though, so definitely follow the advice so many gave you to seek a medical clearance from a doctor with specific expertise in dive medicine.

What kind of online info are you looking for? Maybe we can point you in the right direction even here on ScubaBoard to help you find something on whatever topic you're interested in. For example, there are discussions about asthma and diving rattling around here someplace....

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/410880-diving-asthma.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/3903-asthma-diving.html
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/diving-medicine/1580-diving-asthma.html

 

[champ198]

thank you very much for the info Quero...i will read through those. also any kind of info on anything for a beginner. weather it be info on how the equiptment works together or anything really. i will have to say i am one of those types that i like to find as much info about a hobby that i am interested in. weather it be about equiptment and how it all works together, things to look out for anykind of info is always helpfull.
i will have to check with DAN and get some info on the asthma thing and see about getting it checked out with a dive informative Dr.
there is a rather large Dive School about an hour from my house that is the largest in the area (so they say) and they have their own Pool and facility for instructing and doing certifications and they have a "test dive" that you can try and see if it is something that you might be interested in so i might have to go up there and check it out and ask a few questions as well while i am there. might take my brother along as well he would love to go i am sure.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I know of a book (see the 2nd line in my signature block) that will answer many of your questions and give you a whole list of other ones to ask any potential instructor and shop to make sure they are a good fit for you. That is should you be cleared medically to dive. Under some systems you may need to get medical clearance for a try dive. The last thing anyone wants is for you to have an asthma attack on a try dive and end up hurt or worse.

 

[Kitty_Kat]

I do believe that most places in the US require medical clearance for trial dives now...

To the OP, your first step should be to talk to a dive savvy doctor! I believe DAN (Diver's Alert Network) has a list of doctors floating around that are especially knowledgeable about health conditions and diving... I will go see if I can find it, or someone else on here might have it.

 

[TMHeimer]

Quero and others have covered it all. I will add that drown proofing is the only way I can float, being that my legs are so negatively buoyant. It is simple in that you just take a good breath and hold it (something you NEVER do while diving) and let your lungs float you. Let your head go under, which will probably happen. No "treading"/ kicking needed. Then grab another breath as needed. You can pretty much do this forever with almost no physical strain, but I don't know if it would affect asthma at all.