Is it safe for me to dive again?

[knotical]

Anecdotal:
I was diving with someone who had very similar symptoms several years back. She had just recovered from a cold as we began the trip. Her symptoms also occurred on the first day of diving; but she only did one dive before vomiting upon surfacing. She returned to her room, but had trouble avoiding bumping into walls. She then had a single chamber ride, and was fine the rest of the week (but did not dive further). The consensus seemed to be (iirc) that she had some sort of middle ear barotrauma, presumably because she hadn't really completely recovered from the cold. She returned to diving a few months later and has been fine since.

Were I you (and the PFO test is negative), I'd try a few benign dives, probably even starting in a pool, before I'd sign up for the Cocos trip.

best wishes,

k

 

[ScubaFeenD]

Also, I have taken a Nitrox Course and was hoping to do my checkout dive. Would this lessen the chances?

From what I understand, nitrox does not lessen the chances for decompression illness when all other things are equal. Further, having one episode of DCI probably puts you at a higher risk for another occurrence, although I have no data to back that statement up. I would speak to your doctor and DAN about this and make sure that it is safe to go at all.

That being said, if you do get the green light from your doc you should try and plan your dives conservatively (ie dive Air tables as shallower depths with nitrox) to help prevent further instances.

I wish you luck, and I am glad to hear that you are doing OK!

 

[MelindaM]

If all goes well, I hope to dive the springs in Florida this weekend. Thanks,

 

[MelindaM]

I spoke with Dan today, and they said I should have no problems diving again. Hopefully I will be diving this weekend. My instructor told me that on my first dive I'm not going deeper than 30 feet and we will take it from there.