Kind of important question

[hazmatmess]

My future father-in-law loves the stories about the few dives I have done. I gave him that itch. Now that I got an UW camera and taking pictures and videos, he wants to take the class. His problem is that he suffers from vertigo. Does anyone know if diving would be hazardous for him and he shouldn't take the class? Does anyone suffer from vertigo and dive? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all,
Tim

 

[Walter]

Have him call DAN for a referral to a local physician.

 

[mred]

I agree he should talk to a physician who is knowledgable about diving ... my wife suffers from Vertigo(has had three attacks) and what she has been told by her doctor is they do not know what causes it ... anyway, she has motion sickness pills, and chews ginger chews and is careful about going head over heels ... but one can not prove a negative ... ie. does it work? who knows ... as these type of attacks come from out of the blue anyway ... (at least in her case). If he does decide to take the plunge, I would recommend he make a head up descent, watch out on the boat about sea sickness ... but the problem of couse ... is that if he had a vertigo attack at depth, it could be a real bad situation as they can make you violently ill ... an experienced diver with a good swim buddy could probably make it back up safely, but I am not sure I would want to take the risk ...

 

[wreckchick]

I second (third?) the recommendation to get a diving doc's opinion. I've had wicked vertigo at depth and although it didn't actually present a problem for me, outside of the obvious, it really did suck and I'd prefer to not do that again if I could help it. It might be a bit much for a new diver to deal with.

R

 

[jbd]

Ditto Walter's recommendation as well as the others.

 

[mase]

Agree with all above. I had the beginning of a vertigo attack at depth, started to get dizzy and light headed. I immediately got in a head up position and it passed but it scared the sh-- out of me.

 

[Mantaman]

A student I was working with recently started feeling strange during the safety stops and when we surfaced she said she could not think straight during the stop. The first thing I recommended was seeing a doc and he diagnosied a particular type of vertigo and prescribed some medication that the lady takes a few days before each dive trip. Seemed to work as the next trip all was well. Diving doctors should be consulted when something unusual occurs!