Learning to dive with diabetes

[Rampantmarine]

Some good information and responses for you TimFrancis. My daughter is 16 and recently OW certified this past year. She is going on 14 years with Type 1 and has a great history of BG management along with great control of her A1C. Having said that we follow the DAN guidelines when we go diving and have had to postpone dives due to BG levels. Her Endocrinologist noted that Scuba Diving is one thing she normally will not sign off on; however, she did sign after cautioning her on the increased risk levels associated with the sport and saying it was due to our daughters mature and responsible approach to BG management.

After 18 years without that condition, you will no doubt have some challenging times adapting. Your Endo will let you know if your ready.

Best of luck in your career.

 

[azshohan]

Thanks a lot for posting an important reply! I really got a path to solve this problem.
Really great! informative post at all.

 

[warmseth]

I am a 40 year old type 1 diabetic. I was diagnosed at 9. I've been on a pump since 1999. I've also been involved in other sports that require strict diabetic control and which might prove deadly if I were to fall unconscious, namely motorcycle road racing; passing out at 160+ miles per hour would not likely end well. As a previous poster mentioned, I test before between and after dives. Additionally I am on a continuous glucose monitor which tracks blood sugar trends. This way I can look at the graph on my pump and say "yes my blood sugar is 160 which is relatively high and way out of the range of hypoglycemia. However it was over 200 an hour ago so I know it's going down and may continue to go down. I will eat and do additional blood sugar tests to ensure my blood sugar has stopped going down before I dive." Then when I know my sugar level is no longer decreasing I will get in the water with blood sugar in the 150-175 range knowing that even unplugged from my pump the exercise of swimming can decrease my blood sugar. Then after my first session I will test it again. Surprisingly, If my first dive is at 8am and my last dive is at 3pm, I often find that my sugar is within 10 points of where it was when I first got in the water. In other words, diving seems to be almost exactly the amount of exercise my body needs to burn off what would normally be covered by my basal rate. The same is true of surfing for me too.