Migrains and diving

[jbisjim]

Last night was class one of the pool sessions. A student was having some anxiety about pool class, and she got a migrain headache. I had noticed that her buddy (her fiancé) was pushing her a little bit. I explained to him that the golden buddy rule is we do not push our buddies to do things that we are not ready for or comfortable with.

Back to the Migrain, the student explained to me that she can receive migrains from time to time. She stated that medically no one can explain these migrains and that medication is really not an option for her. She states that she just deals with it.

I serperated her buddy and took her aside and worked with her one on one, and took things really slow. The anxiety seemed to lesson, and her humor soon returned. She was able to complete regulator clearing, and mask clearing, and swimming skills with good proficiency.

While I personally would not dive with a migrain, she deals with migrains regularly and seems to handle it ok.

Do people dive with migrains?
Should you?
Would you?

Any information would be helpful

 

[cowprintrabbit]

Note: I am not a doctor, and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

That said, I have severe migraines and dive. I've never gotten one underwater; I don't think I'd do a dive if I had one beforehand.

Does her doctor know she's diving? I had to get a letter from my neurologist before Sandals would let me take the course.

 

[SueMermaid]

I get migraines very often, once or twice a week. They are not all debilitating, just some of them. Mostly, I can work and function, and have been getting them for as long as I can remember. It was only very recently that I got a prescription for Imitrex, the Miracle Drug. It's the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed, it takes the headache away just like that. Whammo.

Anyway, I digress. Everyone's experiences with migraines are different. I have had them while diving. (funny, diving works almost as well as Imitrex!)
They are not necessarily a big deal.

 

[jbisjim]

Her doctor has given a verbal ok, written ok is supposidly on the way.

 

[jbisjim]

I get migraines very often, once or twice a week. They are not all debilitating, just some of them. Mostly, I can work and function, and have been getting them for as long as I can remember. It was only very recently that I got a prescription for Imitrex, the Miracle Drug. It's the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed, it takes the headache away just like that. Whammo.

Anyway, I digress. Everyone's experiences with migraines are different. I have had them while diving. (funny, diving works almost as well as Imitrex!)
They are not necessarily a big deal.

thanks for sharing your experience

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

I too suffer from migraines pretty regularly, but like others, I have not had one come on while underwater, nor would I go underwater while suffering from one. Mine tend to share some similarities with cluster headaches, and center behind one eye or the other. I know genetics plays a part in my position, as my father suffered from these all his life.

Imitrex injections are also my 'wonder drug', as well as Zomig tablets. The physician who properly diagnosed me (finally! at age 31! some years ago) was also a migraine sufferer and a scuba diver, and he signed my medical releases.

I did a search on migraine when I first joined the board, and there are differing opinions (you can see if you do a similar search), and DAN info as well. But, my position is these medications are to help me lead a more 'normal' life, and scuba diving is part of the definition of a 'normal' life activity to me.

So far, no one has come forth on the board with actual medical data on migraines and diving that I've seen - just opinion.

 

[gasgirl]

This is taken from the DAN Diving Medicine FAQ:

"Migraine poses little danger to divers. Even those with frequent migraine do not usually experience an increased incidence while diving. An elevated level of carbon dioxide in the blood, which occurs with decreased ventilation and breath-holding/hypoventilation, can theoretically precipitate a migraine headache because carbon dioxide (CO2) causes vasodilation in the brain. Increased levels of oxygen in the blood (which occurs in diving as well as in hyperbaric chambers) has been used with variable success to treat severe migraine, because it is a powerful brain vasoconstrictor.

Very complex migraine, with visual loss or paralysis, might lead to confusion in diagnosing a diving accident. However, little data exists to suggest that migraine poses a significant hazard to divers. Severe and incapacitating migraine headaches while in the water would create a hazard for the individual. People with severe and incapacitating migraine should probably not dive."


There is a wide spectrum of severity for migraines and the first step is to have a medical opinion. Apparently in Australia, the physician's responsibility is to inform the diver of the risks and ultimately the diver takes responsibility for deciding whether he/she wishes to accept those risks and dive. There are diving medicine advocates who believe North America should be following this trend as well.

 

[flashover604]

If the diver has migraines with "aura", a slight loss of some parts of their vision, they may want to have a test done to rule out a PFO, or Patent Foramen Ovale. This is a small hole in the wall of the heart going from the left to right ventricle. One in three people has a PFO. Research has not ruled out diving with a PFO. What it does is let nitrogen bubbles go from the left ventricle directly to the right, bypassing the lungs, therefore not off-gassing the nitrogen bubbles. This could explain why some people get bent from relatively safe dives. A person with a PFO can have a simple surgery performed to repair the hole. I'm not a medical professional by any means, I found this info in the British dive magazine DIVE.

 

[jbisjim]

Good information.. thanks