mild stroke & diving

[drbill]

Sapphire- A DAN physician said you could dive in 8 weeks? Wow. There was NO way I could have responsibly gone diving so quickly. It took months for me to recover and I was still "weak" (a relative term) 6 months later. However over the last 16 years there have been no problems whatsoever... I occasionally do 5-6 cold water dives in a day and 12-14 over the course of the weekend (Fri-Sun).

Dr. Bill

 

[sapphire]

you are doing great now and are still a diving maniac, Dr. Bill!!

Cdive, I still encourage you to talk to your own physicians about your options...

sapphire

 

[zeN||]

Isn't it really up to you if you want to take the risk of diving? You are young and apparently healthy, I don't think there is any question in todays fanatical safety culture that "checking the box" is going to unfairly exclude you from a lot of dives, at the least alot of harassment, do you really think all these hot dog divers write all of their health history down? (Do you do drugs, take medications, are you healthy, etc., did you party the night before, etc.)
That decision is really up to you, in the real world zeN

 

[cdiver2]

Sapphire I will be contacting Dan Monday and going to see another doc, this is mostly because of the pain in the shoulder with some movements as I understand "stroke" there is no pain involved so this may be something else that has symptoms of a stroke I dont know so 2nd opinion but no diving untill I am sure of what it is.
Also like to know will diving bring on a 2nd stroke or is it nixed just because it is a bad place to have one. if the later should I stop driving If I have a 2nd stroke while driving I could kill other people but diving only myself ?

 

[Saturation]

After 6-8 weeks, a stroke has stabilized and the likelihood of its enlarging or becoming blood filled, are substantially reduced. Secondarly complications, if they were to occur, would occur at this time.

The next issue, is why the stroke occurred. If it can be arrested and prevented from reocurring, then the stroke becomes a non-issue if one can perform the physical demands of diving, the brain has a unique way of rewiring its functions and 'heal' any deficits that are more normal if the stroke is small [such as a lacunar infarct].

If the issue for causing the stroke cannot be fixed, then it can happen again. It is this factor that can prevent one from diving. For example, commonly strokes are causes by hardened arteries, and if so, it means that divers cannot exert themselves without causing added problems, including a heart attack. It may not be possible for such a candidate to dive.

OTAH, if the stroke was caused by a drug or chemical, and said agent was then removed, then there should be no reason for a repeat stroke.