nicotine patches

[SeaHorseWoman]

I'm trying to quit smoking, motivated by wanting to do a Fundies course in a few months. I'm using patches----question is, can I leave them on while diving? Is there any specific danger absobing nicotine at depth?

 

[DivesWithTurtles]

Is there any specific danger absobing nicotine at depth?

Naaa... I have a smoke or two at depth all the time.

 

[mstevens]

I'd recommend removing your patch before the dive and placing a new one after you dry off. After all, you wouldn't have been smoking during your dive under any circumstances, so you won't experience any more withdrawal than you would have before you became a nonsmoker. Nicotine raises heart and metabolic rates, so might increase your air consumption a bit. Absorption rates can increase when the patches get hot (such as under a wetsuit. You might have difficulty getting it to stay on underwater anyway.

 

[hgroberts]

Yes, atleast top 24 hours before a dive, this prevents tar build up that could casuse a reverse block in your lungs(but you allready know that)

 

[neophyte]

We're very lucky to have as many helpful medical professionals here as we do. They're quite the resource and and I, for one, am grateful.

I'm not one, so I look forward to hearing their their opinion(s), but can only share my personal experience.

I quit smoking at dive #five, using nicotine patches. I followed the full course, stepping down from 21mg to 14mg to 7mg and then none as recommended. I left the patches on 24 hours a day (I LOVED the intense and vivid dreams, but not everyone does) including under my wetsuit while diving.

They often stayed in place, but even when they didn't it was no worse than wearing them while sweating heavily, which often involved them sliding around and ending up lower than they started, but still stuck. They also tended to stick as strongly as ever once they dried back off.

I'd estimate they dove with me twenty-something to maybe thirty times, to a max depth of 101 feet. I never noticed any problems.

For whatever it's worth, it's been ~11 months now, and I still haven't smoked any cigarettes.

However you go about quitting, good luck. There aren't too many nicer things you can do for yourself and those who love you, but you knew that already.

Adam

 

[Dive-aholic]

I know someone who dove with a nicotine patch and had to call the dive when he hit 70'. He felt very lightheaded, dizzy, and just plain bad. First and only time he felt like that on a dive. It sounds like the pressure caused the patch to release too much nicotine. I'd go without.

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi SeaHorseWoman,

You may wear the patch when bathing, showering, swimming or soaking in a hot tub ( http://familydoctor.org/191.xml ). The drug delivery system should not be affected by exposure to water or pressure.

You may find the following article informative:

Nicotine Replacement and Diving:

"As yet there has been no study of nicotine replacement (e.g., Nicorette gum, NicoDerm CQ patch) and diving.

The side effects of nicotine replacement usually are mild to nonexistent at recommended doses. Symptoms like racing heart, and abdominal pain/nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, visual/hearing abnormality, headache, flushing and confusion can occur in very sensitive individuals or in those who are getting too much nicotine.

Obviously, smoking while on nicotine replacement or using more than one replacement system at a time is not a wise idea as symptoms such as these could have implications for safe scuba. For example, racing heart could contribute to diver panic or visual/hearing abnormalities, headache and confusion could be incorrectly attributed to the drug when they are actually caused by DCI, or vice versa.

Since the medication is absorbed as a chemical and not as a gas, this removes one source of concern about changes in drug activity associated with depth. Moreover, patch systems are designed to function normally while wet, although they may fall off and need to be replaced.

With very deep scuba on air or with nitrox diving, nicotine replacement raises the theoretical concern of increased oxygen toxicity risk due to the stimulant effects of the drug. While this very likely is an insignificant risk at best, at the least nicotine replacement would not appear to pose any greater risk than would the regular use of cigarettes during a dive trip.

Whatever medications are taken by the diver, it is strongly recommended that they be given an adequate topside trail to observe for worrisome side effects and used only according to directions.

This is educational only and does not constitute or imply a doctor-patient relationship. It is not medical advice to you or any other individual and should not be construed as such.

© Doc Vikingo 2005"

This is educational only and does not constitute or imply a doctor-patient relationship. It is not medical advice to you or any other individual, and should not be construed as such.

Regards,

DocVikingo

 

[SeaHorseWoman]

Thanks everyone. Gona do it----wish me success.......

 

[melissassm]

I'm trying to quit smoking, motivated by wanting to do a Fundies course in a few months. I'm using patches----question is, can I leave them on while diving? Is there any specific danger absobing nicotine at depth?

I had the same question, as I quit this summer, and used the patch too.

I took it off for the first few dives, but it was a shame to waste a $5 patch each time. I forgot to take it off on a few other dives, and I was fine. I think the only hazzard would be if you sweat a lot in your suit, because I know when you sweat you absorb the nicotine quicker.

Oh, and I love the crazy vivid dreams too! Sleeping was an adventure!

Best of luck!