Pernicious Anemia and Diving

[lhuggins]

Hi, I am new to this forum. I was diagnosed with PA in August 2011 (58 year old male). I live in the US at an elevation of 4,000 feet above sea level. I tried to find out any information on scuba diving and PA but found out very little so I thought I would share my experience. I have been diving for over 10 years (usually one trip a year to the Caribbean). I had a diving trip to Bonaire planed the end of February 2012 and was concerned about how PA would effect my diving. I am self injecting (IM) about every other week and STARTING to get some of my strength back. I am still quite weak and nowhere near where I was before starting to feel the effects of PA. I contacted DAN to see if they could provide any information and they told me if my blood work was normal I should not have any problems. I was concerned enough I asked my diving buddies to please keep an eye on me while diving. I dive with nitrox (this trip ean of 32). I am sure we all understand that my experience could be completely different than others. I did about 12 dives to a max. depth of 90 feet and had no problems at all, my air consumption was about the same as it has been in the past. While in Bonaire I felt better than I have felt in a very long time. I do not know if it was the nitrox, the elevation (sea level) or something else but I was even able to climb the highest peak in Bonaire (almost 800 feet) without any problems. I hope my experience can help someone who is asking the same question about scuba and PA.