Pleurectomy & dving..

[adamdrew]

Hi There,
I am about to sign up to do a Padi diving course & yet to have a medical.
Way back in 1992 I had a full spontanious pneumophorax followed by another 1 month later. I am tall slim, fit etc...

That year I had a pleurectomy to fix the problem & have not looked back since.
I am very healthy & my lung capacity is very good due to swimming etc.

I remember my doctor advising against diving back then. Is this still the case?

Can you help?

Thanks

Adam

 

[tracydr]

This was discussed previously a couple of months ago. You have the ideal body type to be at risk for sp. Your sp makes it absolutely contraindicated to dive. Sorry!

 

[TSandM]

Spontaneous pneumothorax is considered to be one of the strongest contraindications to diving, because of the high recurrence rate. It's usually due to an anatomic abnormality in the underlying lung, and there may be multiple areas of abnormality. Pneumothorax at depth is potentially lethal, which is the reason for the advice against diving.

If you really want to do this, at the very least, you should undergo a high-resolution CT scan of your chest, to look for any other areas of blebs that might predispose you to recurrence. I realize you've had a pleurectomy on one side, and that hopefully would limit the degree to which the lung can collapse on that side, but you've got another side which may have abnormal lung in it, too.

Sorry to share such discouraging information.

 

[Web Monkey]

I know this is the boring answer you don't want, but nobody on the internet can diagnose you or give you an OK to dive.

Call DAN and ask for a referral to a diving doc near you, and talk to a real doctor who can do an actual exam and tell you what your choices are.

Terry

Hi There,
I am about to sign up to do a Padi diving course & yet to have a medical.
Way back in 1992 I had a full spontanious pneumophorax followed by another 1 month later. I am tall slim, fit etc...

That year I had a pleurectomy to fix the problem & have not looked back since.
I am very healthy & my lung capacity is very good due to swimming etc.

I remember my doctor advising against diving back then. Is this still the case?

Can you help?

Thanks

Adam

 

[adamdrew]

Thanks for all of that! My appointment to see a specialist diving doctor is in 1 & a half hours so here's me hoping all will be ok! Fingers crossed! Adam

 

[Sideband]

Let us know how it goes.

 

[adamdrew]

Whoo Hoo! Medically certified!
I did a fitness test, lung scan / xray & all good.
Got 700 on the blowy thing.
The doctor was a diving doc & she recomended me to stick to a max depth of 15 metres to be safe. (the pneumophorax was traumatic).

I am so happy as I really thought after the replies that I was knocked down @ the first hurdle!
Next stop the classroom on the 12th for the start of my diving career!
Happy days!

Cheers all.

Ad

 

[Web Monkey]

Congratulations! Enjoy diving!

Maybe you can get your health insurance company to send you to Bonaire to verify the doctors' depth recommendations.

Terry

Whoo Hoo! Medically certified!
I did a fitness test, lung scan / xray & all good.
Got 700 on the blowy thing.
The doctor was a diving doc & she recomended me to stick to a max depth of 15 metres to be safe. (the pneumophorax was traumatic).

I am so happy as I really thought after the replies that I was knocked down @ the first hurdle!
Next stop the classroom on the 12th for the start of my diving career!
Happy days!

Cheers all.

Ad