Sudafed

[Wijbrandus]

A month ago I went diving with my buddies, and they freaked out on the surface. This was after about a fifty or sixty yard surface swim. I posted the story in Near Misses a while back.

Well, a week ago, my friend told me he thinks he knows why they both panicked within moments of each other. He says he read a study that indicates sudafed will cause increased anxiety and can cause panic attacks in divers. Both him and his wife took sudafed that morning.

Has anyone heard anything to this effect? I never take anything before a dive. However, I'm leary of diving again with these friends until I know they aren't going to panic on me again, and I'm not sure if I want to believe this, or if it's a line to excuse the panic. It was their first dive post-cert, and I'm sure they were already a bit nervous.

 

[O2BBubbleFree]

http://www.dansa.org/medical/medication.html

"SAFE" MEDICATION

Sudafed: Contains PSEUDOEPHEDRINE (related to adrenaline) and acts as a decongestant. Should only be used while diving to improve existing eustachean tube function (40-60 minutes before a dive) and not to treat colds or flu to make diving possible where it may result in a serious REVERSE EAR BLOCK. It is also an essential agent in the treatment of ear barotrauma.
Dosage: 60mg 3 x /day for 5 days.
Side effects: Anxiety, insomnia, headache, tremors, rapid pulse. Large doses may cause dizziness and nausea and even urinary retention.

Seems to me increased anxiety and rapid pulse could contribute to (or be mistaken for) panic.

My wife got a rapid pulse after taking sudafed, so she stays away from it (and she's not even a diver). I, on the other hand, am on a constant diet of Sudafed to try to keep my 'tubes open (yes, even while diving).

But, I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

 

[Wijbrandus]

Ah, but did you stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night?

I appreciate the info. Seems there might be something to this after all.

Got to wonder what other stuff people take every day that can have adverse effects in a diving situation. Makes me glad I swore off coffee before any diving, despite my addiction to it.

 

[fgray1]

I had a bad reaction and it scared to heck out of me.
http://www.scubaboard.com/t52734-.html
Here's the link.

 

[DenverDiver]

Oxygen toxicity is a primary concern of Nitrox divers.

There is some evidence that over-the-counter decongestants and some other drugs accelerate the onset of CNS toxicity.

 

[RiverRat]

A month ago I went diving with my buddies, and they freaked out on the surface. This was after about a fifty or sixty yard surface swim. I posted the story in Near Misses a while back.

Well, a week ago, my friend told me he thinks he knows why they both panicked within moments of each other. He says he read a study that indicates sudafed will cause increased anxiety and can cause panic attacks in divers. Both him and his wife took sudafed that morning.

Has anyone heard anything to this effect? I never take anything before a dive. However, I'm leary of diving again with these friends until I know they aren't going to panic on me again, and I'm not sure if I want to believe this, or if it's a line to excuse the panic. It was their first dive post-cert, and I'm sure they were already a bit nervous.

There may be some truth to this, at least for some of us.
I went diving last weekend in RI and popped a 12-hour tab just before my dive. Advise is to take it an hour or so before a dive if you take it so you don't get a RUSH of meds, but I forgot. Seems after you first take it you get a PEAK then it levels off. I had an issue where I was in new gear (first time in salt, 7mm, steel tank etc.) and was slighly underweighted. I was hanging on a rock to assist in keeping me around 15fsw, in surge (something new to me) and my mask was flooding bad. Quite a bit of task loading and I started to feel pretty anxious. After I fixed my mask I relieved it some (the anxiety) but I wonder if the meds "intensified" what may have been a "normal" reaction to increased task loading? I only take the med as I sometimes have flakey eustacian tubes. I also take Nasonex which is a topical steroidal type drug to keep nose stuffiness down. I may stick with this as it does not affect the system and stop using the Sudafed type drugs. As far as Nitrox goes I believe DAN states if you stay at 1.4 PP or less the risk is minimal. It would be nice to see more testing on this.