Thoughts about diving after Deep Vain Blood Clot in leg

[DandyDon]

Aside from the travel, and the small component of volume depletion that goes with immersion diuresis, I can't come up with anything about diving that would increase your risk of developing another DVT. The travel issue is real, however.

Hmmm, ok. Sounds like my 6 hour car trips with family may be a bigger issue than my 3 hour flights. I do pop an aspirin every morning, but on trips - I am bad about reduced hydration to avoid lavatory breaks, which would mean more frequent stops of the vehicle or standing in line on a plane (not always possible at my age), and about sleeping on either, when I guess I should be doing some leg stretches?

No way I would stop the travels tho. Life is short, yeah - but too short to accept a boring one.

My younger brother has been on a colon bag for 12 years now but I think his close call back then gave him a new appreciation for seeing more sights as he's traveled a lot more since. Sometimes he gets down on a trip in remote parts of the US, but he works thru those. His episode last week was the worst tho, leading to two surgeries but he got out of ICU yesterday after scaring us on Friday. I'm wondering where he'll go this spring after he gets the farms are ready for planting? I plan to wake up in Roatan when the plane lands in a couple of months. I used to encourage my parents to go and see more, that we'd come get them if we needed to sometime, and they loosened up a bit while they could. But I'm off on one of my tangents again. :blush:

 

[PineNut]

No one has mentioned support stockings yet. Inexpensive ($10 to $40) and very effective at preventing dvts. Below the knee stocking is good enough for most people, but some requires thigh high stockings. I agree that the risk in dvt's is greater in travel, especially sitting down in a plane or a car. Apparently up to 10% of passengers of a long flight can develop asymtomatic (without symtoms) dvts, and most can be prevented by wearing support stockings. There is no reason why one can not wear support stockings under a wetsuit, but it is unlikely that you will need it unless your wetsuit is too restrictive and causes congestion of the leg. If anything, the actual act of diving will improve venous circulation of the legs rather than impeding it.

I think the greater risk is bleeding if you are still on coumadin or Lovenox while diving. Slipping and falling, or getting hit on the head by a tank can induce bruising, and perhaps even dangerous intracranial bleeding.

Long term risks of a history of dvt include complications of venous disease - including varicose veins, venous stasis dermatitis, ulceration and poor wound healing of the lower legs and feet. The use of a support stocking can prevent if not treat many of these venous diseases of the legs.