In Reply to: asthma posted by lori on March 30, 2010 at 18:54:30:

Preventative hits from an inhaler are generally not effective as I understand it.

The issue with asthma and diving is air trapping. If you have an area of the lungs that becomes blocked during the course of a dive the air that is trapped in the section will continue to expand as you ascend until it either forces it's way past the blockage or ruptures the alveoli, should that rupture occur you now have an embolism to deal with.

Best bet for you is to be checked out by a doctor that is familiar with hyperbaric medicine (that means a doc trained in that specialty- not just a doc that happens to be a diver). If you doc isn't give DAN a call and ask for the name of one close to you. Much better to get it checked out with a doc that understands the issues involved rather than just hoping you get lucky.

And my cynical side is telling me that I should also mention that when you decide to ignore this advice at least make sure your insurance will cover the resulting chamber ride if the worst were to happen- or get the DAN or other dive insurance to make sure you don't take a financial hit along with the physical hit.

Best of luck to you!

• Re: Re: asthma Pasley 21:33:43 03/30/10 (0)
• Re: Re: asthma Pasley 21:33:36 03/30/10 (0)