Search results

Best bet in my experience is nasal cortisone sprays, prescription type, such as flonase, nasocort, etc as they tend not to wear off during a dive and restore the nose to normal eustachian tube function fastest. Since they are RX only, see your doc to make sure there is no sinusitis or other...

Your ENT has sorted out the problem, I think. Sometimes, when healing after placement of ear tubes, an abnormally thin (Monomeric membrane for the researchers) repair develops which is very easily ruptured. If you equalise easily, the only other likely problem is an banormally thin membrane...

The tingling, if localized to the area including upper lip, part of the cheek and gum, suggests a peripheral nerve injury, specifically to the infraorbital nerve, which passes through the "roof" of the maxillary sinus. The bony layer between the orbit (the bony eye socket) and the maxillary...

This was covered in some detail in a couple of diving medicine conferences. I no longer remember the exact combination of math and statistics well enough to recount it completely, but the 24 hour rule came from study of data that showed no increase in DCS episodes (above the baseline 2 to 4...

You're correct that sinus illnesses can be a cause of diving-associated headaches. Unfortunately, there are a number of other potential causes for headache that occurs when diving. These are impossible to sort out without a much more detailed history and examination. Usually diving's effect...

generally the best result comes from resting the injured tendon. Some sports-medicine types think the glucosamine preparations help somewhat, and any tendon (such as Achilles) close to the surface can get some benefit from topical salicylate preparations such as Aspercreme or others...

For those who can't find Zicam, the original study was done with zinc lozenges, which work but taste terrible. There is a legend that oral zinc tablets don't work, but there has never been a study, and I and many patients have had success for years with zinc tablets 50mg three or four times a...

The short answer is "No One Knows" Generally, balanced diets with generous fruit and vegetable intake are thought to be better than your basic "beer and Pizza" diet, with tequila for dessert. No one knows what the benefit or adverse effect of the diet you describe would be. It might be...

When we Scuba dive, especially with nitrox, we expose ourselves to higher levels of inspired oxygen, up to the equivalent of 140 percent oxygen at sea level. There are probably detectable degrees of antioxidant depletion in multiday multidive trips. We therefore should be careful on these...

In normal breathing in normal humans, the primary drive to breathe comes from carbon dioxide levels in the blood. The body tightly regulates the level of carbon dioxide in the blood, partially as a way to regulate pH (acid/base balance) in the blood and partly to maintain physiologic levels of...

There is more to the difference in DCS between humans and cetaceans than the lung collapsing. Remember, the cetacean is a breath-hold diver. We, on the other hand, keep breathing at depth and will run 80 cubic feet of air thru our lungs on a dive. (OK, 75 when we surface with a reserve)...

Since you describe two separate sinuses and two different time periods, this is more likely congestion that anatomy. Many ENT's and allergists (and a lot of family docs) would suggest trying Nasal cortisone sprays (Flonase, nasacort aq, or similar) for up to a week ahead of time, and sudafed...

There are always pitfalls in guessing at problems over the internet, but one cause of late-onset asthma in someone with less than ideal weight would have to include reflux of stomach contents into the esophagus and micro-aspiration when sleeping. Your doc shoud know how to pursue this if it...

If you felt the same at twenty feet as you did at eighty feet, and the same at EPCOT with one of their regs, and your breathing at surface is now not feeling right, this is a medical problem until proven otherwise. Don't dive until you've been cleared with some form of exercise test or your...

Scubadoc and Dr Stein have it right. At 0.2 ATA partial pressure of O2 (air at sea level) the hemoglobin in the blood is virtually 100 % saturated. Higher levels of oxygen do force more oxygen to be dissolved in the blood, but this adds only a small fraction of total oxygen capacity per...

AED's are progressing from delegated to being available to public and taught along with basic CPR. I currently supervise an ambulance service where all the Emergency Med Techs are certified and I have authorized them to use AED's for many years. Recently it has become a part of EMT licensure...

I'm not a dentist, but last week my wife had to see one in Bonaire for an abscessed tooth in need of a root canal. The dentist was a diver and treated many divers, and opened up the roots, placed her on antibiotics, and left the cavity open for us to pack with cotton for meals and keep open...

I haven't read the complete original study, but the summary documents that a postal survey uncovered the fact that many divers took Sudafed and/or seasickness meds or other meds before a dive. It doesn't sound like an enormous revelation to anyone who reads these columns that Sudafed use...

My greatest concern (as a family doc who uses Neurontin for many patients/conditions) would be the sedation that is common with neurontin when first starting. As long as you document (In writing please) The condition requiring neurontin and your physicians are comfortable with a stable dose...

Treatment for stuffy nose/ poor clearing What follows is what I frequently recommend to divers, pilots, etc. This may or may not be applicable to your situation/condition. This is similar to currently recommended approaches to control of asthma, another chronic respiratory inflammation...