Asthma
- Thread starter jed+4
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
You need a doctor to decide the risks for an asthmatic. There are many causes for an asthma attack. You might want to check the medical forum here and read through some of the posts on that topic since there are alot of good information provided by the medical moderators.
Carolyn:shark2:
Carolyn:shark2:
You might save an extra trip to your son’s doctor if you take this form with you:
http://www.wrstc.com/downloads/RSTCMedStatementGeneric.pdf
It’s the long version of the one you filled out when you did your PADI course.
It also talks a bit about asthma and diving (see page 4, under pulmonary).
You mentioned diving in less than 50 feet of water, but depth probably will not be a factor related to fitness to dive, whether for asthma or otherwise.
http://www.wrstc.com/downloads/RSTCMedStatementGeneric.pdf
It’s the long version of the one you filled out when you did your PADI course.
It also talks a bit about asthma and diving (see page 4, under pulmonary).
You mentioned diving in less than 50 feet of water, but depth probably will not be a factor related to fitness to dive, whether for asthma or otherwise.
Last edited:
My daughters boyfriend wants to dive and has asthma. I told him he should check with his doctor before signing up for class. He said he asked her (at church) and she said as long as he took his inhaler before diving and as long as he didn't panick or anything (his words) he'd be ok.
I told him that didn't sound right and he might want to check with another doc. Now that being said... If the doctor isn't a dive doctor, I'd take all the info above with you to your doctor visit. Good Luck !
I told him that didn't sound right and he might want to check with another doc. Now that being said... If the doctor isn't a dive doctor, I'd take all the info above with you to your doctor visit. Good Luck !
Last edited:
Well I am going to weight about 3 or 4 years for him to take the class. Not going to take any chance with the asthma. Mabe he will out grow it. Thanks for all the info. Now just gata get the wife finished up with her o.w class, if i weight all 3 kids can take it at the same time
Graeme Tolton
Contributor
Most of the medical questions that you have, should be able to be answered by the Medical Mods on this board, but another good source for answers would be by calling DAN. DAN has dive medics on call 24/7. I have called for information purposes before (on the non-emergency line) and they have been very helpful.
You've been given some good links.
The basic problem with asthma is that the combination of swelling of the lining of the air passages and constriction of the muscles in them, narrows the channels so it is more difficult to move air, especially on exhalation. Trapping gas in the lungs while you are ascending on Scuba is a recipe for pulmonary barotrauma at best, and arterial gas embolism at worst. Therefore, diving when symptomatic from asthma is dangerous.
Asthma used to be considered a complete contraindication to scuba diving at all, but the stance on this has changed somewhat. If someone is asymptomatic on minimal or no meds, it is now considered that they can dive. If asthma is exercise-induced, however, that raises the stakes.
Each asthmatic must be considered as an independent case, and data about frequency and severity of symptoms, triggering factors, and response to medications have to be reviewed to make good decisions.
I don't know how old your child is, but one thing that would worry me a lot is that kids easily get focused on the immediate goal, and lose sight of the long term issues. I think at least some children would be quite capable of saying, "Oh, I'm FINE," when they weren't, just to get to do a desired dive.
The basic problem with asthma is that the combination of swelling of the lining of the air passages and constriction of the muscles in them, narrows the channels so it is more difficult to move air, especially on exhalation. Trapping gas in the lungs while you are ascending on Scuba is a recipe for pulmonary barotrauma at best, and arterial gas embolism at worst. Therefore, diving when symptomatic from asthma is dangerous.
Asthma used to be considered a complete contraindication to scuba diving at all, but the stance on this has changed somewhat. If someone is asymptomatic on minimal or no meds, it is now considered that they can dive. If asthma is exercise-induced, however, that raises the stakes.
Each asthmatic must be considered as an independent case, and data about frequency and severity of symptoms, triggering factors, and response to medications have to be reviewed to make good decisions.
I don't know how old your child is, but one thing that would worry me a lot is that kids easily get focused on the immediate goal, and lose sight of the long term issues. I think at least some children would be quite capable of saying, "Oh, I'm FINE," when they weren't, just to get to do a desired dive.
Similar threads
