So Annoyed!

[luppie]

Hi Luppie,
I'm leading a group to the Red Sea and Egypt next Oct/Nov. Interested in what drugs a person might be taking that preclude diving there. I'm on Lipitor for high cholesterol
which has nothing to do with diving but who knows how they think over there. And you need a doctors note from a diving specialist? Not just a regular MD?
Steve

ps. We do have room on the Red Sea trip if anyone is interested in joining.

Hi SD,
From what I know, each country has different rules and different "forbidden" medication to use when diving. For example, the U.S. seems fairly lax while Australia is more strict. I have gone diving in Egypt four times and every time the medical certificate issued less than a year ago was a requirement made clear by the diving AND travel agency. So I was surprised when they didn't insist on it (the guy was Spanish and not Swiss ;-) and if you look at me, I look young, healthy and athletic) but was also grateful since I knew that what I was taking wasn't for the usual reasons (e.g. antidepressant but to treat a nerve disease). I can say that in all other respects, the dive ops practiced safe diving. On a previous trip, I had gotten the medical certificate but then forgot it while packing and had to get someone to scan and email it over within a couple of hours!

To be safe, I wouldn't use my example and would just ask the organisers to send you the info - printed material should already exist - which you can email to the participants beforehand to avoid any last-minute problems. But to give you an idea, attached is a photo of the paper my diving doctor gave me - I hope it's legible but it's also in French (many medical terms similar to English) and applicable only in France.

Enjoy your diving. Last comment: November seems to be the end of the diving season - colder, less people but apparently less fish - wasn't a problem from what I saw!

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

Sorry to hear about that, got a little too excited I guess

When I went diving I was pretty damn tired (moreso because normally I sleep in and my OW dives were at 8 in the morning at a dive site over an hour away), but ya not sure what I would have done with no sleep (a few hours of sleep is a lot better than none). While I would be able to dive in this state, I'm not sure how safe it would be since you are basically impaired.