Diabetic Diving

Anyone else out there diabetic and diving? I've got 16 dives under my belt so far and having an absolute blast. I'm a pump wearing insulin dependent diabetic. Type 1, for those in the know. I've only been doing shore dives so far and have been able to maintain my blood sugars fairly decently.

However, I've only done fairly shallow dives, under 50'. Anyone out there have any experience diving deeper with diabetes? I would love to get into deeper diving, but without any experience on blood sugar reactions at depth, etc, I have to go slow and easy.

There are a few things I've learned so far. I ALWAYS carry a candy bar in each pocket of my BC. They get crushed, three musketeers, during the dive, but they are a fast sugar if I need it, and easier to handle with gloves on than glucose tabs or gel. I can just pop to the surface, eat my candy bar, kick back for a few, then drop back down. My dive buddy is fully aware, of course. I've eaten a candy bar twice now. No problems if it's there, deep trouble if it's not.

I guess I'm just checking out if anyone out there is like me and might have a bit more experience at this than I.


Rich
aka. Icehawk

Contact Divers Alert Network, they know more about dive medicine than the amateurs
here. http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/

I'm also a diabetic, insulin pump user as well. I'm an instructor with over 500 non-teaching dives. I'm also a tech diver. Just check your blood sugars three times, once every 30 minutes prior to a dive to gauge which direction they are going. I've had no problems since moving to the pump. Being off the pump and a full days of diving, helps keep my blood sugars down.

DAN has some good recommendations on diabetic diving. Search the DAN site.