Lung damage due to Covid 19

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Thank you @scoobydrew and @Dr. Doug Ebersole

Dr. Douglas Ebersole - physician, technical dive instructor, author, medical advisor to the training agency RAID, and a list too long for the internet. Add to that-test subject.

Godspeed to you.
 
The article has a picture of simple green all purpose cleaner. Went to the simple green website and it says some of its other versions of simple green are good for covid but not the all purpose cleaner.

Is this a case of accidentally using the wrong photo, or is simple green all purpose cleaner good for dive equipment and other hard surfaces, or has the simple green cleaner been approved but the website not updated?
 
One old diver's experience with lung damage. In 2011 I had a "massive, bilateral pulmonary embolism" after a DVT clot. The ER physician who read the CT scan to me said he had never delivered a PE diagnosis that severe except after an autopsy. Around six months later I had another CT; I can't find the exact radiology report but the words "significant scarring" are in it. Fast forward nine years. I'm 71; my VO2Max is 43 ml/kg/min, which puts me in the top 5% of my age and gender. I've logged about 270 dives since the PE with both recreational and technical profiles. My average RMV on recreational dives is .55. I had a dive medical/physical about 18 months ago that cleared me for additional technical dive training.

I know that PE and COVID-19 aren't the same thing, and COVID-19 greatly concerns me too; wondering if my age, past PE and resultant lifetime anticoagulation will turn out to be significant comorbidities if/when the virus finds me. My point for the post is that, in my experience, even an old diver can "come back" with exercise and patience, from lung damage from other causes. I'm OK with seeing this article translated and referenced. But +1 to Doug Ebersole's recommendation to not make any firm conclusions. Besides needing the power of a lot more data from a much bigger sample size, a lot of dive physiology is highly individual, and everything I read so far leads me to think that the physiology and pathology of human response to this virus' is also highly individualized in ways that we have not yet even begun to be able to generalize and characterize for application to diving.
I had the same sort of multiple pulmonary emboli in both lungs more than a decade ago, after same day surgery that did not go well. Later, my MD, an old friend, told me there was a good chance I might not have made it. Right after the supposed same day surgery they were processing my discharge when he noticed that my breathing was unusual. Down for an immediate cat scan, followed by two weeks in hospital on blood thinners. That was in the summer, and that winter I was back in Dominica diving. The hematologist gave me a handful of injectables to take with me, but said that my blood chemistry was completely normal. I'm 77, and still dive, though only warm water and not too deep. I have 'significant scarring', mild COPD, and see a pulmonologist regularly with low dose cat scans every year. So far so good. No problems with scuba. My breath holding is not what it was, though that could just be age. I figure the virus might easily do me in, but that's just how it goes. I hope to be doing a little local inlet and jetty diving this summer.
 
A little off-topic, but what would you say would be a sufficient Diving Medical Examination and Clearance. I have had an EKG, CXR, CT scans (not for diving or COVID). I do not have any lung illnesses and I haven't smoked in over 20 years. Should there be a pulmonary function test? Should clearance exams include a physical fitness test as although all the above tests are normal for me, I am obese and not physically fit.

As a side joke, Trump's "Physician" declared him physically fit... Now that was not for diving, but just states a point, how far should our exams go?
 
I had the same sort of multiple pulmonary emboli in both lungs more than a decade ago, after same day surgery that did not go well. Later, my MD, an old friend, told me there was a good chance I might not have made it. Right after the supposed same day surgery they were processing my discharge when he noticed that my breathing was unusual. Down for an immediate cat scan, followed by two weeks in hospital on blood thinners. That was in the summer, and that winter I was back in Dominica diving. The hematologist gave me a handful of injectables to take with me, but said that my blood chemistry was completely normal. I'm 77, and still dive, though only warm water and not too deep. I have 'significant scarring', mild COPD, and see a pulmonologist regularly with low dose cat scans every year. So far so good. No problems with scuba. My breath holding is not what it was, though that could just be age. I figure the virus might easily do me in, but that's just how it goes. I hope to be doing a little local inlet and jetty diving this summer.
I'm jumping in late-- too many posts to read, but I was wondering why what happened to you wouldn't be considered the norm?
Even with COPD (mild) and scarring you can breathe. Scuba isn't exactly playing NFL football, and can be very relaxed unless you aim for more stressful physical dives. The older I get, the more shore sites I filter out because I just don't want the work getting in & out. Doffing & donning all that neoprene and weight is by far the most exhausting part of my dives now. If you can breathe OK, why would easy dives be a problem? Maybe the scarring from Covid 19 presents a more serious problem I guess.
 
I'm jumping in late-- too many posts to read, but I was wondering why what happened to you wouldn't be considered the norm?
Even with COPD (mild) and scarring you can breathe. Scuba isn't exactly playing NFL football, and can be very relaxed unless you aim for more stressful physical dives. The older I get, the more shore sites I filter out because I just don't want the work getting in & out. Doffing & donning all that neoprene and weight is by far the most exhausting part of my dives now. If you can breathe OK, why would easy dives be a problem? Maybe the scarring from Covid 19 presents a more serious problem I guess.
I agree completely. That's why I did not hesitate to go diving in the Caribbean a few months after all the fuss over the pulmonary emboli. The scarring didn't show up until a cat scan much later. My pulmonologist told me I had mild COPD after a battery of various breathing tests. I never asked about the advisability of scuba. It's my decision.

I really am not aware of any problems except for the reduced ability to hold my breath as long as I used to do, something that limits what I can do snorkeling, but not scuba. I consider the aftermath of what happened to me to likely be the norm, but that's just my subjective impression. The emboli were not caused by any blood chemistry issue. The contorted positions they had me in (I was anesthetized, of course) during an attempt to remove an extra large kidney stone was the probable cause, that and their failure to put compression socks on me, since they thought I'd be going home that same day.

I've been diving well over 50 years, and have always felt that basic sport diving is no big deal. Good initial training is absolutely required, of course, hopefully the kind I had back in the 70s through NASDS. I've noticed that in recent years many divers have fallen in love with all sorts of arcane calculations, seduced by the trappings of complex technology and various impressive acronyms. Even technical diving is fairly straightforward, though I stopped doing wreck dives long ago and would not dream of diving in a cave type overhead situation. I stay far away from decompression dives. I pretty much take it easy these days, relying on my long years of experience and the unchallenging kind of diving I limit myself to now that I'm in my late 70s. I fully expect to dive in my 80s, if the virus doesn't get me first.
 
I'm jumping in late-- too many posts to read, but I was wondering why what happened to you wouldn't be considered the norm?
Even with COPD (mild) and scarring you can breathe. Scuba isn't exactly playing NFL football, and can be very relaxed unless you aim for more stressful physical dives. The older I get, the more shore sites I filter out because I just don't want the work getting in & out. Doffing & donning all that neoprene and weight is by far the most exhausting part of my dives now. If you can breathe OK, why would easy dives be a problem? Maybe the scarring from Covid 19 presents a more serious problem I guess.
I agree with your statement that most of the exertion usually happens before and after the dive and even then it is nothing compared to exertion required of professional athletes. The issue at hand, however, has nothing to do with exertion. It has to do with the risk of lung overexpansion injury. Any lung condition that affects elasticity of lung tissue or create blockages or congestion within bronchial system will put a diver at a higher risk of injury. There is a concern that COVID-19 may cause some of this changes that would increase this risk. Someone once told me that “there is no scuba police” , so if one has potential issues that make them higher risk and they accept it, it is “their body their choice” :)
 

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