Diving with Sinus Arythmia

[DoubleBubbles]

Many years ago as a young teenager, I was diagnosed with Sinus Arythmia. The way I understood it is that sometime my heart does not get the signal from the brain to beat, so sometimes it misses a beat and flutters. At the time the doctor placed no restrictions in my life and told me to go on with whatever activity I wanted.

Flash forward 30 years. Today I was discussing the above conditon to a friend of mine at work who has had heart trouble. His "expert" opinion was that eventually I may require a pacemaker to help out if my condition ever got worse. At times I still do feel my heart flutter, and this is sometimes exaserbated by caffiene and stress.

So here is my question: Are there folks who dive with pacemakers? What are the limitations (if any) for folks with these? I ask here because living in middle Tennessee makes it difficult to find a cardiologist who dives.

Thanks in advance.

Double Bubbles

 

[jbd]

website www.scuba-doc.com

 

[Brian1968]

See your doc.

Sinus arrhythmia is pretty common especially in teenagers. It's a rise and fall in heart rate usually in synchrony with a person's respiration. Many people with it never even know they have it.

Then there are arrhythmias where one part of the heart is sending inappropriate signals to another part of the heart or appropriate signals are not getting to where they should. These tend to be more of a problem.

These explanations are oversimplified of course but they'll suffice for here.

When you say you still feel your heart "flutter" at times, there may be something else going on that needs be treated. Or there may not be.

Find out for sure.

 

[Saturation]

DoubleBubbles once bubbled...
Many years ago as a young teenager, I was diagnosed with Sinus Arythmia. The way I understood it is that sometime my heart does not get the signal from the brain to beat, so sometimes it misses a beat and flutters. At the time the doctor placed no restrictions in my life and told me to go on with whatever activity I wanted.

Flash forward 30 years. Today I was discussing the above conditon to a friend of mine at work who has had heart trouble. His "expert" opinion was that eventually I may require a pacemaker to help out if my condition ever got worse. At times I still do feel my heart flutter, and this is sometimes exaserbated by caffiene and stress.

So here is my question: Are there folks who dive with pacemakers? What are the limitations (if any) for folks with these? I ask here because living in middle Tennessee makes it difficult to find a cardiologist who dives.

Thanks in advance.

Double Bubbles

Diving with a pacemaker is possible, but problematic, and requires that the individual pacemaker be certified to deal with increase pressure. However, the disease associated with using the pacemaker is of concern, for only very few patients suffer with pure rhythm issues fixable by pacing.

The good news is sinus arrhythmia is a benign non-normal heart beat, and does not present a problem for diving. As abnormal heart rhythms of more concerning causes cannot be separated from benign ones by feeling one's pulse, one needs to have a Holter monitor done to insure that all the abnormal rhythms are indeed benign.