fat folks and diving

[ladycute1]

Hey Raviepoo & dub, too --

I think I am pretty definitive example that fat folsk can and do dive!

I'm 41 years old; 5'7" I wear a women's size 28. I don't know my exact weight because I haven't been on a scale in years -- but I would guess that I'm somewhere north of 275 pounds.

I was open water certified in July of 2000, and earned my divemaster in February od 2003. I have logged about 250 dives.

When I started my divemaster training, I needed to score 12 out of 20 points in the speed and stamina tests to begin the course -- I scored 18 out of 20 -- a remarkable score at my dive center.

Now I organize groups of women, especially plus size women to travel to dive... and, as Raviepoo pointed out, being underwater is a wonderful experience for those of us who are mass challenged.

The only problem I have ever had on a dive related to my size was the assumptions and prejudices of others, which quickly disappeared once they saw me in the water.

So, let's go get wet!!!!

 

[Diver0001]

Dr Deco once bubbled...
Dear Readers:

Overweight Divers

The truth is there is not a big decompression problem unless you decide that you are going to perform dives that would be considered entering into the “risky” category buy even thin, well fit, experienced divers. By that I mean, A couple of dives a day, with a good surface interval, not a great deal of exertion on the bottom, and assistance reentering the boat should be fine.


Tables

Tables for recreational divers are not trimmed so much that the safety margin is lost. These tables are fine both for thick and thin alike. In our PADI/DSAT Table tests, we had thin and heavy divers; the Doppler scores could not be told apart post dive. These were very safe dives.

Part of the Story

That is the good news. The bad news is that if something should go wrong, some individuals can be at greater risk. This is true for overweight and out of condition divers. These people can load excessive amounts of gas into their tissue and not off gas easily. The special problem with those with considerable adipose (fat) tissue is that this is loaded with nitrogen and it can bubble profusely following a dive that is prolonged for some reason.

These bubbles enter the circulatory system after having formed in the capillaries of the fat stores, the bubbles travel to the heart and lungs and can arterialize to the brain and spinal cord. Paralysis can result without ever having experienced joint pain (the bends).:boom:

Lab Studies

This difference in fat and thin body types with respect to dive outcome is easily demonstrated in laboratory animals when the profiles are very severe. This is especially true in fat rats with their small limbs and large abdominal fat stores. They die before ever having limb problems.

This effect was first noted by Paul Bert in 1880 who observed that his dog, when old and fat, died on a dive that he had perform safely many times before when he was thin and fit. (It is not recorded as to what the dog thought about this experiement.)

Dr Deco :doctor:

So are you saying that the chances of an event aren't any greater but the "bubble shower" (to borrow a term) can be worse?

R..

 

[leadweight]

For starters, I am of "normal" weight which would be defined as BMI less than 25. However, I have seen instructors who are not overweight that have poor air consumption. However this particular guy is unusually tall and quite strong.

When I started diving, I was lucky to have 500 psi left in an 80 after a 35 minute multi-level dive to 80 feet in a place like Cozumel where you do not have to do much kicking. But, I did not understand that back then. After 3 years I was finishing a 50 minute dive with 1300 psi after a typical multi level dive. However, I was having headaches because, looking back, I was skip breathing. I allowed my air consumption to go up to where I had 1000 psi left after most dives.

In the last year I started to dive a whole lot. Since June 16, 2002 I have completed 130 dives and I am trying to hit 150 by May 31. On the average now I finish a one hour recreational dive with 1400 psi if diving nitrox 30 and slightly less with air. All with aluminum 80's starting with 3000 psi when adjusted to water temperature of about 78f/25.5c.

It would appear that I follow the conventional advice. Breath deep, slow and continuous except for a short pause after inhaling. The recipe for low air consumption is in the slow. The slow is very slow with a single breath taking as long as 50 seconds. It is very deep. Your bouyancy must be just right to do this because you will go up and down somewhat. In tight spaces the breaths may be somewhat shorter and not as deep. There is also a timing element to get the breathing cycle slightly out of sync with the movement from changes in bouyancy to minimize the up and down changes. You don't rise immediately upon inhaling, there is a delay and breathing reverses to take advantage of this.

Air consumption is highly dependent on good trim and perfect bouyancy. Otherwise you will be wasting tons of effort kicking to keep from sinking or swimming through the water at an angle. Good kicking also helps. Bicycle kicks waste energy like crazy. Gear is only a small part of it. Trim weights can fix nearly any BC.

Mental attitude: Try to do nothing while underwater. Drift, don't go fast. Let the water do the work.

How to slow down breathing? For me a few sessions of introductory Yoga helped. No postures. Look for an instructor that does Tibetan Yoga. A lot of the DIR types around here think I am nuts, but it works. Also meditation. Try Mindfull meditation. Make sure that you are completely relaxed before getting into the water. I prefer to jump off the boat and go right down, although some would argue that is not as safe as waiting on the surface for a moment. I have had a few dives ruined by waiting on the surface in difficult conditions.

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear ro:

“Bends” and Fat

Joint pain does not seem to be directly linked to the amount of fat per se. However, overweight very often also means "in poor physical shape." Physical fitness is associated with perfusion (= tissue blood flow) and its relationship to off gassing.

”Bubble showers”

The release of bubbles from adipose tissue is easily observable in laboratory animals as the nitrogen gas load (= more severe decompression profile) becomes greater . Should a diver become caught in a situation where a great deal of swimming underwater is required, there could result a very serious outcome. Such a swimming disaster occurred in Cozumel a couple of years ago when divers were carried down in ocean swells that came up unexpectedly. :upset:

These bubble showers can lead to neurological decompression sickness and this would occur more in overweight individuals. If you can guarantee that you will avoid all of these, then overweight is not a problem with very conservative diving. This is possibly a big “if” for some people. Caution often leads to boldness and caution is thrown to the wind.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[dub]

i just want to first thank everyone who has participated in this thread. I am so glad i asked because I have really gotten alot of good info from everyone.

Dr. Deco-- i'm glad to hear that the tables are safe for all. What exactly do you mean by ocean swells? Are they just currents or something that pull you down fast? I'm scared to ask what became of the divers. What is a good measure of fitness when making goals? Is there a certainamount of body fat that i should strive for when getting in shape or a certain goal for cardiovascular health? I can walk forever but I can't run or jog at alll. So maybe i should try the elliptical machine at the gym and work up to so many miles? Oh and please no more stories of dogs dying;-0 I'm quite the animal lover--sniff sniff poor doggy

Lady, that is amazing and very inspiring. I wonder tho if you have always been fit but just overweight. Do you have any problems in you daily activities do to weight. Do you excercise in any way besides diving? I am just wondering, because for me, I get winded from going up a flight of stairs and altho my weight is less than yours, I think I am prob in much worse shape. I'd be curious to know if you have the problems i do as far as daily activities when it comes to weight.

Leadweight-- I was a little lost again due to terms I don't yet understand. I imagine i will learn all that when i take my classes. It just amazes me how much there is to learn. I just figured air consumption gets better the more you dive and relaxed you are, which i guess is part of it. I just never realized all the other aspects of it. A 50 second breath seems like quite a challenge to me. I guess if my lungs expanded it would help. I will have to look into that. I tend to breath kind of shallow in my day to day
activities.

Bigt- I think i skipped over you earlier but just wanted to thank you for the explanations and quick response to the thread.

 

[Dr Deco]

Dear dub :

Swells

Some of the readers may have it more exact than I can provide, but, as I understand it, a storm came up suddenly when five divers were along an underwater wall near Cozumel. The ocean waves created swells and currents and the five where apparently driven downward by the water current around the wall. This necessitated powerful swimming strokes to prevent being carried deeper. :wacko:

Since so much muscular activity was involved, the tissues loaded much faster than the tables allowed. [Tables are good only within a certain activity range.] The best plan would have been to attempt some type of active (i.e., bicycling motions) decompression at, say, 20 and 10 feet. We might call these long safety stops. That was assuming that they had any breathing gas left.

When they returned to the boat, within a short time all five developed joint-pain DCS (bends). This necessitated a treatment in the chamber in San Miguel.

Dr Deco :doctor:

 

[raviepoo]

If you don't want to meditate or deal with the mind-body aspects of youga, you can focus on the physical aspects of breathing. Try this:

Lie on your back with your hands at your sides. Relax as much as possible. Exhale slowly while hissing through your teeth. Keep going untill all the air is gone from your lungs. Then try to push out just a bit more breath. Don't expend any energy to inhale after your lungs are empty. They will fill up all by themselves.

Do this a few times to familiarize yourself with the feeling. Then start counting in your head as you exhale. Your goal is to gradually count to higher and higher numbers.

Practice this long enough on a regular basis and slow, deep breathing will become second nature to you.

leadweight once bubbled...

How to slow down breathing? For me a few sessions of introductory Yoga helped. No postures. Look for an instructor that does Tibetan Yoga. A lot of the DIR types around here think I am nuts, but it works. Also meditation.

 

[ladycute1]

dub once bubbled...

Lady, that is amazing and very inspiring. I wonder tho if you have always been fit but just overweight. Do you have any problems in you daily activities do to weight. Do you excercise in any way besides diving? I am just wondering, because for me, I get winded from going up a flight of stairs and altho my weight is less than yours, I think I am prob in much worse shape. I'd be curious to know if you have the problems i do as far as daily activities when it comes to weight.



Thanks for th ecompliment, dub. My level of fitness varies with the level of chaos in my life. Recently, I have not been working out much (ok any) because I've been juggling grad school and house remodeling (among other things). I hope to get back to swimming soon.

You asked me about problems due to weight -- well, I don't have any of the internal structures left in my knees -- but that is probably due to the cumulative effects of ski injuries, and a mugging. I also have three pins in one hip from a congenital condition. So, I often have stiffness and soreness in my knees -- but I find that the more movement I do, I easier it gets -- I also find that my aerobic fitness comes back pretty quickly after just a few days of swimming.

I've also found that diving is something that actually motivates me to go back to the gym -- more than anything else.

I've always been fat, and expect that I always will be... but, I'll be diving, and I'll work on being as fit as I can be.

 

[dub]

Thanks Dr Deco --I'm soo glad they survived!


Rav-- I will have to try that. There is this thing for patients in the hospital to use--- it's for their lungs too and has a marker to see how high you can get. I'm not sure if it helps slow down your breathing but I think it def helps to expand them so I wonder if that will help too. I will start practicing the deep breathing--- i imagine it will help with stress too.

lady-- you are really and inspiration. I was always very inhibited due to my weight and never wanted to try anything new. I am so encouraged to hear about your activities. It makes me realize my problem is more in my mind that in my size. I def need to remember that!

Happy Easter all!

 

[cudachaser]

A few years ago, I had class that I affectionatly referred to as my "large class"...not in number, 2 of 3 were quite large. In the pool they performed very well...When the open waters came along I had my usual concerns...for them a little nervouness at first, but they performed like troopers...I was really proud to issue their cards. I noted 1 thing that no one has brought up...body mass and insulation. When I dive the springs (72d), I wear a full 3mil farmer john wetsuit with a hooded vest and still get cold...they were perfectly happy with 3 mil shorty wet suits.

Another dive tour I did with a large gentleman...we dove the springs again. I didn't have a wetsuit to fit him...he walks down to the water and said it felt like bathwater...we made the dive with him "skinning it". I came up up quite chilly (again fullwetsuit & hooded vest)...he was perfectly warm.

Finally, just few weekends ago...a large girl on the boat. I was working with my class...saw her swim by a few times...perfect buoyancy control, poise and DIR (Doing It Right) as you can get.
Talking with her later...she was completing her instructor training. She will make a great instructor...even if the students just emulate her poise and style in the water.

Joe