Lung damage due to Covid 19

[uncfnp]

As it is its just a FB posting.

Not really. This is a post from a knowledgable diving physician with covid-19 experience. And like much of the medical info currently available about covid it is observational. There is so much we don’t know yet and very little of even the current treatment is based on RCT data. This physician is simply giving the dive community a heads up to a potentially serious complication that may have direct impact on the diving community. Better to recognize the problem now then when unsuspecting divers present with injury.

 

[Jwoobs]

Apparently, from what I can gleam from the English translation, two divers had exercise induced hypoxemia while two others had exercise induced reactive airway disease. They say four STILL had significant changes on CT scanning implying that they were sick enough at one time, though apparently not hospitalized, that a physician had ordered a previous CT scan.
[...]
If a diver had a mild case of COVID-19 and is now back to jogging 5 miles per day without issues, they can probably return to diving without restrictions or further testing.

I don't know what the claimed accuracy is, but I have a consumer pulseoximeter that I've used both at rest and after exercise and I seem to have pretty good oxygenation (>95%). I'm planning on doing some quarry dives in May, and based on this and a lack of any other symptoms I feel pretty safe.

If I were short on breath or had any other symptoms I would give serious thought to getting my lungs imaged before diving. I haven't asked my physician if they are doing dive physicals right now, but I imagine it's low on the list.

 

[Germie]

It is like said by Ebersole: if you can go jogging again for some kilometers, you can probably dive without any problems. After any other lung infection it can take time to heal completely. Sometimes months. But it is not directly a never again.
Also there is only a ct scan afterwards, who tells me that their lungs where healthy before?
And what if they are smokers? (we don't know). etc etc etc.

 

[uncfnp]

Unfortunately covid-19 can have a profound impact on the lungs but can also cause long term damage to multiple organs in the body, almost a head to toes affect, including Covid-19 induced cardiomyopathy. I think the concern here is that the changes were found on patients with “milder” symptoms as opposed to someone that had more serious clinical course.

@Germie the CT scan of a covid-19 patient has a very characteristic appearance.

 

[lexvil]

Unfortunately covid-19 can have a profound impact on the lungs but can also cause long term damage to multiple organs in the body, almost a head to toes affect, including Covid-19 induced cardiomyopathy. I think the concern here is that the changes were found on patients with “milder” symptoms as opposed to someone that had more serious clinical course.

@Germie the CT scan of a covid-19 patient has a very characteristic appearance.

Seems like something people would want to avoid catching.

 

[uncfnp]

Seems like something people would want to avoid catching.

Understatement of the year award!

The problem is there will be no vaccine or herd immunity for months to years and one can spread the infection days before symptoms (presymptomatic) plus there is growing evidence of completely asymptomatic individuals.

Sometimes I feel like its Russian roulette and some days I feel like infection is almost inevitable so might as well get it over with. The key advantages to delaying it as long as possible is the hope for better treatment and eventually a vaccine. But each day I also get a bit older...

 

[Angelo Farina]

Seems like something people would want to avoid catching.

Instead I know many people who want that everyone catches it, so that economy can come back to "normal" ASAP...
I hope to avoid it, although unfortunately I probably had it already.
But getting tested is not easy here, there is just too much request, and so they are testing only people with significant symptoms...

 

[lexvil]

Instead I know many people who want that everyone catches it, so that economy can come back to "normal" ASAP...
I hope to avoid it, although unfortunately I probably had it already.
But getting tested is not easy here, there is just too much request, and so they are testing only people with significant symptoms...

Testing is an issue, here in the hills of California you need to be very sick to be tested, in NYC they seem to be testing house cats, other places have tested tigers, no coordination.

 

[lexvil]

Understatement of the year award!

The problem is there will be no vaccine or herd immunity for months to years and one can spread the infection days before symptoms (presymptomatic) plus there is growing evidence of completely asymptomatic individuals.

Sometimes I feel like its Russian roulette and some days I feel like infection is almost inevitable so might as well get it over with. The key advantages to delaying it as long as possible is the hope for better treatment and eventually a vaccine. But each day I also get a bit older...

I’m 65 I started out worrying more about being stranded some where to yea, doesn’t sound like something I want to catch to holly F. The long term lung damage is something I really would like to miss out on.

 

[Ukmc]

Understatement of the year award!

The problem is there will be no vaccine or herd immunity for months to years and one can spread the infection days before symptoms (presymptomatic) plus there is growing evidence of completely asymptomatic individuals.

Sometimes I feel like its Russian roulette and some days I feel like infection is almost inevitable so might as well get it over with. The key advantages to delaying it as long as possible is the hope for better treatment and eventually a vaccine. But each day I also get a bit older...

I go through the same cycle - “really don’t want to get it”- -> “might as well get it so I can be done with it” -> “have I already had it and did not know it?”. Either way, will probably go for a physical prior to restarting diving.