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Reduced lung capacity in salt mist

  • 22-04-2009 5:25pm
    #1
    eightyfish
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭


    Hi.

    I went diving a couple of years ago on a holiday in the Canaries and absolutely loved it. About a year ago, I decided to book my full diving training in Sydney during a short holiday there. Booked it, had to go to medical first. I have asthma, doc did lung capacity tests and said all was fine, but that I'd have to go for a salt vapour test also. I travelled to the other side of Sydney and paid an extra $100 only to fail this test. It basically consisted of breathing in a salt mist for a few minutes and a lung capacity test after. My lung capacity went down slightly after several sessions of breathing in salt. So I could not dive in Sydney (and I was down about $250 on the medical tests!)

    Anyway, my question is how serious is this really? Is anyone familiar with it, and will I ever be able to dive?

    Thanks!


Comments

  • #2
    loctite
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 589 ✭✭✭loctite


    Hey... there are mixed opinions on diving with asthma. Austrailia is pretty strict with regard to lung function tests & allowing sufferers to dive.

    I've worked as an instructor in Ireland and the common practice is that it has to be decided by a medical practitioner. If the practitioner is unsure of the physiological impact of pressure on the body, a dive centre will be able to provide you the relevent information to bring along to your doctor.

    Any reputable centre will NOT allow you to dive until then. That is not to say that you will not be able to dive. I have trained plenty of divers who have suffered with asthma (who first had approval to dive from a doctor) and there were no problems.

    So the answer is, go to a centre, get the required info, go to a doc.

    I've attached a link to an article by the Divers Alert Network. It goes into more detail about research in the area....

    http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/articles/article.asp?articleid=22

    And if you think you got screwed by the docs.... when I first started I went to my family GP (I suffered with asthma too). She reckoned I had a heart condition. Off to the specialist for a day of stress tests, ECGs and chest x-rays. Cost me a fortune. Had to put the course off for about a year cause I couldn't afford it.....(heart was fine though!!:D)


  • #3
    eightyfish
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭eightyfish


    Thank you. Will investigate.


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