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Well Steve, We appear to be at extreme ends of luck of the draw when it comes to which DAN rep pulls your email question. I have a friend with epilepsy who wanted to follow me into diving. I didn't think that would be too cool an idea until we knew a bit more about the risks involved. I posted a request for an objective breakdown of the hazards, conditions under which diving with such a condition might NOT be contra-indicated, and within 24 hours I had a lengthy (yet concise) explanation of everything I (and my friend) needed to know, written as near to laymen's terms as possible given the subject matter. Based upon what we learned in the exchange, my friend doesn't dive. Or, if he does, it's not with me, cuz he passed none of the checkpoints DAN recommends to allow diving with a history of grand mal siezure. And of course they tell you to see your doctor. Only a physician who's familiar with your particular flavor of a disorder SHOULD be qualified to make a recommendation in your case. IMO this caveat doesn't make DAN's recommendations any less authoritative - just less specific to your unique situation. And on the subject of sudafed, I've used it, and still do on occassion - but it's been indicated as an aggravating factor in cases of O2 toxicity and I consider it a use at your own risk type thing. So do you think DAN was wrong to advise not diving? It's NAVY stamp of approval may be all well and good - but isn't it possible the NAVY also imposes some limitations on it's use? Like at or below a certain operating PO2? I don't know the answer to that question, and I suspect you don't either, nor do the large majority of folks who see the "NAVY approved" label attached to it by the dive community and think it's safe in all cases. As I see it, when an authority provides a set of guidelines - pros and cons of an issue, the reader is going to focus on what he/she wants to hear/read that will allow him/her to do what they want to do. If confronted by doubt, or a question from a concerned friend (dive buddy?) they can say "well, DAN said it's okay to do this" and ignore the other set of facts and conditions under which it's NOT okay. DAN said it'd be okay for my epilectic pal to dive. IF he'd gone several years siezure free without medication and a bunch of other IF's. The wanta-diver with money tied up in a trip or invested in a garage full of dive gear is gonna focus on what comes before, not after, the IF. Therein lays DAN's or any other authorities worst nightmare. So of course they cover their ass with "see your doctor" and "don't dive" - I for one cannot think of a single situation in which following either of those advises would be wrong. <stumbling off my soapbox> Drew ---------- > From: Steve Lindblom <s_lindblom@co*.co*> > To: techdiver@aquanaut.com > Subject: Re: Diving after glaucoma > Date: Wednesday, September 17, 1997 10:12 AM > > >Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 09:58:41 -0500 > >To:"dmooney" <dmooney@cy*.ne*> > >From:s_lindblom@co*.co* (Steve Lindblom) > >Subject:Re: Diving after glaucoma > > > >>Address dive mediciney type questions to DAN via the email link on their > >>web page if you want authoritative answers to questions like this. > > > > > >I've never had a bit of luck getting medical info from DAN about prexisting > >conditions - they are too weasily-cautious to share what they know, and always > >end up telling you to "consult your physician" as if there's any physician > >within a 100 miles of most of us who know a damn thing about hyperbaric > >medicine etc. > >A friend once called them to ask if they had any information on what > >decongestants were most suitable for diving, since he had the tail end of a > >cold and had an expensive, non-refundable, dive trip coming up. They told him > >to stay out of the water. He asked on the net and got some navy info on the > >subject, used sudafed, and had no problems. He could understand why DAN might > >not tell him to use sudafed, but not why they couldn't at least refer him to > >the necessary information so he could make up his own mind instead of giving > >him the most useless, cautious, advice possible? > > > > > > > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send list subscription requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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