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Hi,

Now I never have nor will take any of this stuff but I was interested in
this post by Fergus Taylor <ftaylor@pa*.co*.uk*> (not Tom Mount (???)
but quoting him) on http://www.divernet.com/forum/medforum.html:

> CAUTION! DO DECONGESTANTS THREATEN YOUR DIVE SAFETY?
> By Tom Mount. Many of us over the years have evolved to diving drug
> junkies. We begin our dive day with a mixture of coffee, aspirin and
> Sudafed. In recent months several accidents and near misses have
> produced concern as to the effects of Sudafed and other decongestants on
> divers, especially while deep diving and/or gas diving. However the
> same concerns have also been observed on more shallow air dives. The
> opening point of concern occurred early this summer. An EANx cave
> diver died on a dive well within P02 limits. This was within commonly
> exceeded air P02 dives. It was noted that the divers blood gases
> contained a high level of pseudoephedrine, a major ingredient in Sudafed
> and associated generics. We vaguely questioned if this may have
> contributed to, or even caused the accident. A diver using air died while
> cave diving in Missouri recently. Per his companions he called the dive,
> then bolted! He had taken Sudafed prior to the dive. On one other
> occasion he had exhibited the same behavior and survived. Before that
> particular dive he had once again used Sudafed. Early this summer a
> diver accustomed to diving to 160 feet (48 meters) went almost comatose
> on a dive. His two companions had to maintain his regulator and assist
> him to shallower water. The only thing he had done different than normal
> was to take Sudafed prior to the dive. A Trimix diver on a dive with a
> reasonable END felt he was losing it. The diver called the dive and made
> a controlled ascent. Again the only thing different than "normal" was the
> use of Sudafed preceding the dive. A few years ago Patti Mount took a
> 12-hour Sudafed prior to diving and felt really "out of it" once at depth.
> This included feelings of apprehension and fighting to maintain
> consciousness. That was her last 12 hour Sudafed taken prior to diving.
> Patti had similar sensations on a dive, which she made after taking a
> Benadryl antihistamine tablet for a reaction to a jellyfish sting. In the
> seventies while on a saturation dive on Hydrolab, one of my dive
> partners developed a cold. The dive medic gave the diver Actifed and he
> went into a coma for two days finally coming out of it once we were well
> into decompression. Early this year after taking a Sudafed prior to a deep
> dive I experienced what I attributed at the time to narcosis, however it
> was the most severe narcosis I have ever had at a much shallower dive
> than I routinely make. Since I was on a light Trimix mixture and not air l
> can only attribute this to the Sudafed. From Australia, Rob Cason
> reports Oceaneering International commercial dive company banned
> Sudafed over ten years ago due to its adverse effects on their divers.
> Recent recreational occurrences in Australia as reported by Rob Cason
> IANTD Australasia, parallel those referenced above. In fact Sudafed
> warnings have likewise been issued there. The above incidences are not
> conclusive as to the adverse effects of Sudafed and/or other
> decongestants while diving. They do represent grounds for concern and
> further investigation. Gary Taylor, IANTD EANx IT#13 sent me a copy
> of the 1991 PDR description of pseudoephedrine hydrochloride,
> Sudafed's active ingredient. It states: ADVERSE REACTIONS include
> nausea, cardiac palpitations, irritability, excitement, headache,
> dizziness, tachycardia, diarrhea, drowsiness, stomach pain, SEIZURES,
> slowed heart rate, shortness of breath, and/or troubled breathing; with an
> overdose add anxiety, tenseness, and respiratory difficulty.
> TREATMENT: Includes the statement, "If convulsions or marked CNS
> excitement occurs Diazepam may be used." Certainly this is food for
> thought. Personally I just gave up a ten-year habit of Sudafed diving. If
> you or anyone you know has had adverse reactions following a Sudafed
> or other "decongestant used" dive please forward this information to us.
> We will pass it on to responsible research / physiologist / physician
> personnel who are investigating this. If there seems to be a trend we will
> inform you of such in this journal. Thank you.

Thought you'd like to know, in the event that you don't already.

Comments anyone? BTW the forum where I found this is the medical page of
the
BS-AC.

Cheers,

Christian

<The only thing between you and the path ahead should be your mind>  cg
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