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Dan, Very good information, I look forward to the future segments. I just feel I should mention one area in the post should contain more of a warning since the paper is being directed at those training for extreme diving. Awhile back I tried some energy supplements given to me by a student, they worked great, I felt considerably better and experienced a marked improvement in my RMV on several simple reef dives. This prompted me to closely examine these and their interaction in the hyperbaric enviroment.The three primary components were Ma Huang (ephedrine), Ginsing & Guarana (along with several other minor items). I found little conflict with the Ginsing (George did mention they had negative experience with it but he could produce little facts), it's uses and benefits above water are well published and the inreased blood supply to your brain seems advantagous. Guarana is basicly a highly concentrated source of caffine (much higher than coffee), Terry mentioned caffine's negative aspects associated with general health although he was addressing coffee and failed to mention the connection with Guarana, caffine's conflicts with diving (especially extreme varients) are well published so I'll refrain from rehashing old news. The big issue is with Ma Huang, this is a very potent herb/drug with many advantages and some signifigant dangers: -Ma Huang is ephedrine which is a commonly used drug in energy pills, metabolism boosters, diet supplements, and asthma drugs in both pill form and in bronchial inhalents, it also has close ties with adreniline production (this is why it is such a powerful metabolism booster and gaining popularity with students as a cheap & legal drug). -The drug works by dialating the bronchial passages and concentrating blood & O2 in the cardio-pulminary regions by constricting capillary regions thereby reducing blood flow to secondary organs and many other tissues (this is what helps reduce air consumption but also increases complications with decompression which definitely cancels the benefits of low RMV). -The reduction in blood supply to the digestive system also causes signifigant appetite supression making it very popular in natural diet supplements. -It raises blood pressure a little (more signifigant over extended abuse). -It is a powerful CNS stimulant and can have strong side affects in association with oxygen managment (a real problem in advanced diving activities). -In combination with caffine it is very powerful (this is usually how it is sold). -It's a natural antihistamine. -Dangerous interactions with some other drugs such as muscle relaxants, etc. These supplements have considerable advantages in moderate use at the gym and in other uses but the side affects, although fairly minor above water, are very dangerous in the diving enviroment. I'm not bashing them at all (I now even occasionally use the TwinLab version as a booster in my longer 3-4 hour workouts) but the dangers as they relate to our activities do need to be understood. If somebody decides to use them responsibly they should understand that they need to discontinue their use at least 24 (if not 48) hours before any dive with even minor exposures and at least 12 hours after. Anybody considering using these suppliments needs to fully research & understand them before taking a single dosage and they should allways be in careful moderation. One sidenote, I have experimented a little with it in freediving situations and it seems to increase time/distance potentials. I believe this is related to the decrease in blood flow (and therefore O2 consumption) in less vital tissues and expanded efficiency in the bronchial passages. I believe the dangers of deco & O2 management are basicly nil in this application so this may have potential as a reasonably safe & effective tool for free divers. Thanks again for the work your doing. Jeremy (I Cc'd this to some other lists as they were involved in some earlier discussions on this subject) At 11:59 AM 3/26/98 -0500, Dan Volker wrote: >In this first installment of articles Terry is contributing for deep diver >fitness, the most important issue to your nutrition is addressed. This will >be followed by some general nutrition based articles, and some fitness >training, with specific emphasis on increased conditioning for deep diving.. -----snip------ >Next >Nutrition makes an energy carbohydrate powder called Ultimate Orange. It too >derives it's carbs from long chained grains sources, but in addition >contains energy stimulants such as Guarana and Ma Huang. It only has 16 >grams of carbs per serving - so I mix it double dose and it will really wire >you for your workout. Some of the people I use it on get kind of squirrely >on it, they don't feel so hot, the Ma Huang can do that. If that happens, >discontinue use, unless you are a sadist. > -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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