Snuba and High Blood Pressure

[TravelGal22]

My fiancé has high blood pressure that is controlled by meds. Some places before you snuba make you fill out a health form and ask about high blood pressure. Does anyone know if this is really dangerous or are these companies just being extra cautious.

[scubaran]

My fiancé has high blood pressure that is controlled by meds. Some places before you snuba make you fill out a health form and ask about high blood pressure. Does anyone know if this is really dangerous or are these companies just being extra cautious.

 

It's standard practice for the companies to ask about HBP, diabetes, heart ailments, etc. just because you are underwater in a stressful condition (they have to assume everyone is on the verge of freeking out even though 99% of the people are perfectly comfortable). As you'll find on this board, most experienced divers recommend the same action. - Have your fiance visit his doctor, explain that he's going to be doing snuba, see if the doctor will approve the activity, and have the doctor give him a release stating he approves of your fiance doing the excercise (of course he can always call in and see if the doctor will do this without a visit but we'd never recommend this for obvious reasons). Should be a slam dunk and you can argue that he's fine without the note but the operator can refuse him participating so it's generally easiest to get the note.

 

BTW, just to answer your question, if he's under medication and well controlled there probably isn't a problem but let his doctor decide that.

 

Randall

[TravelGal22]

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate the information and advise.

[drew sailbum]

Also, contact the snuba operator that you wish to use and see if they have a standard medical form. Most likely it will be the same as for scuba divers.

 

The scuba diving industry, under the guidance of the Recreational Scuba Training Council, has developed a medical questionnaire for diving. You can download that here: http://www.wrstc.com/downloads/RSTCMedStatementGeneric.pdf

[jimw]

If you are comfortable in the water and feel ok, go for it. Pay particular attention to your ears and sinus cavities. Are they jammed up? The various ops are just covering their a$$es. A good source of info is DAN, Divers Alert Network. Approval of your personal doctor should ease your mind. A doc who dives might be good too. The form above is for someone starting a scuba certification class, not someone doing a 1 day adventure. Normally the release at the dive site is far less complex.

[drew sailbum]

If you are comfortable in the water and feel ok, go for it. Pay particular attention to your ears and sinus cavities. Are they jammed up? The various ops are just covering their a$$es. A good source of info is DAN, Divers Alert Network. Approval of your personal doctor should ease your mind. A doc who dives might be good too. The form above is for someone starting a scuba certification class, not someone doing a 1 day adventure. Normally the release at the dive site is far less complex.

 

The questions are substantially the same. They ask questions which relate largely to the health of the cardiovascular system and respiratory system.

 

The questionairre linked is particularly useful as it contains guidelines and references for physicians who may not be familiar with the particular issues surrounding diving and health.

 

The issue is generally not that a person takes a certain medication, has high blood pressure, etc... The issue is the underlying health condition.

 

Finally, the pressure changes experienced are exactly the same for a person doing snuba as opposed to scuba diving. The pressure change is the greatest within the shallowest portion of the dive. That generally makes the shallower depths the range in which most barotraumas occur.