Medication, Drugs & Diving
One of the features that distinguish man from animals is our desire to take medication!
Beyond the age of 18, nearly all humans take some or other form of medication, nutritional supplement or mood enhancer. If you dare to disagree with me, consider your next hot beverage…!
So now the question arises about how all this affects divers? What do we know about medication and diving? Unfortunately very little!
It is easy to speculate on ways in which medication may affect us in diving, but most of these suppositions are not founded on fact; they remain based on common sense and best guesses, leaving recommendations on drugs and diving more one of argument than evidence. There is, for instance, no comprehensive or foolproof list on drugs and diving.
So, the presentation that follows addresses the issue of medication, drugs and diving on two levels: (1) it offers general guidelines that can be applied to any medication or condition, and (2) it provides specific information about common medication used in diving and in divers.
Beyond the age of 18, nearly all humans take some or other form of medication, nutritional supplement or mood enhancer. If you dare to disagree with me, consider your next hot beverage…!
So now the question arises about how all this affects divers? What do we know about medication and diving? Unfortunately very little!
It is easy to speculate on ways in which medication may affect us in diving, but most of these suppositions are not founded on fact; they remain based on common sense and best guesses, leaving recommendations on drugs and diving more one of argument than evidence. There is, for instance, no comprehensive or foolproof list on drugs and diving.
So, the presentation that follows addresses the issue of medication, drugs and diving on two levels: (1) it offers general guidelines that can be applied to any medication or condition, and (2) it provides specific information about common medication used in diving and in divers.
Posted in Dive Safety Tips
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2 Comments
This was very helpful to me, a doctor and diver, but new to providing care at a dive site e.g. on the use of pseudo ephedrine.