Calling all Female Divers

[Scubee]

Hi glovepuppet, welcome to YD. It may be difficult, but you will need to find a doctor who not only has hyperbaric specialisms, but has an in depth knowledge of your illness, treatment, prognosis and so-on.

i come across many people who are at the latter end of treatment, and trying to get back to work, and somethign which is obvious to me is that there is a temptation to do things before they are quite ready, I suspect it is a natural reaction to being unable to do the things you love - and as soon as there is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, they try and make a dash for it. As vonny says, everyone is different, and you are likely to be tired, which may not be good for diving. I have heard in the past that prosthetics need to be specifically recommended for diving.

One of the other posters has given you a link to some people, another place you might look to for advise is e-med. The docs there are all divers, and a lovely bunch If you contact them, I am sure they will be able to give you some advice, or point you in the right direction at least.

Best of luck

[cazyoung]

Hi
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, I do not have experience myself but if you go to Divers Alert Network website and use medical FAQ there is a section on "womens issues" which can give some info which I hope helps. Take care.

[DecoWarrior]

having stopped diving for medical reasons myself although not breast cancer obviously you may find the primary cause is the not the reason you will have stop, it is quite common to get blood clots and pe's associated with the illness and the treatment, and also if they prescribe you steroids which is pretty normal occurance you may find an increased risk of avascular bone necrosis of the hips, although this may be quite rare it is still not understood and one of the things usggested when my symptoms shown was that rpevious diving could have contributed going diving after imediate exposure could be damaging sorry for not saying dive but this issues is far more complex than anyone without detailed knowledge of yur medical records could advise on

[Boat Elf]

Like everyone else, I'm really sorry to hear your news.

A friend in may dive club also went through the same a couple of years ago. She is an instructor and was OK to dive again after the masectomy and chemotherapy that she had. I don't know all of the details though.

I recommend speaking to a dive doctor. London Diving Chamber give free email advice, which could be a good place to start - doctor@londondivingchamber.co.uk

[Hellvet]

Originally Posted by Scubee

Hi glovepuppet, welcome to YD. It may be difficult, but you will need to find a doctor who not only has hyperbaric specialisms, but has an in depth knowledge of your illness, treatment, prognosis and so-on.

i come across many people who are at the latter end of treatment, and trying to get back to work, and somethign which is obvious to me is that there is a temptation to do things before they are quite ready, I suspect it is a natural reaction to being unable to do the things you love - and as soon as there is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, they try and make a dash for it.

My sympathy - if diving is to you what it is to me, which is an excellent refuge from the "real world" plus a great stress relief trigger then this is not the best time to be told you cannot dive as having something wrong with you like this is stressful enough.

I am mid way through trying to sort a medical problem myself, and as said above it is very easy to try to rush back to work, diving and everything else before you probably should, and yes a lot of it is to do with wanting to be "normal" again.

All i can say to help is that though it has been difficult to cope without diving, it has been possible with the support of my club(s), friends, and family. As has been said above, the sea isn't going anywhere, and hopefully you will get back in the water sooner than you think.

Positive thoughts on their way to you...

[ray]

Hi.

Sorry to hear about your illness.

My wife and I have a good diving friend over 50 years old who had the op, she is now diving again with her husband but the timescale she chose was a couple of years after the op.

That was her choice when she felt it was right for her, I suppose it will ultimately be down to you and medical advice you will have to take on board.

[Colin Marriott]

I used to dive with a lady in our club who'd had breast cancer and a resulting operation to remove the tumor, and her lymph glands as well I believe.

The only effect on her diving was that she is weak on the side where the operation was, so needs help to lug her kit about, and a shove from below to get her onto the RIB, and help with fins etc.

There has been the odd time when, fully kitted up,she would decide not to dive after all.

Luckily the people in the club are willing to accommodate her by assisting when necessary.

HTH

ColinM

[MartinJ]

Originally Posted by glovepuppet

I've been diving for 5 years and I manage circa 130 dives per year, most in excess of 1 hour duration, both salty and fresh water.

Just joined the forum but for very selfish reasons, I have just been diagnosed with Breast Cancer and I will be having a mastectomy followed by reconstructive surgery. Are there any other female divers out there who have been in a similar situation ? what I'm trying to find out is how long did you stop diving for and what problems you have found once you returned to diving ....

Any hyperbaric medicine doctors out there who have any opinions on the pros and cons with this type of surgery and the implications to scuba diving.. all comments welcome except for ...... stop diving

Good luck and I hope all goes well.

I would suggest finding a local dive doc or contact the London Diving Chamber. Diving docs I have dealt with are all keen divers and are always happy to offer advice although obviously for specific health problems they wont diagnose over the phone and would need to see you. But for the question you are asking I think a quick phone call to a diving doc would give you the answer.

[Paulus]

Hi Glovepuppet,

As a DAN member I get their quarterly magazine. It often contains articles about ongoing medical research in diving. In the back of my mind I seem to remember an article which touched on this subject.

I don't keep old issue so I can't check back. It might be worth joining/contacting DAN. Perhaps some YD contributers have better memories than me (for sure!) and even have back issues.

Very best wishes
Paul