Scuba Diving with Diabetes and Other Health Concerns
While just about anyone who is in reasonably good physical shape is fit enough to be a Scuba Diver, Diabetes is one of the few health condition that can actually prevent a person from Scuba Diving in fact until recently people with Insulin Dependant Diabetes were actually banned form scuba diving. The conventional medical thinking being that a diabetes scuba diver who went into insulin shock while below the water faces the very real threat of death of serious injury. Also since that person’s buddy relies on him, the diabetic diver also poses a threat to the safety of the buddy, not to mention forces the buddy to take heroic action should a problem relating to the condition occur.
However in recent years dive medicine experts have rethought the ban, and now while Diabetics are not prohibited to dive, they still need to proceed with a fair amount of caution. Dr. George Burghen, Chief of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Tennessee, explains the problem with diving with diabetes is threefold. “The effect of diving on blood sugar levels is not truly known.





