Can i scuba dive with diabetes

Carry oral glucose at all times, and tell your dive buddy and the dive operation staff where to find it and how to administer it in an emergency. Have a glucagon injection available at the surface. Eat food with carbohydrates that are slow to digest before diving to encourage a balanced glucose level. Measure your blood glucose several times before diving including immediately before and do so again afterward.

Insulin requirements may change substantially with the demands of exercise and diving. Do not dive deeper than feet 30 meters. Hypoglycemia can be confused with nitrogen narcosis, which has an increased likelihood of developing at depths greater than feet. Avoid diving for longer than 60 minutes. Log your dives, and note your blood sugar levels for future reference.

Do not dive in cold water, strong currents or conditions that demand strenuous activity. Consider using a continuous glucose monitoring CGM system for a real-time check of your blood glucose levels. Stay hydrated and healthy before, during and after diving. Pollock stresses that while diabetes alone doesn't prevent you from diving, other related conditions may. You also can't have diabetes-related conditions like vascular disease. DAN has established a list of guidelines you can check out on its web site.

Just go to diversalertnetwork. The bottom line is people with diabetes need to be fit to dive, need to choose their dives carefully, and need to manage their diabetes on the day of the dive. If your diabetes is well-managed during everyday activities on dry land, you're generally safe to dive. Above all, that means you must be stable with your insulin regimen. You should wait three months after starting oral hypoglycemic agents OHAs and one year after starting insulin therapy before your first dive.

You should also be free of any serious episodes meaning you needed outside assistance of hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia for one year before diving. If you're prone to seizures, lack of coordination or impaired judgment when your blood sugar drops, you shouldn't dive.

Nor should you dive if you don't know how exercise affects your blood sugar or if you can't sense when an episode of low blood sugar is coming on.

Losing your faculties 40 feet below can have dire consequences. Finally, certain diabetes-related health conditions can increase your risk for decompression sickness or other life-threatening complications. Don't dive if you have asthma, neuropathy nerve damage , nephropathy kidney disease , retinopathy eye disease or heart disease. It's a good idea to avoid cold, long, arduous dives that could send your blood sugar spiraling.

Shallow diving is your best bet. Avoid anything deeper than feet. You also want to avoid decompression dives, because if you have to come to the surface to address a bout of hypoglycemia, you don't want to have to prolong treatment for a decompression stop.

Keep your dives to 60 minutes or less in duration, so you're not going unmonitored for an extended period of time. And stay away from wrecks and other overhead environments. Many individuals are also diagnosed with pre-diabetes, a condition in which blood sugar is high but not significantly enough to warrant treatment. Unless changes are made to diet and exercise, those with pre-diabetes are likely to join the ranks of individuals diagnosed with diabetes. To understand the effects of diabetes, we need to have an understanding of some basic human biology.

In a normally functioning body, a number of metabolic reactions occur in response to eating. First, the digestion process in the stomach breaks the food down into glucose a form of sugar , which enters the blood stream and is transported to cells throughout the body. The hormone insulin is secreted by the pancreas, which triggers the cells to allow glucose to enter. Through a process called glycolysis, the glucose is broken down in the production of a molecule called ATP adenosine triphosphate , which is the source of energy in the cell.

Also in response to eating, the cells also synthesize and story fatty acids and proteins. These are all critical functions for a normal, healthy body. For the person with diabetes, this process simply does not work properly. Type I diabetes is actually an autoimmune condition. The immune system destroys the beta cells in the pancreas, which are responsible for the production of insulin. And without that insulin, glucose does not enter the cells and they run out of energy.

For Type I diabetes, those affected must receive injections of insulin at the appropriate times to control blood glucose levels and allow cells to receive the needed glucose. Eating the right foods at the right time can also help control blood sugar by controlling how much glucose is produced through digestion. In Type 2 diabetes, the pancreas has a deficiency of beta cells that create insulin, making it unable to supply enough insulin to the body.

In addition, insulin receptors at the cellular level may not respond properly to insulin, limiting the amount of glucose entering the cells and allowing blood glucose to remain elevated. Controlling diet is also important for those with Type 2 diabetes to prevent spikes in blood glucose. Medications are available to help maintain an appropriate low level of blood glucose.

For some, additional medications may be available to increase insulin production by the pancreas. The factors that determine blood glucose levels fluctuate greatly throughout every day, so for a Type 1 diabetic, determining the proper dose of insulin to take can be a complex and sometimes delicate balancing act.

Too much insulin means the body consumes too much glucose, which can drive blood glucose to a dangerously low level. This low blood glucose condition, referred to as hypoglycemia, can sometimes be fatal if prompt corrective action is not taken. With too little insulin, blood glucose can soar to dangerous levels while at the cellular level the body is starved of energy. This condition is referred to as hyperglycemia and it poses a risk of long-term complications. The goal, then, is to take the necessary steps to maintain a relatively constant blood glucose level as we eat and perform various activities throughout the day.

One way that those challenged with diabetes can help avoid the spikes that can come, is to pay attention to what they eat and when they eat it. In addition to proper eating and dietary habits, other natural remedies have also been widely used to help keep blood sugar levels in check. For example, Gymnema sylvestre is an herb used for centuries in India to help control blood glucose by stimulating pancreatic function.

Numerous factors affect blood glucose levels, as well as overall health for all of us. These are of particular importance to those with pre-diabetes or diabetes.

One factor that contributes to elevated blood glucose is stress. The stress hormone adrenaline increases blood glucose, releasing it into the blood to provide a needed boost of energy to meet the fight or flight needs.

In a situation such as being chased by a shark, we would react physically by fighting or fleeing and that glucose would soon be used up. But what if instead we remain stationary? Instead, we are forced to sit and deal with it.

One result of that inaction can be elevated blood glucose levels. Cortisol is a hormone generated by the adrenal glands that can elevate blood glucose.

Under conditions of high stress, cortisol provides the body with glucose by tapping into protein stored in the liver. This energy can help an individual in a fight or flight situation. To help reduce the effects of stress, we need to find ways to prevent or cope with it. Strategies include everything from exercise to nutrition, hydration, music and meditation.

Sleep is not a luxury — it is a necessity that also has an impact on blood glucose. In fact, a chronic lack of sleep is another form of stress that can result in elevated blood glucose, according to an article in the December issue of Diabetes Therapy.

The National Sleep Foundation recommends seven to nine hours of sleep every night to enjoy its restorative health effects.

Another factor that can predispose individuals to Type 2 diabetes is a chronically low level of Vitamin D. A study reported in Scientific American in , found that 45 percent of Americans are deficient in Vitamin D and more recent studies corroborate a rising trend in Vitamin D deficiencies. But here is the kicker: a Tufts-New England Medical Center study found that those who are chronically low on Vitamin D had a 46 percent increased risk of Type 2 diabetes.

As it turns out, precautions against skin cancer may actually be depressing our levels of Vitamin D.