Diving with a Diabetic

[Keith Littlebury]

I am organising a trip where one of the divers is diabetic. I dont know yet if he is on pills or injections or what. I will ask him to explain about any diving related problems he might encounter and what we can do for them but in the meantime can anyone advise on precautions and management of any diabetes related incident and what to look out for, please?

Thanks

[Edward]

I am organising a trip where one of the divers is diabetic. I dont know yet if he is on pills or injections or what. I will ask him to explain about any diving related problems he might encounter and what we can do for them but in the meantime can anyone advise on precautions and management of any diabetes related incident and what to look out for, please?

Thanks

I know this is obvious, but I'm going to ask anyway.

Have you checked their 'Fitness to Dive' certificate to see if the Referee placed any restrictions on their diving?

Regards

Edward

[Helen (AKA Hellvet)]

i was surface support on a trip in june with a diabetic diver (diet and tablet controlled), and he had to do blood sugar levels in and out of the water, and supplement as necessary pre/post dive. He carried a small pack of jelly babies for this purpose, and also made sure he ate a proper breakfast and lunch. The trip organiser, buddy and skipper were aware of his condition.

As i understand it it seems to be if they are a stable diabetic then diving within the limits of their medical referee and their post diagnosis experience is relatively safe?

also check here
http://www.uksdmc.co.uk/standards/Standards-%20diabetes.htm

[Maria CM]

I am organising a trip where one of the divers is diabetic. I dont know yet if he is on pills or injections or what. I will ask him to explain about any diving related problems he might encounter and what we can do for them but in the meantime can anyone advise on precautions and management of any diabetes related incident and what to look out for, please?

Thanks

If that is SP he has injections. Jelly sweets, mars bars, alternative things with sugar and availability of fluids are important

http://diabetes.ca/Files/kwd_signs.pdf

Hypo starts off by being a bit vacant and clammy.

best wishes,

maria

[Keith Littlebury]

Thanks for all the above information. :)

[welmore]

You might want to ask the diabetic, as someone who has to live with the condition he/she will be far better placed to answer your questions.:)

[Keith Littlebury]

Thanks
:rolleyes:

[Steve Summers]

Actually Keith, wellmore has suggested the best course of action.

As an insulin dependant diabetic myself I would be a tad miffed to turn up for a trip to find preconceived ideas about my condition already made.

The diabetic concerned will hopefully allay any fears by going through their regime for dealing with hypo's etc with you beforehand. One thing to ask is for their symptoms of a hypo as they differ from person to person.

I've done over 900 dives up to 60m depth [I am one of a handful of DD allowed by the UKSDMC to dive deeper than 30m] and have never had any problems concerning my diabetes.

Hope it goes well for all concerned.

[Steve Summers]

Apologies for not noticing the OP date as well. It's the drawback of using the new post function ;)

[Adrian Kelland]

Apologies for not noticing the OP date as well. It's the drawback of using the new post function ;)
One day you'll learn this forum lark ;)

[Ron Evans]

One day you'll learn this forum lark ;)

Ah, the first lark. Spring must be here, at last...

Time to get kit out:p

[Keith Littlebury]

HI,

thanks for your views. Yes the matter was resolved last year but its still good to receive relevant information.

I had intended to speak to the person face to face when we met, (which incidentally was going to be before the dive) as I mentioned in the original post, but I wanted some up front info so I knew what I was talking about.

many thanks :)