Can you scuba dive with a thyroid condition?

Can you scuba dive with a thyroid condition?

Thyroid problems can severely affect metabolism and body function. If you want to learn to scuba dive but are concerned about thyroid disease, you may want to know how these issues may affect your planned activities.

The thyroid

The thyroid is an essential gland that secretes thyroxine, a hormone that helps control the rate of burning carbohydrates or commonly known as metabolic rate. In excess amounts it causes hyperthyroidism or thyrotoxicosis and too little secretion causes hypothyroidism or myxedema.

• With hyperthyroidism, heart and breathing rates increase, body weight decreases, and too much secretion can lead to heart problems such as tachycardia, severe arrhythmias, and heart failure. It also includes anxiety or discomfort, muscle weakness and paralysis.

• In hypothyroidism, heart rate and metabolism are slow. It can cause fatigue, slowness or lack of reflexes and can also lead to heart failure.

Which divers should be concerned?

A diver must be concerned about the body's ability to function given the increased workload that hyperthyroidism can place on the heart. Considering the burden of diving with large equipment, the heart may not be able to handle it. The fact that a person with hyperthyroidism is prone to attacks of paroxysmal atrial tachycardia or atrial fibrillation, a condition in which the heart has episodes of rapid beating that can lead to loss of consciousness or malfunction of the body. Thinking underwater can be disastrous being underwater.

When is the right time to dive?

Regardless of whether a person has experienced diving before or still plans to dive recreationally, the appropriate time to dive is when the patient has euthyroid or normal thyroid function with a stable dose of replacement medication. However, patients with ophthalmopathy must be disqualified during treatment. If unsuccessful, they may face permanent disqualification.

What are the requirements for correct decision-making?

• Endocrinology consultation

• Laboratory studies

• Ophthalmology consultation if eye diseases such as exophthalmos or ocular protrusion are present

Three main therapies

• Medical treatment with methimazole or similar medications. There is a 50% relapse rate, with some cases relapsing early.

• With radioactive iodine, 10 to 15% of cases have hypothyroidism within 2 years, while 50 to 60% have hypothyroidism within 20 years.

• Surgery. A third of patients who undergo surgery become hypothyroid within 10 years, requiring regular checks for the rest of their lives.

Other considerations

After treatment for hyperthyroidism, thyroid hormone levels often fall below normal, which can lead to hypothyroidism. However, the missing hormone can be replaced with Synthroid, a synthetic substitute that restores normal thyroid hormone levels in the blood. Muscle pain and muscle weakness are the symptoms in 25% of patients. There are also cases where weakness and tremors can be confused with decompression accidents.

Diving is considered unsafe for a person with hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism. If thyrotoxicosis is untreated, thyroxine can sometimes be excreted in large quantities, which can cause debilitating symptoms for a diver.

Inspired by Elley Reys