ASPIRIN and freediving

[Chefkoch]

Dunno if this subject has been covered, but there's a nice paper over at NCBI, describing 3 cases of freedivers on aspirin.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...=pubmed_DocSum

All of them took 500-1000mg aspirin, then went freediving/spearfishing.
Although they didn't go very deep (20-30m), all experienced lung oedemas (blood and interstitial fluid passing into the lung, followed by breathing problems, coughing and blood-spitting).

They all had taken aspirin in order to either avoid a headache/or to improve freediving performance.

Aspirin thins the blood, it can then pass easier out of vessels and into your lungs, specially when you have a slight underpressure in the lung lumen.

So take care everyone:

-don't go freediving when you're on aspirin or other blood-thinning medicine
-in fact: better ask your doc for possible complications while freediving when you take any medicine
-and don't take blood-thinners in order to improve your performance, it's dangerous!

[jome]

Why is Aspirin believed to enhance performance? Doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm no expert...

Or is just one of those myths...You know, "there's this old guy in living in the mountains who drinks a pint of pig's blood before every dive and takes a bottle of aspirin and can hold his breath for 20min"?

Anyway, thanks for the warning...

[naiad]

Interesting. Thanks for the warning.

I don't take aspirin anyway because of the stomach issues, but it's good to know. It also shows that using drugs to enhance performance can be dangerous.

If I have taken any kind of medication, I am very careful.

Lucia

[cdavis]

That is a lot of asprin, so the results are not too surprising, except 20 meters is surprising. Thanks for the warning. It is something I never thought about and I sometimes take a lot of asprin for headache.

Connor

[DeepThought]

Another evidence that lung squeezes can happen when diving shallower than residual volume.

So, should freedivers start monitoring their garlic consumption as well?

[fcallagy]

Interesting about the aspirin my sister has a heart condition and is on thinners but also gets blood taken off at regular intervals and this naturally thins the blood. I can't see that a blood donation would take enough off to cause a problem and they always recommend 24hrs before any strenous activity but might be something to be aware of all the same if going deep.

[cp1204]

I recently read interview with Rudi Castineyra, where he warns against using ANY medicine before diving, because results are unpredictable.

[jome]

But I still don't understand why they believed it would enhance the performance? Or did they simply think that "a pain killer must blunt the breathing reflex" or something silly like that?

Anyway, Rudi's advice seems like good advice...

[naiad]

I think it is better not to use ANY medicine before freediving. Of course, this may not always be possible, but certainly it is better to avoid unnecessary medicines as far as possible.

I find that antibiotics (Erythromycin, Clarithromycin and Azithromycin) have a negative effect on my static and dynamic performance, producing what seems like very poor CO2 tolerance. The urge to breathe comes earlier than normal and increases suddenly, and it just doesn't feel good. They also affect my hearing and sense of balance. I was feeling ill a few days ago because of taking repeated courses of antibiotics for a chronic chest infection. I am much better now and hope that I won't need them again for a long time.

Lucia

[tommygun53]

I will sometimes take an aspirin or two after a scuba dive to thin the blood a little. This will make it easier for the very small nitrogen bubbles that have built up to leave my system. Of course I always make sure I am well hydrated as well. But I would never take aspirin BEFORE a dive.

-Tom