Diving on your period

[Little Mermaid]

Sorry for over-sharing...

What is the probability that one can attract sharks when they dive on their "time of the month".

There are a lot of small grey reef, white and black tips here in the Maldives. In the last few days though there was a sighting of a 2m nurse shark and when we went the other day, another group encountered a tiger shark - now i'm a bit concerned.

Thanks

 

[kwtony]

I stopped doing it about a year ago...bad idea

 

[Little Mermaid]

Thanks Kwtony... I guess we can't take chances in being shark baits

 

[Kars]

It may be a cheaper way to attract and see sharks then chumming LOL

 

[Whopperhead]

Not only does it attract sharks, but also BEARS! Now we're all in danger!

 

[kwtony]

Watch out for the dolphin as well

 

[Bella6056]

It's no problem whatsoever...especially with the little reefies here in Maldives. Do you think we (female instructors) would be able to only work 3 weeks each month? Yeah, employers and our male colleagues would just love that haha...
It's fine to dive with your period, can be an inconvenience, but not a problem. I had a student ask me once, and I found this a while back, has a link you might want to check out if you're still worried about it.

There is an interesting article at Women in Scuba about women's issue in diving. The article was done by Jacalyn Robert of Texas Tech University; Department of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation.

"There is no evidence of increased shark interest in a menstruating female. The hemolytic blood associated with menses may instead act as a shark deterrent (Edmonds, et al., 1992, p. 65)."

And then there's this from a study by Richard Martin:

"It has been demonstrated that sharks are uninterested in menstrual fluids. This is not, as some dive physicians suggest, because the amount of fluid is small and discharged over a number of days. Sharks have an highly developed ability to detect chemicals dissolved in water, down to an infinitestimal 10 trillionth of a mole per litre of seawater for certain amino acids. If even the tiniest quantity of mensus is released into the water during an hour's dive, the incredible acuity of the shark olfactory system may welll be able to detect it. While certain types of blood are well-known to be hightly attractive to sharks, menstrual 'blood' is a complex fluid that is chemically very different from systemic blood. Menstrual fluid does include 'old' (hemolysed) blood, but it has been shown experimentally that sharks are simply not interested in it."
Source(s):
Check this site out for additional information: Risks of Women In Diving

 

[apneaboy]

I try and get out diving a couple of days before and during my girlfriends period. I get a type of earache otherwise. I get a small amount of earache for going but this reduces exponentially as I get further away from the house.

 

[Kars]

LOL Apneaboy!

I talked to an Egyptian, and he agreed to a book describing women as an emotional tide, something that can be done very little about at times. Also men sometimes need to get away for a while, but like on an elastic band they'll return in time. Presto your experience makes totally sense!

Bella, very interesting facts!
I think that if there is not much pain, work can be a nice distraction. Just take it easy, sleep and eat well. If you feel it's difficult to say it's your period causing your discomfort, you can say you just feel ill, weak today in advance. Sometimes people simply forget in the hurry, with no bad intentions. I think irritation just comes out (wrong) because we're tired, at a weak moment, snapping our frustrations to each other, where in other circumstances we had more ability to count to ten and instead of a reaction give a wise(r) response.
Does this make sense?

 

[scottwilson]

I try and get out diving a couple of days before and during my girlfriends period. I get a type of earache otherwise. I get a small amount of earache for going but this reduces exponentially as I get further away from the house.

roflroflroflroflrofl