Mar 10
7
Diving with a Period
One thing that seems to worry women above all else is the possibility of a shark attack when we are on our period while diving! Personally, I had never even thought about it – and I was diving in the Red Sea with a period one year. So we’ll talk about that, and we’ll also discuss increased risk of DCI/DCS (decompression illness/sickness), taking medications such as Norethisterone, OCP (oral contraceptive pill) or painkillers, using tampons and other issues you might encounter while you are diving with your period (of course this info could be useful to men too so you can pass it on to your lady buddies!)
Shark Attack!
Okay, first thing is first – statistically, you are not at any disadvantage by being on your period when it comes to getting a sharks attention! There are stories of women diving for 10 years and never having any incidents involving sharks while they were on their period and there are also stories of women saying the fact they were on their period got a sharks attention. While it is true that sharks can smell blood in the water from a long way away, the blood molecules have to physically get that far, which will take some time. Plus there would have to be a fair amount of blood in the water for the sharks to think a snack might be on the cards and the amount of blood you might leak would be negligible (you stop bleeding when you get in the water anyway).
If you need any more reasons after all that you could also include the fact that the vast majority of sharks wouldn’t be remotely interested in a human meal at all – they eat fishes, seals and other marine creatures. If you still don’t believe me – read this - Sharks as Predators of Humans
DCI/DCS
While there are studies linking the first week of the female cycle with increased risk of DCI,most of these studies were conducted in the aerospace industry and for medical hyperbaric therapy, so hasn’t actually been done in relation to sports diving. However, there are several in recent times that have been to do with diving, and instead of trying to tell you about it, I’ll just quote:
The third and largest study (St. Leger-Dowse M, Gunby A, Moncad R, Fife C, Morsman J, Bryson P) of its kind was published this year in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The work was carried out by the UK-based charity, the Diving Diseases Research Centre (DDRC), which, for 25 years, has been conducting research on the effects of the undersea environment on humans. One project has involved collecting female-specific data from recreational divers for the past 16 years, starting with a comparative study between men and women divers in the early 1990s.
In this latest study (I headed up the research team) a large number of female recreational scuba divers kept diving and menstrual diaries for up to three consecutive years. This was a Herculean task started in the 1990s and designed to study any interaction between reported problems during diving (RPDD) and the day in a typical 28-day menstrual cycle. Five hundred and seventy women took part, with 61 percent returning diaries for the full three consecutive years. More than 50,000 dives with more than 11,000 menstrual cycles were recorded, making this the largest study of its kind.
Sixty five per cent of women reported at least one problem during diving, including an inability to cope with equipment; feeling colder than usual; inablilty to control buoyancy; symptoms of DCI; feeling unwell; and an inability to cope with low visibility.
Additionally, there were reports of feelings of nitrogen narcosis, inability to clear ears, and feelings of uncertainty and panic. Because of the way the data from the diaries were gathered, we knew the time in every single menstrual cycle of every single dive, and therefore we knew the time in the cycle of every reported diving problem.
So although there might not be a direct link – you could find yourself having one or more other problems with diving at any given point during your cycle. So us women need to look after ourselves and make sure we know where we are in our cycles and when we are likely to run into difficulties while diving.
Norethisterone
Although I don’t condone taking any kind of drug that interferes with your hormones (my Mum is a hormone specialist!), many women do use Norethisterone as a way of postponing the period until they are back from their holiday or diving trip. There is no problem with having your period while diving, but some women take it in order to avoid the extra hassle/potential mess! There is no danger in taking this drug, nor in not taking this drug – it is completely your choice!
Oral Contraception Pill
Again – I don’t condone these pills, but there are many reasons why women might take these from slowing heavy periods to contraceptive reasons, but other than throwing your normal
hormones out of whack, they won’t cause any damage with regards to diving. I’m so not going to keep writing, otherwise I’ll start to sound like my Mum! :) Not that that is a bad thing of course – I’l always being told how I look like her – but I think you might get bored! (If you are interested you can find some articles on how hormone therapy affects your natural hormone levels at www.bio-vitality.com – I’ll let my Mum tell you!!)
Painkillers
If you are crippled by period pains or even any other kind of injury, the first thing you need to make sure is that you are confident you are capable of diving – is anything going to hinder you rescuing your buddy? If you have to take painkillers, that’s fine, but you don’t want to take anything that will give you side effects such as feeling sleepy. Anything that advises you not to operate heavy machinery after taking probably isn’t a good idea to take while diving. You need to be sure that you have both the mental capacity and physical capacity to cope with just about anything that presents an issue during your dive. Other than that – no probs!!
Tampons
One thing I hear a lot about is how tampons blow up to gargantuan proportions when they get wet, but if you put them in before you get in the water (do I need to say that??) then when you get in the water, your vagina seals and no water will get in. From the point of view from within your vagina, you wouldn’t know whether you were in the water or not – omg, what a picture that conjures…
There is no danger to wearing a tampon from it swelling at all due to the water, and similarly there is no risk with DCI from wearing a tampon. People have also raised the question as to weather it creates an air pocket and therefore a squeeze with pressure change. The answer is that apart from the fact that there would not be any air in your vagina, a tampon is not airtight, so air can get past it in both directions if it needs to – so no worries there either!
Hydration
We know that de-hydration can exacerbate DCI problems, and we also know that it can be easier to get dehydrated during “that time of the month”, so make sure you stay hydrated when you are diving with your period – especially if you are on holiday and are diving in a warmer country than you are used to!
I think I’ve covered most people’s worries in this article, but comment if you have any questions!
