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Avatar universal

Scuba diving and Chiari Type 1

I enrolled in a scuba diving course for next semester at my school, though I am thinking I may need to drop it because of Chiari. I want to be a field biologist, and I have a great interest in aquatics; have been keeping aquariums for many years. This being the case, I was thinking that getting scuba certified would be highly beneficial to me. Of course, it doesn't seem like it'd be beneficial at all to my Chiari.

Is it a bad idea? How does scuba diving actually effect your Chiari? I really don't want to drop the course, as I will be highly upset if I cannot do it. What do you guys think...
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER

  I agree with u 100% that it may play a role is most everything we deal with and yes, our control center is hijacked....so everything is amiss....
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Avatar universal
Over the years, I have begun to attribute almost every single ailment/issue I've had to Chiari (minus common cold and other obvious things). When you think about it, why not? Our brain is the control center of our entire body, and having protruding tonsils pressing down into the spinal cord can make our entire body sensitive to even the slightest things.
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER

  No worries...I truly believe many of us have more issues/symptoms that we have dealt with but are not aware of bcuz of how we compensate naturally for how we feel,, and we do change what we do so we r comfortable....and avoid things that we do not feel comfortable doing....I hated gym class, playing sports, swinging on a swing, watching a merry-go-round....blowing up balloons...I mean everything kids r supposed to love...right??..nah

Just like being female and hating shopping...lol...
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1925822 tn?1333705617
The swimming things u describe like just being on the back and not going into deep water because of breathing really surprised me.i always thought i just dont like water...but actually my neck never felt comfortable...thanks selma for sharing.its really interesting how we adopt to the condition although we are not really aware
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620923 tn?1452915648
COMMUNITY LEADER

  Yeah ain't it tho....lol...

I like to just walk in the water and use it as resistance.....and I swim on my back...lol....that way minimal arm and shoulder and neck movement...

I even found trying to float on my stomach on  a tube was too much as I had to hold my head up....ugh

It feels like it weights more like 50 lbs....I know it doesn't but it gets to be too much and it is not comfy....so I gave that up....my sister found a blow up chair with back and neck support and a cup holder for me...my new best friend in the pool : )
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Avatar universal
Well, I don't swim that much, but now that I think of it, I may actually get headaches after swimming as a result of what you mentioned. Oh, the fun of having Chiari.
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