Multiple Sclerosis And Scuba Diving

Multiple sclerosis is a disease that in autoimmune in nature and it seriously affects a person's central nervous system, which consists of the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. So, what happens when you get multiple sclerosis? Here is a short explanation how multiple sclerosis affects a person.

The central nervous system is enveloped in a fatty tissue known as myelin and this tissue helps the nerve fibers of the central nervous system to conduct electrical impulses to and from the brain. However, when a person gets multiple sclerosis, the myelin is affected and it disappears in some areas leaving behind a scar tissue known as sclerosis. The scar tissue is nothing but lesions. As the nerve fibers are exposed, they tend to break or get damaged and this affects the conduction of electrical impulses to the brain.

Now coming to the connection with multiple sclerosis and scuba diving. If you have multiple sclerosis and you go out scuba diving there is no problem. However, many of the symptoms shown by patients suffering from multiple sclerosis are also seen in scuba divers suffering neurological decompression sickness, also known as DCS. So, if you have multiple sclerosis and neurological decompression sickness, it will become very difficult for a doctor to diagnose and treat the decompression sickness. And we know that in order to recover from neurological decompression sickness, early diagnosis and treatment are of utmost importance.

In addition, people are looking for more connection between multiple sclerosis and scuba diving. Unfortunately, no studies have been conducted on the effect of scuba diving on the lost of myelin and neither there have been an studies as yet on the effect of medication of multiple sclerosis on scuba diving. However, certain drugs cause drowsiness and scuba diving should be avoided if you are on those drugs.

However, until such time that something concrete is put forth, it is safe to say that there is no connection whatsoever between multiple sclerosis and scuba diving.

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Multiple Sclerosis And Scuba Diving