Scuba diving help you much?

[AriSmyelin]

We know that being in water is great for MS but has anyone gotten a scuba certification? (not snorkeling)Did you find it to help strengthen your body or did you eventually find it a bit difficult and don't do it as often? If you are around Utah was the certification a pain?

[Jer29-11]

I’ve never tried scuba diving and I’m not sure I will now (I’ve become claustrophobic with age! 🥴). I’ve always wanted to try though and wish I would’ve gotten certified when I was younger. I’m in souther California, so it’s really easy here. Not sure about Utah

[AriSmyelin in reply to Jer29-11]

My husband and I wanted to (but had kids instead lol) but got busy with life and MS. But I love the water and would love to do it. However I am debating it due to price partially because how often would I really do it especially in UT.

[Jer29-11 in reply to AriSmyelin]

True! After high school I worked at a sporting goods store that’s no longer in business (Sport Chalet) and I could have certified for free! 🤦‍♀️ Looking back I wish I would have done it. I’m pretty sure my body can’t handle it now, but who knows. You should try it!

[AriSmyelin in reply to Jer29-11]

FREE?!?!? Dang, I should see if any sporting good store is hiring just so I can do that then quit. Okay, I'll dedicate a year to be fair. Lol

[Jer29-11 in reply to AriSmyelin]

Yes, free!!! lol! It was so much fun working there, especially because I’ve always been in to outdoor activities and sports

[AriSmyelin in reply to Jer29-11]

Yeah claustrophobia is a big thing. I guess it could also depend on what kind of mask you wear? Some offer bigger view possibly making you feel its more open. Unless its the suit that squeezes you? However, there is also "skin scuba diving." People don't wear suits. I noticed I have had a few issues with fear perk up with age too. Mine is heights. I don't scare easy but I noticed at times I get like a "shot of anxiety" i.e when someone else is doing like bike riding on cliff edges with a go pro. And yet I really want to try those swings that go over the grand canyon. How in anyway does that make sense? 🙄

[MarkUpnorth]

Got my cert when in high school, a lifetime ago. Every day for ??? months evenings in the pool, Training. Remember the intentional attacks to get you immune to what can/does happen underwater. They would shut your tank off without warning. Pull your gear off you face....all so you developed a second nature reaction to it all. Come spring, when most of the ice was gone, using wetsuits, one Saturday morning drove just under an hour to some lake, where we met for our first lake dive. First time in a wetsuit in water so cold you stopped breathing till the thin layer of water inside your suit warmed. Remember the lake was so murky you could only see a foot or two in front of your face. Did get face to face with a bass. And almost broke my mask on an old anchor searching the muddy bottom for anything. That was our first real dive.Did a few dives on reefs in the Caribbean. Loved it and will remember it forever. But then college, and careers, never got to it again. Did get vertigo a few times many years later, on land for ??? reason thanks to M.S., but all that training including short bouts of in the pool vertigo (the real thing - for short periods unsure even which way was the surface, completely disoriented at the bottom of the deep end, lights off, and keeping everything calm & under control underwater), made my M.S. land events no big deal several decades later in life. Do I still dive? Been a lifetime ago. BUT, bet I could!?!? No balance issues underwater. Could I still do decompression calculations??? Doubtful. But, who knows? Maybe when the ice clears, I still have an old wetsuit for??? I should be able to get into it. Nah, fishing from a boat is as much as I attempt these days. Never having speared a single fish scuba or skin diving or skin diving, though I was always aching to try out my speargun! Most I speared was a clam! Always too many barracuda a in view, watching you. Trained to never spear a fish with them or sharks around.

So, if you think you have the stamina for it, go for it!

Fishing is about as energetic as get these days. And even that is an accomplishment these days!

[AriSmyelin in reply to MarkUpnorth]

Damn dude, Even getting your tank turned off randomly worried me a bit but then you mentioned calculations....Well Shiz I am definitely screwed. I don't plan on doing deep sea so I don't have to worry too much about decompression stops. I think 100 feet is plenty for me. I will keep it chill!!!! And I sure as hell don't want to see my idiot child dealing with narcosis they are the kind to for sure panic. My husband has one arm so that would be more difficult. But possible. We wouldn't leave each others sides anyways.

[MarkUpnorth in reply to AriSmyelin]

I forget, but doubt I've been that deep. Look at the charts. 50' for xxx time requires you decompression? Something like that. Or just switch to tanks filled with N2? Yeah, that's beyond my defective brain!

[AriSmyelin in reply to MarkUpnorth]

Lol. I heard more recently that you can go to about 135 feet with no decompression but still a slow rise. But if you go to like 300 feet it takes about 30 minutes on the way down and 4 hours to go up. So going about 2200 feet it takes 33 hours. So those massive deeeeeeep sea divers that work that far down actually built a live in chamber that they stay in for about a month on shift. It was nuts. I heard about it on someone called MrBallen on youtube telling a story about it. He was a Navy Seal so he really knew his stuff. But I suck at math so I think I'll stick to snorkeling for awhile. Lol.

[AriSmyelin in reply to MarkUpnorth]

I'm with you. Fishing all the way. I will catch, descale and gut the thing but I will not eat it. I love fishING but eating it.

[MarkUpnorth in reply to AriSmyelin]

Eating is the best part! Why do you think we go thru so much effort to catch them? Surely not the sun burns... Need a recipie, give me the type of edible fish and I'll make it delicious!

I can even filet the boniest fish like a northern, but de-scaling?, I even now started de-skinning my store bought salmon filets, especially when making them on a cedar plank. Much cleaner presentation / eating. Full of Flavor without the skin!

[AriSmyelin in reply to MarkUpnorth]

Oh my goodness man. You are dedicated!! I am stubborn enough that I can sit there all day and as I am ready to pack it in. Just one more cast....Okay, one more....Maybe just more in that spot. Okay I'll start casting on the way back to my car...One more cast...One more.....Forever later. All for a fish that I won't eat. Lol

[kandykone1]

My husband owns Scuba Diving store in Michigan. I've been diving since dx four years ago. No harder than before and just as fun. However I don't have mobility issues. But in the water you're weightless and free, I highly suggest if it's on your bucket list!!

[AriSmyelin in reply to kandykone1]

That's what I needed to hear! Thanks love!!!!

[kdali]

I am certified, but have not been on a dive in 8 years, and that was before MS hit the fan. My cert was exhausting because those dives were not from a boat, and I'm certain my current spasticity would not allow such. I suppose if I were able to dive all the time I would be stronger, in swimming and controlled breathing. To prepare for shore dives again, I would probably take long walks with a weighted vest and find a gym with a pool to practice finning. I wish I had move dives.

[AriSmyelin in reply to kdali]

I remember using fins for the first time. It did not go well. Hurt like a sucker. Also took me a bit to figure out the right moves. I know I also HAVE to be completely covered when I go in natural water so scuba gear is perfect. Found out the very hard way that because of Ocrevus even one scratch I get Cellulitis. And lucky me I had it in both legs after only one dose of Ocrevus. 🙄 So no feeling the fresh water for me.

[kdali in reply to AriSmyelin]

🤣 my feet still hurt when I think of fins. Cellulitis is awful, I'm sorry! Full body suits were not an option where I went , so shop ahead.

[AriSmyelin in reply to kdali]

My right ankle swelled up so we thought it was the fins that hurt it. But through the days whenever I stood up we noticed with in 2 minutes my legs turned purple and huge. Even my parents finally freaked out. They thought I had clots. But we were 7 hours from a hospital. So the next morning my husband wasted no time rushing me in. Just to wait 6 hours to hear them say. "If you were on Tysabri this wouldn't have happened. Even one dose of Ocrevus killed your ability to fight off any infection. With even a scratch. It spreads faster then it takes to make a cut." Husband: "Nothing but chlorine pools for you!" Lol. Have you had it before kdali?

[kdali in reply to AriSmyelin]

Oh my, that's crazy!!! No, I have not, I worked with a few terrible cases as a nurse and it's on my list of things not to get 😱

[AriSmyelin in reply to kdali]

That is a very good thing to have on your list! I suggest near the top!

[Peruzzot]

Scuba diving has been on my bucket list for years. I might start learning this summer. I've just got to look for local places that offer classes.

[AriSmyelin in reply to Peruzzot]

My cousins kids do it which motivated me I think the youngest was 8 at the time. Which also through me off.

[twooldcrows]

never thought about ,i had two sister inlaws that did but i don't think either have done in years well one is passed so it is only one and i haven't seen in years ..

[BlanketTime1]

that seems like it would be a good idea. i hope it works out for you!