Can you scuba dive with diabetes?

• Age 18 or over (16 in a special training programme).
• Well-maintained blood glucose that stays stable through daily activities.
• No hypo- or hyperglycaemia needing help from someone else in the past year, and no history of hypoglycaemia unawareness.
• HbA1c of 9% or lower, checked yearly, and no significant complications.
• A medical examination every year; over 40, regular screening for silent heart disease.

Avoid dives deeper than 30 metres, longer than 60 minutes, with compulsory decompression stops, inside wrecks or caves, or that are long, cold and hard work. Dive with a buddy or leader who knows about your diabetes and what to do — someone who does not have diabetes, as the workshop guideline recommends.

• Check at least three times before diving — 60 minutes, 30 minutes and immediately before — to see the trend.
• Glucose should be at least 150 mg/dL (8.3 mmol/L) and stable or rising before entering the water; postpone if it's below that or above 300 mg/dL (16.7 mmol/L).
• Carry oral glucose on every dive and keep glucagon at the surface.
• Check at the end of every dive and frequently for 12–15 hours afterwards.
• If you feel hypoglycaemic underwater: surface with your buddy, make yourself buoyant, take glucose and leave the water.

These are consensus guidelines — your doctor still needs to assess you individually. Tell us when you book so your guide knows.