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13
develop pain, stiffness or some of
the other reported symptoms you
can try a couple of things: 1) eat a
soft diet for a few days to a couple
of weeks, 2) absolutely avoid gum or
similar “chewy” items for a couple
of weeks, 3) use a nonsteroidal anti-
inflammatory drug (NSAID) such
as ibuprofen, if medically tolerated,
or 4) apply ice packs on the area for
20 minutes at a time. I also prescribe
exercises to my patients, but the
exercises are better demonstrated
than explained.
— Stephen A. Coates, D.D.S.,
Long Beach, Calif.
Paying it Forward
Every time I leave a copy of Alert
Diver on a dive yacht, it makes me
feel like I’m paying it forward to
divers who are not DAN members,
opening their eyes to the great
benefits of membership. I know at
least one fellow diver who is now a
DAN member after he was taken
to the hospital following a drift dive
gone wrong and found out the hard
way that his regular health insurance
wouldn’t cover his dive incident.
When he came back on board after
treatment, we all gave him an earful
about how he needed to join DAN.
—Noah Rattner, Portland, Ore
.
Know Your Limits
DAN and Alert Diver always preach
safe diving and knowing your
limits. Because of this constant
reinforcement I recently decided to
exercise the safest option: not diving.
We were in the Galapagos Islands
for a bucket list dive adventure. We
spent a lot of money to be there,
so I was really tempted to go on
each dive, not skip any dives and
maximize my price per dive.
But Galapagos diving is advanced,
and in the morning we got bashed
around the reef due to wicked fast
currents. Frankly, I was getting very
anxious at depth, gripping the rocks
for dear life in the fast current while
an abundance of large sharks swam
nearby. During the afternoon dive
briefing, the dive guide said that the
afternoon dives would be deeper
and the currents would be faster.
DAN’s safety message includes
foregoing a dive if you aren’t in the
right frame of mind. I was not in
the right frame of mind. I reminded
myself that you cannot have a dive
accident if you don’t dive, and I told
my group that I wasn’t diving and
would see them when they got back.
I ended up doing 14 of 18 dives in
the end, and it was worth skipping
the ones that I considered to be
beyond my mental game.
— Shashank Upadhye,
Hinsdale, Ill.
WRITE US
Tell us what’s on your mind by
writing us at:
MAIL
Alert Diver
6 West Colony Place
Durham, NC 27705
ONLINE
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All letters included in this
column are subject to editing
for length and content.
THE MAGAZINE OF DIVERS ALERT NETWORK
WINTER 2014
SOLOMONSSOUL
BALIROADTRIP
SHARKSOF
RHODE ISLAND
TREATINGDCS
INHONDURAS
NEDDELOACH:
ANATURALIST’SVIEW
Cover1.indd 1
1/3/14 10:24AM
All packages include 7 nights, at least 5 days
of diving, airport transfers, taxes, and service
charges. Rates are subject to availability and
standard terms and conditions.
CSOT#2111993-40 • WSOT#603254369 • FSOT#38781
Stephen Frink
800-328-2288
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