Carol:

I originally had this part attached to my earlier list of things others had done
after being bent and wanting to keep diving.
Since it might cause controversy of it's own, not related to the list topics, I
split it out.

Ignore your doctor outright.

Yes, I know that may sound like a radical notion, but most are ill equipped to
certify you as okay to dive for any condition that requires special attention.
The small percent of them who are knowledgeable beyond anecdotal information about
diving aren't emotionally equipped to okay you when they can find any excuse not
to.     It's a liability or professional organization issue,  not well reasoned
scientific judgment.   Whatever they might say, it's "ex officio" and has to be held
up to the light of peer judgment.

We here in the states don't make much of it, but doctor's permission seems to be a
Brit/Aussie phenomenon of some import to them.

This past weekend I dived West Palm Beach with a British couple, aged in early 60's,
certified in Australia.    Over 200 dives each.  She'd been all over the world
diving with us, including recently to Palau,  and previously to Grand Turk and Papua
New Guinea.   I'd noted then she only did 2 of the 5 possible dives per day on the
live aboards, and as a consequence, did only the toughest dives,  like Blue Corner
and Pelilu Cut, so as not to miss out.

We were scheduled to do three tanks and lunch on the local 20m reefs, and she wanted
to know which would be the best two to dive.   When I asked why she said that when
she got certified in 1995, the Aussie doctor had recommended she not do more than 2
dives a day because "nitrogen loves old people, and nitrogen loves females".
Great science, huh?   Still, she'd been stuck with that witchcraft ever since,
having come out of the mouth of a "doctor",  thus  missing lots of easy, beautiful
dives.      A couple of us, more versed in recent dive theory,  convinced her to do
the 3rd dive.    Since she was diving nitrox, on a conservative Aladdin computer set
to air,  and always did a safety stop, we didn't feel we were at risk that her
"femaleness" would override the computer and cause her to be bent.



Wade