Can i atend a course if im on ssri anti anxiety drugs?

[Gnusmas 0]

Hi to everyone

I want badly to get into this sport, im like obsessed but i have generalized anxiety's and i take some benzodiazepines and ssri ant anxiety drugs. Would i be admitted to a attend a skidiving course being on this drugs? Anyone from here is skidiving and take ssri's?

P.S. I did a tandem and i loved it.

[airtwardo 7]

Ask your Doctor.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[AndyMan 7]

Echo what 'twardo said,

For you, and your specifics, this is something you should discuss with your doctor first.

But, you certainly would not be the first skydiver on SSRI's. There are many. Talk to your doctor because there are different formulations and each may have different psychological effects. Ultimately, none of us here know what we're talking about so you should go talk to someone who does.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[JohnRich 4]

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ssri's

Whatzat?

[Heatmiser 0]

Here you go.

What you say is reflective of your knowledge...HOW ya say it is reflective of your experience. Airtwardo

Someone's going to be spanked! Hopefully, it will be me. Skymama

[ChrisL 2]

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Hi to everyone

I want badly to get into this sport, im like obsessed but i have generalized anxiety's and i take some benzodiazepines and ssri ant anxiety drugs. Would i be admitted to a attend a skidiving course being on this drugs? Anyone from here is skidiving and take ssri's?

P.S. I did a tandem and i loved it.

Benzo's can slow your reflexes and reaction time and dull your mind.
I wouldn't recommend skydiving if you are taking these types of meds.

If the bottle says you shouldn't drive or operate machinery I wouldn't recommend jumping out of an airplane's either.

Skydiving has also been known to generate a certain amount of anxiety all by itself...

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The most common side-effects of benzodiazepines are related to their sedating and muscle-relaxing action. They include drowsiness, dizziness, and decreased alertness and concentration. Lack of coordination may result in falls and injuries, in particular, in the elderly. Another result is impairment of driving skills and increased likelihood of road traffic accidents.

__

My mighty steed

[Gnusmas 0]

Yeah, on paper/flier from the box they told you that this meds can cause slower reflexes and not to operate machinery first weeks that you are on this drugs but if you dont feel strange or inapt for operating machinery you can do it.
In a few month ill quit benzos and ill remain just on ssri.

I dont think that in my life i wanted to do something so badly like i want to skydive.

Im on this meds cause cant live without them but if i cant make what i want and what i love being on them its a big problem for me and i dont know how it would end. Im not in this world just to exist and not to live, this bothers me.
Im so sick being so diferent from other people. Im 30 years old and im strugling with fears that i know they dont have a real reason and cant get them out to feel free. From the age of 15 my life is a nightmare, i tried to live without drugs but feew years ago i accepted to take some benzos that diminished a little bit my anxietys but not to a point to feel real good and relaxed and now i have accepted to try ssri's aswell because i dont have another choice.
im reall upset and i feel like doing something wrong by taking this f...ng meds. Damn life, can be very cruel.

[DocPop 1]

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Yeah, on paper/flier from the box they told you that this meds can cause slower reflexes and not to operate machinery first weeks that you are on this drugs but if you dont feel strange or inapt for operating machinery you can do it.
In a few month ill quit benzos and ill remain just on ssri.

I dont think that in my life i wanted to do something so badly like i want to skydive.

Im on this meds cause cant live without them but if i cant make what i want and what i love being on them its a big problem for me and i dont know how it would end. Im not in this world just to exist and not to live, this bothers me.
Im so sick being so diferent from other people. Im 30 years old and im strugling with fears that i know they dont have a real reason and cant get them out to feel free. From the age of 15 my life is a nightmare, i tried to live without drugs but feew years ago i accepted to take some benzos that diminished a little bit my anxietys but not to a point to feel real good and relaxed and now i have accepted to try ssri's aswell because i dont have another choice.
im reall upset and i feel like doing something wrong by taking this f...ng meds. Damn life, can be very cruel.

Not going to comment on the meds because I am in no way qualified.

But I did want to say good luck. You may find that skydiving helps you deal with some of your other anxieties in life - I hope it works that way for you.

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[Skydivesg 7]

If I couldn't skydive I'd probably have to be on meds too.

I hope you sort it out.

Be the canopy pilot you want that other guy to be.

[wildcard451 0]

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ssri's

Whatzat?

If you don't know, you aren't qualified to answer.

To the OP...for the most part, if you are well regulated on your meds, can safely operate vehicles, etc, and don't have regular functional limitations, you would probably be ok. Taking benzos prior to jumping would be ill advised, without specific instructions from your prescribing physician, due to the side effects and the need for alertness during the jump and canopy ride.

Reading your further posting, it does sound like you are battling this currently and may not be on a stable medication regimen. And yes, dealing with chemical imbalances in the brain can be very trying and seem quite unfair.

Bottom line, you need to speak with your prescribing physician regarding recommended physical and mental limitations based on your current assessment of functioning.

///not official medical advice, contact your personal physician/psychiatrist

[DiverMike 5]

I agree with everyone who says you should discuss this with your doctor. I teach SCUBA and when asked by someone interested in participating who is on SSRI's, I give them the following guidelines to discuss with their doctor:

•Patients should only dive on the newer antidepressants. The older tricyclics reduce the fit threshold, can cause dysrythmias and are sedative. Modern antidepressants such as the SSRIs citalopram, fluoxetine and paroxetine have a low seizure rate of <0.1% compared with the general population. They are also none sedating and do not appear to impair cognitive function.
•They should only be on one psychotropic medication.
•They should have been used for a minimum of three months before diving to allow for resolution of side effects e.g. heightened arousal and anxiety.
•The condition for which they were prescribed should have resolved and treatment should be in the maintenance phase. This means that they should have returned to work and normal daily life.
•There must be no history of upward mood swings associated with lose of judgement. For upward mood swings to be significant they have to be persistent for at least four days with an unequivocal change in functional mood observed by others. The symptoms include decreased need for sleep, racing thoughts and excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences. Thus a history indicating loss of judgement with unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions etc are incompatible with diving. Antidepressants are known to worsen this condition.
•There is a significant relapse rate when stopping antidepressants. Following withdrawal, further information regarding the patient’s mental health will need to be obtained from the GP. The patient should also not dive during the withdrawal phase. For short acting antidepressants such as Paroxetine, the suggested period is six weeks.

For the same reason I jump off a perfectly good diving board.

[Gnusmas 0]

Thanks all of you for the reply's and thanks for the users who encourage me. Unfortunately here where i live doctors are not to good, i dont know if they will be able to tell me if im ok to skydive or not. When i did a parasailing session i could not imagine how relaxed i felt, how good and how much i enjoyed it. I understood that the ssri that ill take its something newer on the market, its called Lexapro and dr. said it dosent have so many sides like the older ones. Im just not happy that i must take ssri's.

Thanks again for your help guys!

[JohnRich 4]

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ssri's

Whatzat?

If you don't know, you aren't qualified to answer.

Didn't imply that I was. But I'd like to understand the situation, and when he uses terminology that is not known by the general public, then we can't. And since this isn't a forum full of doctors, it would seem a good idea to communicate in a way that a bunch of skydivers can understand.

[ChrisL 2]

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Im just not happy that i must take ssri's.

Thanks again for your help guys!

Be happy that there are effective treatments for anxiety and other
mood disorders. It better than the alternative

I was on SSRI's (among other things) once upon a time. I had depression and anxiety problems and was hospitalized against my will on more than one occasion.

I have found ways to live effectively and happily without them, and consider myself very fortunate to have come so far.
Not everyone that takes them actually needs them, and not everyone that needs them actually takes them. Not everyone that takes them experiences any meaningful relief. Some do, though, and for those people the meds are a godsend.

I found that regular, intense (and I mean intense) physical activity (strength training, martial arts training) drastically improved my mental/emotional state. Total abstinence from alcohol and recreational drugs helped even more (although it took time before these benefits manifested), and skydiving itself had a profound effect on my mood as well.

This is not to say that you or anyone else will get the same results that I have. I'm not claiming this is a cure-all, but today I have very few problems with anxiety or depression and I have not taken any meds for over 10 years.

As others on these forums have claimed, my life rocks. 15 years ago you would
not have been able to convince me that I could have the life I have today.

Just dont quit

__

My mighty steed

[Gnusmas 0]

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Im just not happy that i must take ssri's.

Thanks again for your help guys!

Be happy that there are effective treatments for anxiety and other
mood disorders. It better than the alternative

I was on SSRI's (among other things) once upon a time. I had depression and anxiety problems and was hospitalized against my will on more than one occasion.

I have found ways to live effectively and happily without them, and consider myself very fortunate to have come so far.
Not everyone that takes them actually needs them, and not everyone that needs them actually takes them. Not everyone that takes them experiences any meaningful relief. Some do, though, and for those people the meds are a godsend.

I found that regular, intense (and I mean intense) physical activity (strength training, martial arts training) drastically improved my mental/emotional state. Total abstinence from alcohol and recreational drugs helped even more (although it took time before these benefits manifested), and skydiving itself had a profound effect on my mood as well.

This is not to say that you or anyone else will get the same results that I have. I'm not claiming this is a cure-all, but today I have very few problems with anxiety or depression and I have not taken any meds for over 10 years.

As others on these forums have claimed, my life rocks. 15 years ago you would
not have been able to convince me that I could have the life I have today.

Just dont quit

Thanks for your post, you lifted my mood up a little bit.You gave me some hope. Ill do my best to overcome this condition. I often drink to get a buzz and relax my self but ill try to get rid of this habit. Can i ask you how old are you now?

P.S. I wont quit,sometimes is hard for me but i wont quit now, i know what i want to do and i must do it, i want to live, not just to be around meaningless, without a reason to enjoy life. Everybody dies but not everybody lives.

[ChrisL 2]

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Thanks for your post, you lifted my mood up a little bit.You gave me some hope. Ill do my best to overcome this condition. I often drink to get a buzz and relax my self but ill try to get rid of this habit. Can i ask you how old are you now?

I'm 46 years old. When I was your age (30) I drank and smoked dope and was on meds as discussed previously. One notable problem with this regimen is that usually alcohol and drugs drastically reduce the effectiveness of anti-depression and anti-anxiety meds.

Also, sometimes alcohol and anti-anxiety meds can be a dangerous mix.

At 31 years old I made a couple attempts to shuffle off this mortal coil and was hospitalised involuntarily 3 times over a several month period.

This was no way to live, thats for damn sure :)

31 is when I changed my life in many different ways. I put the alcohol and drugs behind me for starters and began to adopt a lot more healthy lifestyle
that involved eating right, exercising a lot, getting a good night sleep every night, etc.

At 34 I felt good enough to stop using any of the meds that I had been taking
for mood and anxiety. Never looked back. So 15 years with no drugs and alcohol. 12 years without any other kind of meds.

I can honestly say that I'm happy today with my life and myself. Nothing is perfect, but its a LOT more good than bad :)

This is not a recommendation to quit taking your meds, BTW. This was the right move for me at the time. I dont presume to state that you would have the same results. Only you and your doctor can decide this.

__

My mighty steed

[Krip 2]

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Thanks all of you for the reply's and thanks for the users who encourage me. Unfortunately here where i live doctors are not to good, i dont know if they will be able to tell me if im ok to skydive or not. When i did a parasailing session i could not imagine how relaxed i felt, how good and how much i enjoyed it.

Hi G

Have you considered the reason you felt relaxed and good parasailing was due to the effects of the
benzodiazepines (valium, xanex, Ambian). Xanex was a "newer drug and it wasn't supposed to have as many problems as Valium.


IMO feeling relaxed is not a good thing when your jumping and have a malfunction or acft emergenccy and need to react immediatly to save your butt. Even doing a tandem can put your tandem master at risk.

Mixing booze with bensodiazepines to get a Buzz quite frankly is not showing very good judgement . It can kill you even if your not jumping.

IMO and I'm not a Dr wait until you can stabilize your condition by doing the exercise thing thinking positive talking with a good dr etc.

The sky's not going anywhere, the earth isn't going anywhere, set yourself a goal to get off the meds under a good Dr's care get your act together and then go jumping
People have lost 100's of lbs because they really wanted to go jumping.

Depression is a bitch, benzodiazepines can be habit forming etc. Talk with a Good Dr.

Not trying to be a hard ass just telling it like it could be IMO.

One Jump Wonder

[virgin-burner 1]

if you're freshly on fluoxetine, you feel like being on "extacy light" the whole time and have the pupils to prove that point. including symptoms like euphoria and other stuff which might impair your decision making..

i know that^^

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[Gnusmas 0]

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Hi G

Have you considered the reason you felt relaxed and good parasailing was due to the effects of the
benzodiazepines (valium, xanex, Ambian). Xanex was a "newer drug and it wasn't supposed to have as many problems as Valium.


IMO feeling relaxed is not a good thing when your jumping and have a malfunction or acft emergenccy and need to react immediatly to save your butt. Even doing a tandem can put your tandem master at risk.

Mixing booze with bensodiazepines to get a Buzz quite frankly is not showing very good judgement . It can kill you even if your not jumping.

IMO and I'm not a Dr wait until you can stabilize your condition by doing the exercise thing thinking positive talking with a good dr etc.

The sky's not going anywhere, the earth isn't going anywhere, set yourself a goal to get off the meds under a good Dr's care get your act together and then go jumping
People have lost 100's of lbs because they really wanted to go jumping.

Depression is a bitch, benzodiazepines can be habit forming etc. Talk with a Good Dr.

Not trying to be a hard ass just telling it like it could be IMO.

I wasnt relaxed cause of the meds, i got relaxed up there. Its not good to be relaxed while you jump? Some told me you must be relaxed cause if your to anxious you cant respond to a malfunction emergency , you say otherwise. Im not depressed, i have generalized anxiety's, its a diferent thing. You say to get of the meds, im on the meds cause i needed them. I know benzos are habit formating, i take them for years now. Just the ssri will be something new.
Earth and sky dosent go anywhere but the time pass, my years of youth goes away. Get my act together , you talk easy cause you are not in my shoes, you dont know how is to have anxiety's without any real reason.

[DBCOOPER 5]

Here is the FAA drug list for pilots....

http://www.aopa.org/members/databases/medical/search_faa_meds.cfm

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

[virgin-burner 1]

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Here is the FAA drug list for pilots....

http://www.aopa.org/members/databases/medical/search_faa_meds.cfm

could you copy/paste them? link only works for registered members..

edited to add: maybe creating an extra thread for this, since the question comes up regularly, would be in order!?

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[DBCOOPER 5]

Didn't realize that. It is a very, very long list.

Post a drug name or pm me and I'll look it up.

Replying to: Re: Stall On Jump Run Emergency Procedure? by billvon

If the plane is unrecoverable then exiting is a very very good idea.

[Gnusmas 0]

Thanks, ill do a user at their site and i will look after my meds.

[Gnusmas 0]

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@Krip

IMO feeling relaxed is not a good thing when your jumping and have a malfunction or acft emergenccy and need to react immediatly to save your butt. Even doing a tandem can put your tandem master at risk.

Again i want to quote something for you from a book that i bought named Transcending Fear written by Brian Germain who is a skydive instructor, a test pilot, a psychologist. In contradiction of what you are saying that its not good to be relaxed when you jump.

*** FEAR IS NOT HELPFULL

Tje belief that fear keeps us safe is the one that holds humanity back more than anything else.
Tthe truth is, the connection between fear and safety is a very loose one, at best. Yes, we have been in a state of fear while in dangerous circumstances.Yes, we survived.
Does this mean that the state of fear was helpful? That is called a ''correlation''.If you were wearing blue socks every time you avoided a car accident would you your survivl to the color of your socks?

FEAR IS CONTRACTION; a state of mind in wich we shrink into smaller, less capable version of ourselves; unable to realize our full potential in the world. When we are in danger we do not need to be afraid. It dosent help. In fact, it makes things much worse.All we really need to do is remain calm and pay attention to our suroundings.

Everytime, you extricated your self from danger it was because you made the correct choices.
You survived in spite of your fear, not because of it ***

He is right, many times i delt better with situations when i was relaxed, fear make my mind unable to think clearly and to make the right decision!

[ChrisL 2]

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Again i want to quote something for you from a book that i bought named Transcending Fear written by Brian Germain who is a skydive instructor, a test pilot, a psychologist. In contradiction of what you are saying that its not good to be relaxed when you jump.

I think its entirely possible to be relaxed but in a hightened state of mental alertness at the same time.
I'd say this fairly accurately describes my state of mind on most of my jumps
now.

Fear is not good, but a healthy respect and understanding of what this sport
can do to you if you become complacent should always be present.

__

My mighty steed