-=> Quoting Gabor Dvornik to All <=-
 GD> Any infos about astmatic (extrinstic= allergic based asthma) divers?
 GD> I mean, are they in danger, or can they freely dive? The air in the
I knew a diver with fairly serious bronchial asthsma; he was often
seen sucking on a Ventolin Inhaler (Ventolin is a common prescription
athsma medicine here in the US).  The danger is that during ascent,
the restricted bronchii will not allow air to escape from the alveoli
fast enough, possibly causing ruptured alveoli and maybe a case
of pneumothorax (air in the chest cavity), or a deadly arterial
air embolism.  It all depends on whether your doctor thinks your
asthsma is minor or serious enough that you should not dive.  
PADI's medical permission forms list most all forms of cardio-pulmonary
diseases as "should not dive", including athsma, but like I said,
it's up to the doctor on a case-by-case basis.
If I was an instructor (I am not), I would not have been willing
to take the person mentioned above as a student, due to the risk
of embolism or other barotrauma.
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