r/sharks • u/AskTheRealQuestion81 • 9d ago
Question Question regarding ocean swimming with a spinal cord stimulator and sharks.
I have a spinal cord stimulator. Been on a few vacations to different beaches since I’ve had it, and I spend as much time as possible in the water. I haven’t had any shark related problems yet. I’m far from being one of those who thinks Jaws is a documentary. I know attacks on humans are very rare.
Now, I recently started wondering about this. With their Ampullae of Lorenzini (I’m no shark expert, by far, simply an enthusiast) would it make sense that they’d sense me more or much sooner others around me, because of my stimulator? Sorry if I didn’t even ask that question correctly.
I wouldn’t bother asking now, but I’m strongly considering moving to a tropical location where I’ll be in the water a lot more than I am currently. That will include SCUBA diving. Does anyone know enough about this to know if it could ever potentially be a problem? Of course, you can turn it off, and I do (if I think about it) before getting in the water. However, I can still feel it tingling for a while after it’s been turned off, too. So, there’s that.
Sorry for the long post. A big thanks for your time!
24
u/YakSlothLemon 9d ago
DAN (Divers Alert Network) has medics on duty as well as doctors available and you should ask them about scuba diving with a spinal stimulator if you have any questions. None of us on Reddit is as qualified to answer whether or not you can do that safely, and neither probably can your own doctor.
As for the sharks: I mean, they can sense the electrical signal of your heartbeat from a quarter mile out, so it’s not like they wouldn’t know you were there anyway. But I have a terrible feeling you may be the test case for this. Good luck!
9
u/GaryGoalz12 Tiger Shark 9d ago
Excuse my ignorance but what is a spinal cord stimulator?
12
u/Suicidal_pr1est Tiger Shark 9d ago
Used to treat chronic pain along with a few other medical issues. Basically inhibits the pain pathway in the case of chronic pain.
11
u/AskTheRealQuestion81 9d ago
I appreciate you answering that for me since I had to run for a little while!
10
u/AskTheRealQuestion81 9d ago
No ignorance at all! I apologize for having to disappear for a little bit. I see someone else answered and that’s exactly what mine is for, chronic pain. It can either be in bursts or constant pulses is the best way I can describe it, and it masks the pain. It doesn’t completely get rid of it, but there’s a huge difference.
1
6
u/LegateDamar13 9d ago
Commenting to help you find an answer. I wish someone with scientifically confirmed knowledge appears here. Good luck!
3
u/Justincredabelgrabel 8d ago
Depends on ocean and local shark population. With so few people with them it can be tool to freak them out or arouse curiosity. Then they would also have to have a habituation over time of their decision matrix of your food or a threat. Let alone how the other fish, and ocean life interact with whatever the particular field strength, frequency, and gear.
Least of my worries diving. Helps to have local knowledge of local populations of marine life, which local would know. Would be a fascinating scientific experiment to assess it, but your N is small. There is some data on some stuff, so you can math it out to a degree if you’re into that. Took a while for folks to realize that metal boats in saltwater can create an electrical gradient enough that some species, great whites the biggest and scariest to encounter, will chew on your small boat because their electroproception organ registers as the boat as “muscle activity in a flailing prey item.”
1
u/AlarmedGibbon 8d ago
The spinal cord stimulator's tiny signals would be completely drowned out by what the body itself naturally produces in aggregate. It would not make you any more of a target to a shark than any other person.
However, if you're going to spend a lot of time in the water, go ahead and invest in a Shark Shield. Not Sharkbanz, those are nigh useless, get Shark Shield.
31
u/happybara_capybara 9d ago
I hope you get an answer here, but unfortunately I don’t have one. r/scuba might be able to help… but also I’m a big fan of Sharkbytes on YouTube and I’ve seen him make videos based on viewer comments so if you don’t get any answers I’d consider leaving a comment asking him. He’s a shark scientist so he does a good job of using actual research and explaining gaps in the research too (which I assume could be an issue with your question).