While we might all want to try skydiving once in our lives, it’s a big thing, and it requires a lot of preparation.
For those of us with certain medical conditions, it’s really important to take every step to ensure the process is safe and doesn’t pose any risk.
Epilepsy is a common question mark for skydiving—so can you skydive with epilepsy?
It depends on the severity of the condition, and the particular skydiving school. There will always be a medical form to fill out before you go ahead, and the severity of your condition may preclude you from skydiving. But tandem skydiving is possible for many people with epilepsy.
Ultimately, while skydiving schools would love to open their activity to everyone, safety is the top priority in any school.
If the operators believe there is any risk of danger from a certain person taking the dive, then they will likely not permit it.
Let’s investigate further.
Can people with epilepsy go skydiving?
The simple answer is it depends. In many cases, tandem skydiving is possible for people with epilepsy.
This means that you are attached to another person, who takes sole responsibility for the operation of the parachute and the safety of the jump.
It is going to be extremely rare that any skydiving school allows someone with epilepsy to jump alone.
The reasons for this are fairly straightforward.
In the unlikely event that you were to suffer an epileptic attack during your fall, then you may not be able to pull your parachute in time.
Even if you were able to pull it and then suffered an attack, you may not be able to safely land.
While it may be extremely unlikely that this happens, any skydiving school is going to be interested first in safety and protecting their customers.
Even the most cynical view of this is that they do this to protect their income, which is reasonable, anyway.
It would only take a single death or even serious injury to shut down a skydiving school.
So, it’s going to depend on your circumstances.
If you have a skydiving school in mind but are unsure if you can dive with your epilepsy, call them first and see what their policy is.
They may have to ask detailed questions about your condition to get an idea.
Even then, you will still almost certainly only be able to dive tandem.
Why is it dangerous, then?
What are the dangers of skydiving with epilepsy?
We’ve touched on a couple of dangers already.
In general, though, the problem is that you may lose control at any moment.
Epilepsy involves fits and loss of control of the body.
Even if you are diving tandem, this could make it impossible for the other person to safely open the chute.
On your own, though, you would very likely fall to your death before you were able to get your bearings from a fit.
Not to sound morbid, but the fact is that skydiving with epilepsy could be hugely dangerous.
You would also be a potential danger to people on the ground.
Parachutes need to be controlled when falling to land in the right spot, or you may end up miles and miles away.
You could fall on a building, person, or vehicle.
If your epilepsy is extremely mild, then you may be able to arrange with the skydiving school to dive tandem.
But they will always be more interested in it being safe than in letting you dive anyway.
What activities should epileptics avoid?
Skydiving is one of a number of high-octane activities which are generally not advised for epileptics.
Anything that would present a clear and immediate danger if you lose control in the middle of it is not a good idea for epileptics to do unassisted.
Scuba diving, rock climbing, hang gliding, mountain climbing—all those are going to be, for the most part, off limits for epileptics.
As with skydiving, it’s always worth looking at local places and speaking to them directly to find out if they have any way to allow you to try it out.
Another activity you might wonder about is bungee jumping.
This is very similar to skydiving, though without the same potential risks—so can epileptics skydive?
Can you bungee jump with epilepsy?
Again, in most cases, bungee jumping schools will not allow you to jump if you have epilepsy.
You are still at risk from fits during the jump, and a fit during a jump could be fatal.
So, again, if even only to protect themselves, the bungee jumping school likely will not allow you to jump.
Again, though, there may be tandem jumps you can do.
It’s also important to speak to your doctor, too.
Even if the bungee jumping facility allows it, you should always seek their opinion, too, just to be sure.
You wouldn’t want to put yourself at risk for a thrill.
So, the question is going to depend on a lot of individual factors.
For many epileptics, skydiving would not pose any real danger.
But at the same time, for many, it would.
The ultimate priority of any skydiving school is going to be the safety of its divers.
If there is any real risk with your individual condition, you will likely not be allowed—and it is for your own safety.
But there may be times when you certainly can.
