Boy?s death highlights a hidden danger: Dry drowning

tyler811

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Jan 27, 2002
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The tragic death of a South Carolina 10-year-old more than an hour after he had gone swimming has focused a spotlight on the little-known phenomenon called ?dry drowning? ? and warning signs that every parent should be aware of.



According to the Centers for Disease Control, some 3,600 people drowned in 2005, the most recent year for which there are statistics. Some 10 to 15 percent of those deaths was classified as ?dry drowning,? which can occur up to 24 hours after a small amount of water gets into the lungs. In children, that can happen during a bath.
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Weird........

:confused:

I still don't quite get it, but apparently neither does the medical community.

People can breathe with 1 lung, so even having each lung 1/2 full of water shouldn't kill you. :confused:

And.. we can expel phlegm from our lungs at pretty high speeds. You can't get water out of your lungs the same way?

Weird. :confused:
 

Bryophyte

Lifer
Apr 25, 2001
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Originally posted by: Eli
Weird........

:confused:

I still don't quite get it, but apparently neither does the medical community.

People can breathe with 1 lung, so even having each lung 1/2 full of water shouldn't kill you. :confused:

And.. we can expel phlegm from our lungs at pretty high speeds. You can't get water out of your lungs the same way?

Weird. :confused:

My cousin (39 years old) died in February when her airway got blocked by phlegm. She was getting over a cold and just passed out after breakfast and died.
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: Bryophyte
Originally posted by: Eli
Weird........

:confused:

I still don't quite get it, but apparently neither does the medical community.

People can breathe with 1 lung, so even having each lung 1/2 full of water shouldn't kill you. :confused:

And.. we can expel phlegm from our lungs at pretty high speeds. You can't get water out of your lungs the same way?

Weird. :confused:

My cousin (39 years old) died in February when her airway got blocked by phlegm. She was getting over a cold and just passed out after breakfast and died.
Damn.... :Q

 

Narse

Moderator<br>Computer Help
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Mar 14, 2000
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Originally posted by: Eli
Weird........

:confused:

I still don't quite get it, but apparently neither does the medical community.

People can breathe with 1 lung, so even having each lung 1/2 full of water shouldn't kill you. :confused:

And.. we can expel phlegm from our lungs at pretty high speeds. You can't get water out of your lungs the same way?

Weird. :confused:


Water kills lung tissue IIRC, near drowning is something we had to learn about in my Rescue Diver class.
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
50,419
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Originally posted by: Bryophyte
Originally posted by: Eli
Weird........

:confused:

I still don't quite get it, but apparently neither does the medical community.

People can breathe with 1 lung, so even having each lung 1/2 full of water shouldn't kill you. :confused:

And.. we can expel phlegm from our lungs at pretty high speeds. You can't get water out of your lungs the same way?

Weird. :confused:

My cousin (39 years old) died in February when her airway got blocked by phlegm. She was getting over a cold and just passed out after breakfast and died.
Damn.... :Q

 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
Originally posted by: Narse
Originally posted by: Eli
Weird........

:confused:

I still don't quite get it, but apparently neither does the medical community.

People can breathe with 1 lung, so even having each lung 1/2 full of water shouldn't kill you. :confused:

And.. we can expel phlegm from our lungs at pretty high speeds. You can't get water out of your lungs the same way?

Weird. :confused:


Water kills lung tissue IIRC, near drowning is something we had to learn about in my Rescue Diver class.

Doesn't kill it, it washes the 'detergent' off the tissue so it all just clumps together.

Also when one is expelling phelgm it's usually not from directly within the lungs.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Nature is sure weird.
Water: A crucial ingredient for life, and also one of the easiest ways of ending a life.

 

911paramedic

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2002
9,448
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It's not a dry drowning, it's a delayed drowning usually from salt water. Dry drowning is when the epiglottis clamps down and seals off your trachea when you are actually drowning, so no water in the lungs. Delayed drowning is from water getting into the lungs, then later it causes the lung tissues to become inflamed and full of liquid, sort of like asthma or COPD. So you end up suffocating.

Osmosis and all. (Fluids in your lungs try to even out the salinity content in your lungs, drowning you.)

This is well known in the medical community. (That's why near-drownings at the ocean usually spend the night in the hospital for observation.)
 
Oct 25, 2006
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Originally posted by: 911paramedic
It's not a dry drowning, it's a delayed drowning usually from salt water. Dry drowning is when the epiglottis clamps down and seals off your trachea when you are actually drowning, so no water in the lungs. Delayed drowning is from water getting into the lungs, then later it causes the lung tissues to become inflamed and full of liquid, sort of like asthma or COPD. So you end up suffocating.

Osmosis and all. (Fluids in your lungs try to even out the salinity content in your lungs, drowning you.)

This is well known in the medical community. (That's why near-drownings at the ocean usually spend the night in the hospital for observation.)

Does that mean that there is no way to get oxygen to him, save for hooking his veins up to a machine that oxygenates it for him.

Would breathable liquid work?
 

2Xtreme21

Diamond Member
Jun 13, 2004
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Originally posted by: tenshodo13
Originally posted by: 911paramedic
It's not a dry drowning, it's a delayed drowning usually from salt water. Dry drowning is when the epiglottis clamps down and seals off your trachea when you are actually drowning, so no water in the lungs. Delayed drowning is from water getting into the lungs, then later it causes the lung tissues to become inflamed and full of liquid, sort of like asthma or COPD. So you end up suffocating.

Osmosis and all. (Fluids in your lungs try to even out the salinity content in your lungs, drowning you.)

This is well known in the medical community. (That's why near-drownings at the ocean usually spend the night in the hospital for observation.)

Does that mean that there is no way to get oxygen to him, save for hooking his veins up to a machine that oxygenates it for him.

Would breathable liquid work?

You can drain the liquid in his lungs via a tube. That's what they do with pneumonia patients.
 

Mark R

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Originally posted by: tenshodo13
Originally posted by: 911paramedic
It's not a dry drowning, it's a delayed drowning usually from salt water. Dry drowning is when the epiglottis clamps down and seals off your trachea when you are actually drowning, so no water in the lungs. Delayed drowning is from water getting into the lungs, then later it causes the lung tissues to become inflamed and full of liquid, sort of like asthma or COPD. So you end up suffocating.

Osmosis and all. (Fluids in your lungs try to even out the salinity content in your lungs, drowning you.)

This is well known in the medical community. (That's why near-drownings at the ocean usually spend the night in the hospital for observation.)

Does that mean that there is no way to get oxygen to him, save for hooking his veins up to a machine that oxygenates it for him.

In general, oxygen alone will do the job. Even though the lung is inflamed an not working well enough, breathing 60% oxygen instead of 20% can be adequate.

Failing that, delivering the oxygen under slight pressure can help keep the lungs inflated (so that when breathing out, the sticky damaged bits of lung, don't just get stuck together and not reinflate). This slight positive pressure also causes fluid that is leaking out of the damaged lungs into the airspaces, back from the airspaces back into the blood.

I'm not aware that directly oxygenating the blood artifically is ever done (apart from in severely premature babies, and during cardiac/lung surgery)
 
Oct 25, 2006
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Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
Originally posted by: mundane
I was going to quip it is about as likely as Fan Death, but I guess it's real.

wtf...thats one of the stupidest things i've ever heard.

You wouldn't believe it, but in my childhood, I got whacked plenty of times for sleeping with the Fan on.

Hell, my parents still believe it. Damn Koreans and our superstitions.
 

911paramedic

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2002
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In the case of fluids in the lungs, we would intubate (put in a breathing tube), give lasix and morphine. (In addition to albuterol) Pretty much the same treatment we would give for a COPD patient.

COPD causes "backpressure" in the pulmonary system and that leads to pressure forcing fluid into the lungs. When you listen to them you can hear the fluids "rattling" when they breath. Think of a little water in a snorkel, it sounds like that but much finer. Dry drownings, which they misstated, is almost identical in it's presentation but from an irritant getting into the lungs, usually salt water. (That really pulls the fluid into the aveoli quickly.) It's rare to have a fresh water delayed drowning like this, but it's osmosis. The body tries to equalize, and with fresh water the lungs would lose moisture causing the aveoli to collapse. Fresh water would wash off the surficant (sp?) from the lungs and cause collapse, and suffocation.