Adventures in Being

"The purpose of information is to empower and educate. Hiding from the facts does not change them. Information is empowering." AP


Dry Drowning

"When I read about the 10-year-old South Carolina boy who died earlier this month from something called "dry drowning" hours after swimming -- and then walking home from the pool -- alarms went off in my head. We have a pool in our yard, and while I'm always on alert for regular old drowning, I had never heard of such a thing as the "dry" version.

Turns out there's good reason for that.

Though the term "dry drowning" has long been used to describe just what it sounds like -- drowning away from water -- its use is no longer condoned by drowning experts. One of those experts, pediatrician Deborah Mulligan of Coral Springs, Florida, says the term went out of medical vogue at the 2002 World Congress on Drowning.

"It's very confusing to the layperson to hear that term," Mulligan says. "They wonder 'What does it mean?' It gets people needlessly concerned about terminology rather than focus on steps they can take to prevent drowning in general."

In the-phenomenon-formerly-known-as-dry-drowning, a person who aspirates even a small amount of water into his lungs may experience laryngospasms, in which the larynx (windpipe) constricts to keep more water from entering his lungs. That can, even hours later, trigger respiratory arrest, which can lead to pulmonary edema, buildup of fluid in the lungs. That keeps the lungs from processing oxygen properly and can lead to cardiac arrest and brain death.

Yikes..."

Posted by Jennifer Huget