"Drowning doesn't look like drowning" article

[speckledfrog]

mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/

It's scary to think someone could be in trouble and you not even know it.

[OHMBLEEGOHHHHH!]

I read that article a few weeks ago, and will credit it when I have a heart attack and die at the beach because now I know that KRISTEN AND HER BFF AND HER BROTHER ARE CONSTANTLY DYING AND I CAN'T TELL.

[cleo29]

Interesting and yet it all makes sense to me, especially the "climbing an invisible ladder" thing.

C slipped off a toy last year at the baby pool and went under the water and her reaction was so calm. The only sign of her distress/fear were her eyes. You have never seen a pregnant woman move so fast.

[cleo29]

Jun 21, 2012 8:27:40 GMT -5 Lucy Honeychurch said:

This article is informative, and also FUCKING TERRIFYING. We're going to the beach in two weeks and I'm going to have to beg my doctor for Valium or something.

LHC, I really think the key to the beach (we are going again with C in August) is that one of you is with him at all times, close enough to grab him if need be. I've had to swoop up a kid or two during my summers at the beach.

Which beach area are you going to?

[nahoku]

Scary. I had never really thought of it this way. We spend a lot of time at my family's cabin on a lake in the summer, so this is good info to have.

[partiallysunny]

Very informative. I think the number one thing I'm going to remember is: "And parents – children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why."

[speckledfrog]

Jun 21, 2012 8:35:23 GMT -5 partiallysunny said:

Very informative. I think the number one thing I'm going to remember is: "And parents – children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why."

That line freaked me out. Especially since it was in italics!

[mrsjuleshs]

That is so scary. Even at her age, I still pay attention to DD when she is swimming. When she was about 4 she tried climbing onto a floatie at the pool in the deep end. of course, she slipped off & immediately went under. I have never moved so fast and dove in fully clothed.

[Deleted]

Water and kids freak me out. I have a friend that lets her 3 year old boy run laps around the pool, getting closer and closer to the edge. And she is engaged in conversation or with her nose in a book, paying no attention to the child who is also paying no attention. Meanwhile I'm sweating bullets and planning his rescue at any god forsaken moment.

[WOT?*]

Jun 21, 2012 8:25:44 GMT -5 cleo29 said:

C slipped off a toy last year at the baby pool and went under the water and her reaction was so calm. The only sign of her distress/fear were her eyes. You have never seen a pregnant woman move so fast.

My daughter was floating in her swimring when she was little and some asshole teenager jumped into the (totally empty) pool right beside her. He thought it would be funny to do a cannonball beside a kid in a swimring. (Ironically, he had the same name as my daughter, Dominique.) I was letting her float while I sat beside the pool and made sure her younger sister stayed out of the water. I can still see her eyes, 25 years later, looking up at me as she was clinging to the swimring and floating just under the water. I think I might have beaten Cleo's time as the fastest running pregnant woman ever. That ****** is so lucky I didn't know which apartment was his because he might not have survived if I did.

[Deleted]

Jun 21, 2012 9:57:07 GMT -5 nicbreeful said:

What makes a person go from aquatic distress to drowning? And what makes them start to drown? Panic?

I'm only guessing, but maybe it's exhaustion from fighting to stay above the water.

[sprky79]

These articles have been all over lately. It makes me simultaneously grateful my mom attributed not being able to swim with bad parenting and had us in lessons all.the.time and panicky all over again because it just makes me wonder if this is what the fiance was feelilng when he was trapped in his car underwater. And yet I keep reading them.

[mamasaurus]

This is such a useful article. I wish the web sites of local beaches had this, or had it posted at the actual beach by the lockers/changing area/food vendor/whatever. Half the time I hear about a teenager drowning around here, the friends say in the interviews, "S/he looked fine, and then suddenly s/he was gone."

I almost drowned in the wave pool in a theme park when I was a kid. The lifeguard didn't recognize that I was in trouble, but my mom's boyfriend did, and he hauled ass to snatch me out of there. My mom was all annoyed and like, "Why didn't you call for help?" It is so hard to explain to somebody who has never felt it what that is like, and how calling for help is so impossible that it doesn't even occur to you that you should.

[Muddled]

Not to scare you even more, but a couple years ago there was a kid here that died in his sleep after playing in the pool that day. He had water in his lungs and drowned.

I may have the specifics wrong, but I had no idea that you could drown after you got out of the water.

[Deleted]

Jun 21, 2012 10:17:46 GMT -5 Muddled said:

Not to scare you even more, but a couple years ago there was a kid here that died in his sleep after playing in the pool that day. He had water in his lungs and drowned.

I may have the specifics wrong, but I had no idea that you could drown after you got out of the water.

OMG. This scares the hell out of me. I feel like I'm already paranoid as a mother. Things like this make me so scared.

[mamasaurus]

Jun 21, 2012 9:57:07 GMT -5 nicbreeful said:

What makes a person go from aquatic distress to drowning? And what makes them start to drown? Panic?

For me, I think it was that I wasn't getting enough air. My mouth would go above the water and I'd have to close it again before I could really get any air, and eventually I started feeling really dizzy and out of it. I kept thinking I would pass out and that would be it, but then making myself try to come up again, a little weaker than the last time. It felt like forever, but I'm sure it wasn't all that long because I didn't actually drown (obviously).

[partiallysunny]

It's called dry drowning. Scary, but it can be treated if it's caught.

[Deleted]

Jun 21, 2012 10:24:22 GMT -5 partiallysunny said:

It's called dry drowning. Scary, but it can be treated if it's caught.

So how do you catch it? What happens that tips you off?

[partiallysunny]

Jun 21, 2012 10:23:47 GMT -5 Que? said:

Jun 21, 2012 8:39:02 GMT -5 speckledfrog said:

That line freaked me out. Especially since it was in italics!

Yes. I'm learning, as a parent in general, that silence is never good.

I'm glad I read this.

If I'm cooking or what ever while LO is playing and he stops squealing and chattering, I know he's into something he shouldn't be.

[partiallysunny]

Jun 21, 2012 10:26:43 GMT -5 @schmancy said:

Jun 21, 2012 10:24:22 GMT -5 partiallysunny said:

It's called dry drowning. Scary, but it can be treated if it's caught.

So how do you catch it? What happens that tips you off?

From webmd (http://children.webmd.com/news/20080605/sc-dry-drowning-death-draws-attention):

Are there any red flags that suggest a person is at risk for dry drowning?

Yes, there are some signs that a person may have a dry-drowning episode. They include persistent coughing, shortness of breath, or pain in chest. All of those things are signals that something could be wrong. If someone comes out of the water and coughs for a minute, then calms down -- that is much different than if the child keeps coughing or complaining of pain. Like the child involved in the incident in South Carolina, a change in mental status and/or lethargy may also indicate that something is wrong.

What should you do if you think a child is at risk?

This is not something that can be handled by a parent. Call a doctor or bring the child to an emergency room if there are signs of dry drowning following a near-drowning incident.

Can dry drowning be treated?

Yes. If it is caught early, dry drowning can be treated. The treatment involves supplying oxygen to the lungs and getting the breathing process restarted.

[LLL]

thanks for posting. I also sent the link to H.