What the Hell Wednesday- Dry Drowning

Every now and then someone sends me an email warning me away from something so ridiculously farfetched and horrendous that I roll my eyes and complain vociferously to my husband for days. Like parenting isn't full of enough real dangers, we need to come up with some ridiculous things to worry about.

This is called Fear Factor Parenting and lots of people are doing it. TV stations run a segment in their local news reports, parenting magazines run anecdotal junk, and don't even get me started with the commercials for all the products we must own or our babies will implode. So just to give myself a little outlet for my disgust, I'm going to try to take these on semi-regularly and call them What the Hell Wednesdays. So bring it-- forward me all the emails, news articles, and ads you see that make you say, "What the hell? That isn't real...right?" And I'll find out just how much you need to worry.

For the first What the Hell Wednesday, someone forwarded me a link to this article about something called "dry drowning."

First, what it is. When water enters a person's airways, that is, when they inhale water, the body initially responds by constricting the larynx, or vocal cord, to keep more water from entering the airways and the lungs. As a person continues to gasp, the water goes into the stomach. This is called laryngospasm and can interfere with air getting into the lungs for as long as the vocal cords are constricted, usually 30-60 seconds. About 10-15% of drowning victims maintain a larynx seal until cardiac arrest-- this is called dry drowning because there is very little water in the lungs. An interesting description of the phenomena and its effect on drowning victims is here

Laryngospasm itself can occur regardless of swimming-- a bug flying in your larynx, for example. When this happens, it is very difficult to breathe in and easier to breathe out. The harder a person attempts to breathe in, the more difficult it will be to pull air into the lungs, At this point, slowing down the in breath and tilting the head back to lower the voicebox and prevent some of the clamping down may help. The spasms release usually after 30-60 seconds.

But dry drowning is NOT what this little boy died of. Here's where the news machine not only sows fear, but also spreads misinformation. What the article is describing, and the real problem for the boy, is Secondary Drowning. Secondary drowning occurs after fluid is aspirated into the lungs, damaging the alveoli's ability to uptake oxygen. The damage causes a relatively slow (compared to primary drowning) decrease in the body's ability to process oxygen. Over the next few hours-generally within 24-72 hours-- the person will show signs of decreased oxygen perfusion: altered behavior like confusion or inappropriateness (adults might take off their clothes or begin fingerpainting the walls with ketchup. In children this might just be the status quo) from the brain getting less oxygen, gasping or other changes in breathing, extreme fatigue and lethargy. These symptoms are similar to what you would watch out for after a head injury (concussion) or other trauma. Do you need to watch out for these symptoms every time your child takes a bath, goes swimming, or approaches a big cup of water? No. You watch your child for symptoms after a trauma. So, if your child has a drowning scare and inhales a bunch of water, keep on eye on her. Just like you would after she conks her head falling off the monkey bars.

The real threat There were 3,600 total drowning deaths in the US in 2005. Statistics aren't kept for secondary drowning that I could find. There are currently over 300 million people in the US which puts your annual drowning risk at about 1 in 100,000. Since there are 5,000 food poisoning deaths annually, you have a better chance of being killed by the macaroni salad at your beach picnic than the swim afterwards. Rather than staying locked indoors this summer and hissing with fear when someone turns on the faucet, use some common sense:
*Watch your children when you are swimming
*always have one adult designated for child watching when you are near water
*keep your child in ability appropriate water depths
*wear life vests when boating
*don't leave your child alone in the bathtub
*if your child has an episode of near drowning with gasping and struggling, watch for signs of decreased oxygen intake for the next 24 hours. Signs may include confusion, inability to stay awake, blue tinge around the mouth, difficulty breathing.

How much to worry Water safety is a very real concern and requires some planning and oversight. In the summer it's easy to let kids run off and play or think someone else is watching, so set some family water safety plan in motion. Should you worry about your child suddenly dropping dead days after going swimming? No.