Dry drowning fears

John,

not heard of dry drowning, so can't help with the specifics....but could you find a pool that is
"standing up height" throughout? So if your wife gets into distress she can just stand up and know
she's safe? (pools like this do exist...the one where I train is 1.3m deep for the whole 25m length)

Best of luck, Hedgehog

"John Penney" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi - I'm not a regular to this group so forgive the intrusion - but I thought you folks might be
able to advise....

My wife is a regular, leisure swimmer (weekly, 40 lengths each time). In the last 3 months she has
had 2 incidents in which water went down the wrong way. But instead of coughing, spluttering and
then carrying on like most of us, she found she couldn't breathe, at all. It seemed like some
automatic reflex. In each case the lifeguard has had to help her out of the pool and it's taken
her a few minutes to recover.

So we read the medical books and discover "dry drowning" - where the larynx spasms to stop water
getting into the lungs. Maybe that's what happened to her?

But whatever it was, it scared her. And now she's worried about swimming again. She gets a lot out
of her regular swim, really enjoys it, and I'd hate for her to give up without cause. But I
obviously don't want her to take any risks.

Anyone know anything about this, or got any advice?

Thanks, John

All Lifeguards are trained to warn people who have taken on board a lot of water (following a
complete immersion) that up to 48 hours after the water has entered the alveoli of the lungs, that
mucus can be produced as a reaction to the "foreign" substance (ie water) leading to shortness of
breath (akin to an asthma type attack) which if it produces a severe enough reaction across a good
deal of the lung tissue can be a serious (ultimately fatal) problem. It is why epileptic fits can be
especially worrying in the pool. Your wife, however, can rest assured that she is not able to react
that quickly to choking on a little water, and so her breath holding is not a dry drowning. If you
want to go back to your medical books - check choking. You will find that it often takes some time
to recover from it, and that it can lead to distress. Your wife needs to learn how to exhale (and
spit out) through water. She can do this in refresher classes with a teacher nearby (confidence
builder) or use a buddy to swim alongside, who can take her to the side if she gets into
difficulties. She can even do it in the bath! All of us inhale water with air sometimes. (Ask the
tri-athletes who read this - they have choppy, wave conditions!) The breath holding is a panic
reaction which leaves her unable to swim to safety and so she needs a strategy to learn to cough to
be able to get to the poolside by herself. Best of luck! Carole "John Penney" <[email hidden]>
wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi - I'm not a regular to this group so forgive the intrusion - but I thought you folks might be
able to advise....

My wife is a regular, leisure swimmer (weekly, 40 lengths each time). In the last 3 months she has
had 2 incidents in which water went down the wrong way. But instead of coughing, spluttering and
then carrying on like most of us, she found she couldn't breathe, at all. It seemed like some
automatic reflex. In each case the lifeguard has had to help her out of the pool and it's taken
her a few minutes to recover.

So we read the medical books and discover "dry drowning" - where the larynx spasms to stop water
getting into the lungs. Maybe that's what happened to her?

But whatever it was, it scared her. And now she's worried about swimming again. She gets a lot out
of her regular swim, really enjoys it, and I'd hate for her to give up without cause. But I
obviously don't want her to take any risks.

Anyone know anything about this, or got any advice?

Thanks, John

John Penney said:

So we read the medical books and discover "dry drowning" - where the larynx spasms to stop water
getting into the lungs. Maybe that's what happened to her?

It is possible. My brother did a scuba diving class where, during the open water dive at
graduation, one of the students drowned because of this problem. But that was a case where the
student was more than 30 feet underwater and his problem was not detected in time. I don't think
the problem would be dangerous when swimming on the surface, for someone who knows she has a
sensitivity. And, now that your wife knows about the problem, it should be possible for her to
train herself to deal with it when it occurs. Perhaps there is a desensitization training that is
possible. The problem seems to be associated most often with cold water. If the water where your
wife swims is cold to her, then she might benefit by taking a bit longer to aclimatize herself to
the water each time she starts her swim.

martin

--
Martin Smith email: [email hidden] Vollsveien 9 tel. : +47 6783 1188
P.O. Box 482 mob. : +47 932 48 303 1327 Lysaker, Norway

Maybe she should swim backstoke for a while to warmup and relax? Also, why not see a doctor about
this to see if there is underlying asthma? Madelaine

John Penney said:

Hi - I'm not a regular to this group so forgive the intrusion - but I thought you folks might be
able to advise....

My wife is a regular, leisure swimmer (weekly, 40 lengths each time). In the last 3 months she has
had 2 incidents in which water went down the wrong way. But instead of coughing, spluttering and
then carrying on like most of us, she found she couldn't breathe, at all. It seemed like some
automatic reflex. In each case the lifeguard has had to help her out of the pool and it's taken
her a few minutes to recover.

So we read the medical books and discover "dry drowning" - where the larynx spasms to stop water
getting into the lungs. Maybe that's what happened to her?

But whatever it was, it scared her. And now she's worried about swimming again. She gets a lot out
of her regular swim, really enjoys it, and I'd hate for her to give up without cause. But I
obviously don't want her to take any risks.

Anyone know anything about this, or got any advice?

Thanks, John