Signs of drowning

[Spirit Deer]

This article seems rather timely, given that it's the height of summer when so many people are in and on the water. 

I was unaware of the physiological effects of drowning.  I hope this will help me be more aware in the future.

[KristinU]

Wow.  Thanks for posting this link, Rae.

[fdtd]

One of the many hats I wear is that of lifeguard, the list is pretty accurate.  However, not everone who drowns is even splashing before they go under water.  An even more important thing not mentioned in the article; is NEVER attempt to rescue a drowning person by direct contact.  They are not capable of conscious thought and will grab you and attempt to hold onto you to stay afloat.  No matter how strong of a swimmer you think you are, this is a VERY dangerous and potentially fatal situation.  The best thing to do is notify a lifeguard if one is available or call 911.  Then reach or throw something that floats from shore.  DO NOT enter the water.  I know it is hard to watch someone drown, but unless you are trained as a lifeguard and have the proper equipment (rescue tube or rescue can), you are putting your life in serious jeopardy.  This does not take into account swift water or currents, which are another can or worms.

[choppe]

FDTD IS COMPLETELY ACCURATE!!!  ANYONE WHO IS A PARENT MUST READ THIS ARTICLE!!!  Can we move this to the "Camping with kids" page so more parents will read it? 

[K9Sergeant]

FDTD you are right on the money with your post.  I am not a life guard, but spent a lot of time in low/high angle rope rescue including swift water rescue.  There were numerous occasions where one victim went under and a would be rescuer ended up being recovered days later because they too fell victim to the current or the struggling swimmer.  We always used the "risk a lot to save a lot, risk a little to save a little" motto.  If it was unlikely the victim would be rescued vs recovered we did not risk a life to save a corpse.  It is very very hard to watch someone lose their life, but an untrained would be rescuer just complicates things when they comprimise their own safety to try to save another person.

Thanks for sharing Spirit Deer

[EZDUZIT]

I agree with the article symptoms to watch for, but.....
I strongly disagree with some of fdtd's statements about rescue.

First of all, both my sons were Boy Scout Mile Swimmers.
I rescued the oldest son twice and the youngest once.
They were in trouble because of unexpected circumstances, not because they couldn't swim.

............ is NEVER attempt to rescue a drowning person by direct contact.

There isn't time to find a floatation device when somebody is going down for the third time! 

They are not capable of conscious thought.

They're consciously thinking that they can't stay above water!

......and will grab you and attempt to hold onto you to stay afloat. 

You bet, so you grab them and spin them around before they can grab you!  Once they can stay above water, the panic stops.

No matter how strong of a swimmer you think you are, this is a VERY dangerous and potentially fatal situation.  The best thing to do is notify a lifeguard unless you are trained as a lifeguard and have the proper equipment (rescue tube or rescue can), you are putting your life in serious jeopardy. 

There isn't a snowballs chance I would run for a life guard when my kid is drowning.  Failure is not a option!  If the life guard were on the ball, I wouldn't have to tell him!  Once a life guard sat in his chair and watched my son being carried out to sea on a raft caught in a rip tide!  I had to rescue him myself on my own raft.  He was already 100 yds off shore and the distance was increasing.    I yelled for the life guard as I went in, but he still didn't get out of his chair, and he did hear me!

This does not take into account swift water or currents, which are another can or worms.

  Yes, it's dangerous, but it's all on the line.  Just like the situation above. 

Any notion about watching somebody drown is IMO off the scale of acceptable response to an emergency.
That is simply not a possibility for me.  BTW, I'm a certified diver.

[HappiKampers!]

At the age of 8, I drowned in Lake Eliza while there with my family for a family picnic.  There was probably about 50 of us there at the Lake that day.  I was swimming approximately 20 ft from the floating diving deck.  On one end of the deck was a lifeguard stand.

I was swimming with my cousins, there were about 6-8 of in the area.  The older cousins (13 to 17 in age) were hoisting us littler ones into the air, we were attempting to do black flips into the water.  We were probably out there about 20 minutes are so.  After one of my turns, I was under the water when I hit my head.  No one knows what I hit my head on, whether someone accidentally landed on me, or someone swimming by accidentally kicked me.  But, it was enough to shock/disorient me and I inhaled water.  All I remember was opening my eyes and realizing I was sinking and couldn't get back up to the surface.  Even at 8, I knew I was drowning.

This is what was told to me by my cousins:  The lifeguard on the diving deck had been keeping his eye on our group and noticed when I didn't come back up to the surface.  He blew the whistle that triggered a guard on the shore to get into a small motorboat and head to the area. The diving deck guard dove in and found me sinking, unconscious, to the bottom of the lake and was able to get under my arms and bring me to the surface and load me into the boat that had made it to the area.  The one guard rolled me on side to drain out the lake water and began CPR as the boat raced to the shore.

When I regained consciousness, I was laying on the shore with all my cousins around me crying and two very handsome lifeguards by my side (well, at least I remember them being cute) and the ambulance arrived to take me to the hospital.  I was released later that evening after everything checked out.

I don't know the name of the boy who saved me (cousins say he couldn't have been more than 18-19 years old and probably was scared sh*tless when it happened) but I remember his green eyes and wet curly blonde hair dripping on my face.

Even now, at the age of 42, I won't swim in water I can't see in - no lakes, oceans, ponds, etc.  Only pools for me.

I wasn't the only family member in the hospital that day, seems my one cousin dove off the diving deck to swim to shore during my little "event" and cut her big toe on the deck from one side to another and so deep, she had to 20 stitches.  That was the last summer family picnic at Lake Eliza.  It was during that winter that my Aunt and Uncle added an inground-indoor pool to their house.

[The Becks]

Yep, pretty sobering, how easy it would be to miss the symptoms.

Thanks for the post.

[BirdLand]

Spirit Deer -

Thanks so much - I learned a lot from the article and am going to make DH and DS's read it as well. 

[choppe]

Yes, EZDUZIT, all bets are off when it is your own kid that's drowning, or in any trouble, for that matter... But the fact of the matter is, PANIC HAPPENS!  Panic is sudden and unreasoning fear, you cannot think of anything rational, even that the person coming near to you is trying to save you.  MANY people have drowned in this situation, not the original drowner, but the supposed rescuer. 

Case in point, at a swimming hole several years ago, the lifeguard indicated there was a water snake, everyone out of the water.  I was 15 or 20 yards from shore, in shoulder deep water, and in a moment of sheer PANIC, confusion, and absolute FEAR, used the 11 year old next to me as a launch pad to heave me up out of the water so I could run across the top of it.  Apparently, in my desire to save my a$$, I pushed her under the water, she panicked and swallowed water, and had a hard time both rising to the surface, and swimming safely out of harms way.  I didn't notice, because my irrational fear led me into the parking lot, a reasonably safe distance from any snakes.   The only CONCIOUS thought in my head was SAVE YOURSELF!!!  Here's the kicker...I was a lifeguard for 8 years, and taught swimming lessons and lifeguard training classes.  Yet when faced with irrational fear and panic, I behaved the same way a drowning victim would. 

We are all going to react differently in different situations, but I learned from the Red Cross the safest way to save someone is not always jump in and get them.   

[EZDUZIT]

Yes, EZDUZIT, all bets are off when it is your own kid that's drowning, or in any trouble, for that matter... But the fact of the matter is, PANIC HAPPENS! 

 
No argument here.  In the divers training I had, there are no extra "flotation devices" used.   When you need to rescue another diver, you have only your gear and his.  If I can I'll approach from behind or below.
As for panic, if you do, you will probably die.  It's not enough to be able to breathe.

We are all going to react differently in different situations, but I learned from the Red Cross the safest way to save someone is not always jump in and get them.   

But I probably always will.

The toughest rescue I was ever involved in was a elderly man who had a massive heart attack in a Community pool.  He was dead before he hit the bottom.  Several of us working together hauled his limp body to the surface and started CPR. (No lifeguard on duty, and no flotation devices on the walls.)   We were successful in getting a faint heart rhythm going.  Paramedics arrived, and we kept up CPR all the way to the Ambulance door.  At that point all attempts to save him ceased.  That experience left me very bitter.  I guess conventional wisdom said he was beyond saving.     Nothing in this world is more precious than human life.
I would have left no stone unturned. 

[uploon]

I had my lifeguard training many many years ago.  I do remember one thing though.  If the person you are trying to rescue tries to pull/push you under, give them a swift knee to the crotch.  It will work on females as well.

That being said, I'm not sure I could perform a rescue anymore, but adrenaline can do strange things.

JC

[mmmbeanie]

"Even scarier is that in a small but significant percentage of kids' drownings, an adult will have watched the whole process, not having a clue what was happening."

This sentance particularly rang true to me...

When I was 6 or 7 years old, my family lived on the campus of a private high school in southern California where my father taught physics.  The school had an Olympic size pool and, one day during the summer break, he and I walked down for a swim.  We were the only ones at the pool.

By this age, I had attended at least one swimming course and absolutely loved the water.  I jumped into the water in the shallow end while my dad got comfortable in a lounge chair.  I sunk down to the bottom of the pool and just sat there.  I had no idea what to do.  I kept thinking “I know I know how to swim but…”.  It never occurred to me to stand up and walk out of the pool.  It was like the majority of my brain just shut down or was blocked.  I didn’t panic, start flailing around or anything.  I just sat there on the floor of the pool.

After what seemed like forever, but in all honesty was probably just a few seconds, I heard and felt a huge splash as my father jumped in to get me.  To this day, I’m convinced that if my dad hadn’t kept a close eye on me I would have drowned.

Children’s brains can do strange and it can take only a few moments of inattention to have devastating results.  I’m living proof.

[ppoe65]

To add another story of why not to get too close to a drowning victim.  I am a certified Ligeguard and swimming instructor for 20+ years.  I was teaching at a local police academy (police recruits) and we had one student (22yrs old) who was afraid of the water.  Myself and three other instructors were in the pool with him trying to get him to relax.  Out of fear, he jumped onto one of the instructors and nearly drowned them both.  The instructor paniced and they both had trouble staying afloat.  They were both truly drowning.  We had to physically pull the two men apart to save them both.  Here was an experienced instructor (who had many rescues ocean, bay and pool) panic when a larger drowning man jumped on him.  It can happen to anyone, so please be careful and have a realistic understanding of your swimming abilities.   Most people think they are better swimmers than they truly are.

[TimK]

Seems to me I'd rather have Captain Kirk standing by than Mr. Spock.......