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Posted on 06/06/2008 11:26:45 PM PDT by Gamecock
Charleston, SC (AHN) - A 10-year-old South Carolina boy died of "drowning" several hours after he was on dry ground, a coroner's report has found.
Johnny Jackson died of "dry drowning," a form of asphyxiation that happens when a small amount of water gets into the lungs and damages tissue, causing the lungs to swell and fill up with water.
The boy's mother, Cassandra Jackson, said Johnny went swimming in a local pool at Goose Greek on Sunday. Though the child didn't show any signs of respiratory distress, he "soiled himself," NBC News reported.
He walked home with his mother and sister and after his mother bathed him he told her he felt sleepy. When she went to check on him later she saw his face was covered in a "spongy white material." He was rushed to hospital but died of cardiac arrest on the way.
Doctors believe when water gets into lungs accidentally, like it had in Johnny's case, the lungs can't bring oxygen to the blood or the brain. The water can flood the lungs up to 24 hours after swimming or bathing. In very rare cases, it can also occur following a bath.
Experts recommend not letting a child swallow too much pool or bath water. Sometimes water enters the windpipe after diving or jumping into a pool. Any forced pressure on the front of the neck during swimming can also be a trigger.
Parents should look out for symptoms including difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness, and changes in behavior, which result from the brain not getting enough oxygen because of water in the lungs.
My first impression was what the heck?
But them I thought about it and it made sense....
SC Ping?
I learned to swim when I was three years old. Been in and out of swimming pools for over 5o years. Never heard of this until now.
Dr. Daniel Rauch, a pediatrician from New York University Langone Medical Center, told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira that there are warning signs that every parent should be aware of. Johnny Jackson exhibited some of them, but unless a parent knows what to look for, they are easily overlooked or misinterpreted.
The three important signs, he said, are difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness and changes in behavior. All are the result of reduced oxygen flow to the brain.
Johnny had two of those signs — he was very tired when he got home, and he had had the accident in the pool. But like most parents, Cassandra Jackson had no idea this could be related to water in his lungs.
Delayed reaction
Rauch said that the phenomenon of dry drowning is not completely understood. But medical researchers say that in some people, a small amount of inhaled water can have a delayed-reaction effect.
“It can take a while for the process to occur and to set in and cause difficulties,” Rauch said. “Because it is a lung process, difficulty breathing is the first sign that you would be worried about.”
The second sign is extreme fatigue, which isn’t always easy to spot. “It’s very difficult to tell when your child is abnormally tired versus normal tired after a hot day and running around in the pool,” Rauch said. “The job of the lungs is to get oxygen into the blood and your brain needs oxygen to keep working, so when your brain isn’t getting oxygen, it can start doing funny things. One of them is becoming excessively tired, losing consciousness and the inability to be aroused appropriately.”
Finally, there are changes in behavior, Rauch said — another tough call when dealing with very small children, whose moods and behavior can change from one minute to the next. “Another response of the brain to not getting oxygen is to do different things,” Rauch explained, saying parents should be concerned “if your child’s abnormally cranky, abnormally combative — any dramatic change from their normal pattern.”
He admitted, “It is very difficult to pick this up sometimes.” But spotting the warning signs and getting a suspected victim to an emergency room can save a life, he added.
Victims of dry drowning are treated by having a breathing tube inserted so that oxygen can be supplied under pressure to the lungs. “Then we just wait for the lung to heal itself,” he said.
I’ve never heard of this either.
I am thinking that the pooping in the pool incident may have been that he lost consciousness under the water but somehow revived. Then he was too woozy to know he had nearly drowned. Went home and was unable to really relate what had happened, only could say that he was very tired. It is worth noting this kind of thing in the back of one’s head in case any children show up with this kind of symptom after being underwater.
There was a horrible case here about 5 or 6 years ago, where a 7-year-old boy drowned in Beverly Hills at a birthday party. No one could even see that he was at the bottom of the pool. They searched for him everywhere else, because somehow the (apparently clean) pool had gotten murky enough to not be able to see the actual bottom, but the adults THOUGHT they could see an empty bottom. That incident has always stayed with me, and now I try to always make sure I clearly see the drain or markings on the bottom of our pool.
ADDING 1 link:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2320386_spot-signs-symptoms-dry-drowning.html
“How to Spot Signs, Symptoms of Dry Drowning”
By johnjppa
Very sad. I’ve never heard of this before.
Unquestionably rare, my deepest condolences to the family.
We do not need to ask; what next to fear. These days, the answer is provided daily.
“When she went to check on him later she saw his face was covered in a “spongy white material.”
What the heck was that??? Lungs?
Dried vomit?
I’ve beem in lifesaving courses for Red Cross and BSA. Never heard of anything like this before. I’m going to ask my rescue squad friend if he’s ever heard of it.
“dry drowning,”
??
I never heard about it before.
Thanks.
Seems confusing.
Who said medicine was simple?
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