Imagine this: after spending some time in the water or watching your child during their swimming lessons, you or your child experience difficulty breathing despite having already exited the pool. How can something like this happen when you’re no longer submerged in water?
You might have previously heard of “dry drowning” and “secondary drowning.”
Dry drowning refers to a very rare, sudden, and severe injury that occurs when water causes your vocal chords to spasm and close.
Secondary drowning (also known as delayed drowning) refers to when water reaches your lungs. This fluid in the lungs can irritate the lungs’ lining and build up, causing pulmonary edema. In other words, this translates to a lack of oxygen in your blood.
Both “types of drowning” causes you to have trouble breathing right away and can worsen over 24 hours.
Secondary drowning is considered a type of submersion injury. It can occur hours after a near-drowning incident with someone inhaling water, causing a significant drop in their oxygen levels.
When this happens, this person must be rushed to the nearest emergency room or emergency department. If left untreated, secondary drowning can lead to respiratory and heart failure and even death.
But not to worry: secondary drowning is also very rare, making up 1-2% of all drownings. Still, we’ll walk you through the warning signs so you’re prepared and know what to look out for.
Early Secondary Drowning Symptoms
Early symptoms for children, adult, and infant secondary drowning to take note of include
- persistent coughing (feeling like you have to get something out)
- chest pain
- trouble breathing
- shortness of breath
- severe exhaustion
- pale or bluish skin
- vomiting
After observing one or many of these symptoms, call 911 and seek medical attention. You or your child will need a chest x-ray and an IV as they’re being seen by a medical professional.
Thankfully, secondary drowning treatment is often effective and can include oxygen therapy, diuretics, and antibiotics to increase oxygen levels, eliminate excess fluid, and treat any sort of
infection that you might have.
Because the secondary drowning timeline escalates so quickly, time is of the utmost importance so you must jump into action sooner rather than later. A matter of seconds can be life-saving.
How to Prevent
To be vigilant for secondary drowning, you can take a few simple precautions to ensure you or someone else’s safety.
For example, never swim alone or let your child swim alone. Always swim in an area with an active lifeguard on duty. Watch your child or whoever is in the water closely and continue to monitor them after, especially if they breathed in some water.
Nevertheless, it’s important to note that drowning is much more common so learning how to swim, wearing life jackets in open bodies of water, and getting CPR certified are all effective ways to keep yourself and those around you safe.
Lucky for you, learning how to administer CPR has never been easier and you can now get your certification online in minutes instead of hours in a classroom.
Taking this step means you know how to act fast during any sort of water-related emergency or accident. Even when you’re having fun, it’s crucial to continue to stay alert and observant.