Saltwater Aspiration Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Buccaneer]

So basically what you are saying is: The issue isn't the salt-though it certainly doesn't help, infact it makes the water more dense- the issue is the lungs are getting a fine coating of water (can be microscopic H2O particles), effectivley stopping the transfer of oxygen/carbon dioxide. As more and more lung tissue becomes saturated the more difficult it is to breathe- a very frightening slow way of drowning yourself.:upset: RIGHT??

 

[Otter]

but what if the water was in the tank and/or what if the tank had been cleaned...but some type of solvent was still inside?

 

[Genesis]

I'm extremely suspicious of the diagnosis.

Some kind of surfactant in the tank would produce exactly this kind of symptom.

Surfactants are NASTY if inhaled in a fine mist, and the reg would do a fine job of insuring that the stuff was atomized, especially if there was no dip tube in the tank....

 

[The Iceni]

bubbleornothing once bubbled...
. . . I'm still not sure what the cause was.

The attending physician was a dive physician and the doc that was responsible for bringing the recompression chamber to Bonaire, setting it up, etc...or so I'm told...so he's presumably a qualified dive doc. That should rule out a mis-diagnosis. The official diagnosis was Salt Water Aspiration Syndrom and I was treated for a near-drowning case, as that was how the lung films and initial listen to the lungs presented.

. . . I'm pretty proud of that considering that the fluid in my lungs was highly audible at that time and breathing was extremely difficult.

Hi again Jeff,

I have no doubt you suffered salt water aspiration syndrome and that was the main diagnosis but what puzzles me is your description of what appears to have been acute pulmonary oedema. I wonder if this was the initial pathology?

I doubt we will ever know.

I am just so glad you are alive to tell the tale.