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“The instinctive drowning response is silent and limited to subtle movements” Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D
Each time I hear about drowning, I remember what happened to me and I would like to give my contribution, to warn
people about certain signs, not always obvious, which can save lives.
We imagine that people
scream, wave their arms and call for help when they are drowning. It can be
like this, but the typical reaction seems very quiet in the eyes of others. For
those who are not trained to identify such a situation, the signs may go
unnoticed.
When it happened to me, I had what they call “the instinctive drowning
response, a silent reaction with limited subtle movements”. I was taking swimming lessons. I was alone in a
swimming pool for beginners, the instructor let me practice, because I was
doing well in the first exercises, and he was walking around other pools to
give instructions to others.
At some point, I did a rough
movement and my body turned, so that I was in face-up position. I was not able
to go back to the previous position; I did not know how to manage my actions in
the aquatic environment. I did not scream, did not try any gesture to call
for help, the priority was to breathe; the little time I managed to get my head out
of the water was not even enough to complete a breathing cycle, let alone
speak anything. I tried to keep my head above the water level, but I did not
succeed, my head submerged again and again. I do not know how long
it lasted.
I was lucky
because the instructor was passing by the pool where I was and he saw I was
drowning. I started to hear his voice talking to me; he was giving me
instructions to get me out of this situation. My attention turned to the
audition, to his voice, and I tried the movements he was recommending me to do,
but I failed and my body stubbornly insisted, like a reflex, to make the
same attempts I was trying before, which did not bear fruit.
What I find very odd is
that the fact of hearing his voice transmitted a calmness so dense to me,
making me sure he would save me, that if he had not decided to get me out of
the water, I think I would have died in peace. Although conscious, I felt
completely unable to overcome this, and I convinced myself that the instructor
would see what was happening and would be skilled enough to save me. I became
attached to this thought and it calmed me down. Fortunately, he really did it.
This event probably did not last more than a few seconds, but it was like an
eternity.
After I was safely placed,
it was difficult to breathe. I could only exhale. I had a kind of explosive
cough several times, without interval for breathing in, and only water came out
of my mouth and nose, in form of multiple small spurts. This
caused me much distress. What a relief when I finally managed to breathe in
some air!
Probably,
when he pulled me out of the water, I was in the phase that the larynx closes,
a physiological defense reaction that happens just before lungs flood.
When I was able to notice what was happening around me, I saw that everyone's frightened eyes in the academy
were turned towards me... After the fear, the shame of almost drowned in a
shallow pool took hold of me. You can laugh, but, please, it would be good to
explain to everyone, including children, that if we see someone who does not
seem to move a lot, the head coming out of the water then submerging, several
times, even if there are no signs of distress, it is necessary to ask right
away if the person is well. If the person does not answer anything, it’s bad
news, because drowning is silent. So we must cry for help, and we must act
quickly to save the person.
Please, read the article below, it is very important and informative:
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