# How´s life with an iron lung?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 6, 2002, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172 "2002-04-06T13:57:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dragon\_Mom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Dragon\_Mom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Mom)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172/1 "2002-04-06T13:57:05Z")

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I always saw movies with people living inside those big-ass tubes, watching the world thru a mirror. But how it´s like? A person is trapped permanently on an iron lung for the rest of its life, or is able to get out for some periods? How does the person eat, or pee, or poo? Iron lungs are still like that, or they became a thing of the past?

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172/2 "2002-04-06T15:00:03Z")

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Although I can’t say they are not being used at all anymore, ventilators have taken over doing their job.

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**Author:** ![PosterChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e274bd/32.png) [@PosterChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PosterChild)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172/3 "2002-04-06T16:39:50Z")

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The iron lungs were ventilators that made patients breath who were unable to do so themselves. They did it by decreasing/increasing pressure around the torso to inflate/deflate the lungs. The people you saw probably had polio which, in some cases, the paralysis progressed far enough to prevent even breathing. I don’t remeber the numbers, but some (I think most) got better (at least enough to breath) and some didn’t.

PC

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**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172/4 "2002-04-06T18:46:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Dragon Mom \*  
> \*\*How´s life with an iron lung? \*\*

Bloody awful I imagine

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**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172/5 "2002-04-06T19:17:50Z")

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Ask Mr. Frump.

A prize for you if you get that…

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172/6 "2002-04-06T19:26:50Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by furt \*  
> \*\*Ask Mr. Frump.
> 
> A prize for you if you get that… \*\*

It’s a song by Weird Al Yankovic: “Mr Frump in the Iron Lung”. What is my prize?

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172/7 "2002-04-06T19:28:24Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by furt \*  
> \*\*Ask Mr. Frump.
> 
> A prize for you if you get that… \*\*

I would answer, but people would think I was “weird.”

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**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172/8 "2002-04-06T20:30:40Z")

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Wanna boogie?

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [April 7, 2002, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-s-life-with-an-iron-lung/102172/9 "2002-04-07T07:57:01Z")

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I see this thread has been hijacked down the Nature Trail To Hell (In 3-D, no less).