# The sickness in the film Vertical Limit **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2000, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sickness-in-the-film-vertical-limit/45314 "2000-12-13T05:45:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sickness-in-the-film-vertical-limit/45314/41 "2011-10-26T14:06:18Z")
> [@](#): > > [**Dextromethorphan**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dextromethorphan) > From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia > _Not to be confused with Dexamethasone._ :smack: CMC fnord! I am sure the proper treatment for adama is two ceylons every four parsecs! Adema? No fuckin’ clue. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sickness-in-the-film-vertical-limit/45314/42 "2011-10-26T16:01:38Z")
> [@streetgang](#): > > yes , they are the same thing. and when you breath in cold air(i.e. the air in vertical limit around15 degrees f.) and it collids with the air in your lungs(98.6 F.) we get condensate, or fluid, or (Like in the movie, which you seem to have trouble sticking to) adema. trolling is not allowed, stick to the original question, which should be focusing on the movie. you are drifting off the subject here. p.s. the A/C comparison was for you, and you alone. i will avoid such technical comparisons in the future. No, sorry, discussing elements of your reply and is not trolling. Your PS on the other hand could be considered one. (Admittedly so should our snarky replies to your first post.) But you’re still not making a good case for condensate in the air causing pulmonary edema. Let’s say I’m in a seriously cold environment. 1. I breathe warm, moist air out. This small volume of warm air is quickly cooled down by the huge volume of hot air outside my body. I know this causes condensation as I can see it. I also know this is moisture from inside my body, as it wouldn’t condense if it wasn’t a higher saturation than possible at the outside temperature. I now have a smaller volume of hot moist air left in my lungs. 2. I breathe cold, dry air in. This mixes with the comparably sized (although usually three times as large) volume of hot moist air in my lungs. It is possible this causes some visible airborne condensate. I can’t tell, cause it’s in my lungs. 3. The below body temp volume of air then steals heat and moisture from my body. And we move back to step 1. Common sense says breathing cold air steals moisture from the lungs, not deposits it. If cold air causes pulmonary edema (reference needed) I’m inclined to believe it’d be due to the cold air irritating and damaging airways rather than the cold air causing condensation, but if you’ll supply a reference for said claim I’ll have learned something. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sickness-in-the-film-vertical-limit/45314/43 "2011-10-26T17:43:49Z")
> [@naita](#): > > d) I’ve heard of doctors having bad handwriting, but how many doctors are such horrid spellers that they can’t even spell Chief Medical Examiner? Who doesn’t even have an office in Branford. It’s 50 miles north, in Farmington. ---
**Author:** ![dustink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6a8cbe/32.png) [@dustink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dustink)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sickness-in-the-film-vertical-limit/45314/44 "2012-11-23T13:25:13Z")
> [@naita](#): > > I have a couple of questions? > > a) Does it also cure zombieism? > > b) There were **more** misspellings in that post originally? > > c) Condensate in an A/C unit comes from **hot air** cooling down. There’s no way breathing cold air causes anything similar within the lungs. (That’s not to say there’s no way cold air can damage lungs and cause fluid build-up IANAD, it’s just nonsense to make the comparison to A/Cs. IDTP (I do teach physics.)) > > d) I’ve heard of doctors having bad handwriting, but how many doctors are such horrid spellers that they can’t even spell Chief Medical Examiner? what does his spelling have to do with anything? i know rocket scientist that cant spell. who cares? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sickness-in-the-film-vertical-limit/45314/45 "2012-11-23T13:38:48Z")
> [@dustink](#): > > what does his spelling have to do with anything? i know rocket scientist that cant spell. who cares? I obviously care, but as I acknowledged a year ago, it was unnecessary and trollish to mention it in my reply. It’s also unnecessary to dig up a year old thread, which was a zombie at the time, to discuss the point. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sickness-in-the-film-vertical-limit/45314/46 "2012-11-23T14:04:28Z")
> [@dustink](#): > > what does his spelling have to do with anything? i know rocket scientist that cant spell. who cares? People who post on this board care. You would have figured that out if you took some time to read around a while rather than resurrect a zombie thread that’s originally **twelve years old**. Writing as if you were someone with a brain is a good indication to those of us who have been members for more than a day whether any given poster takes any care to mind what they write. It’s a good indicator as to whether a newbie will be a constructive contributor who pays attention to what they write and post factual responses with cites when needed, or whether a newbie will soon disappear. The vast majority of the time, it’s the latter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sickness-in-the-film-vertical-limit/45314.md?page=2)