# When you die of hypothermia at sea... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092 "2012-04-17T22:54:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092/21 "2012-04-18T20:26:50Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I thought drowning was having water in the lungs and not the death resulting from it. Well, there’s ‘wet’ drowning, and ‘dry’ drowning. In the former, the lungs do fill up, in the latter, they do not. Rather in the latter, the person submerged experiences laryngeal spasm, which prevents the lungs from filling with water. Both types of folks are pulseless non-breathers due to submersion incidents, though. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092/22 "2012-04-18T20:27:58Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Ok, serious question time: what, exactly, does one do to treat a drowning victim once they’ve been hauled out and resiscitated? Once they’re breathing again, what further treatment is necessary? It gets complicated depending on whether they were wet or dry drowning victims, fresh or salt water, plus a few other things. No time to elaborate now, maybe later. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092/23 "2012-04-18T21:47:20Z")
I hope he doesn’t need the answer fast, doc. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092/24 "2012-04-18T21:54:47Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > It gets complicated depending on whether they were wet or dry drowning victims, fresh or salt water, plus a few other things. > > No time to elaborate now, maybe later. Easiest when they’re only ‘mostly drowned’. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092/25 "2012-04-18T22:06:28Z")
Should we be worried that Boyo Jim hasn’t replied yet? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092/26 "2012-04-18T22:10:59Z")
Hard to paddle and type with frozen fingers. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092/27 "2012-04-20T16:41:53Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Ok, serious question time: what, exactly, does one do to treat a drowning victim once they’ve been hauled out and resiscitated? Once they’re breathing again, what further treatment is necessary? I wonder if [one of these things](http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih=870&q=inversion+rack&gbv=2&oq=inversion+rack&aq=f&aqi=g1g-S1g-mS1&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=img.4..0j0i24j0i5i24.1125.4500.0.5493.14.14.0.1.1.0.131.1017.11j2.13.0.TcAKz-INc5g) would help people who had inhaled water into their lungs? (Once they’d been resuscitated, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092/28 "2012-04-20T16:54:33Z")
IANAD, but I don’t think so. I’m fairly certain you can only remove water from the lungs by coughing it up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-you-die-of-hypothermia-at-sea/619092.md?page=1)