What can cause trouble in shallow water?
August 21, 2018 5:56 AM Subscribe
My friend has died from drowning in 3-5 feet of water. What could have happened?
We're shocked and heartbroken. My friend was swimming at a lake cabin. She went under the dock, then a ways further, then was found unresponsive in the water by the shore. There was so little time, maybe 5-10 minutes, from when our other friend saw her active. She died the next day.
What could have happened? Did she suffer in her final moments?
I researched shallow water drowning. It sounds like drowning this way isn't uncommon. Or is it likely something else happened first--like a heart attack? She was around 40 years old, not very fit, not very experienced in water.
I wasn't there and am not close to her family. We can't make sense of it or bring her back. It might be helpful to understand more about what happened and, if possible, help prevent it happening to others.
We're shocked and heartbroken. My friend was swimming at a lake cabin. She went under the dock, then a ways further, then was found unresponsive in the water by the shore. There was so little time, maybe 5-10 minutes, from when our other friend saw her active. She died the next day.
What could have happened? Did she suffer in her final moments?
I researched shallow water drowning. It sounds like drowning this way isn't uncommon. Or is it likely something else happened first--like a heart attack? She was around 40 years old, not very fit, not very experienced in water.
I wasn't there and am not close to her family. We can't make sense of it or bring her back. It might be helpful to understand more about what happened and, if possible, help prevent it happening to others.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Poster's request -- taz
How awful. Any possibility of epilepsy? Sometimes a seizure can be triggered by sunlight glinting on water.
posted by KateViolet at 6:10 AM on August 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by KateViolet at 6:10 AM on August 21, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm very sorry for your loss.
What was the lakebed like? Slippery rocks? Mud that might have made it difficult for her to walk on the bottom? If you're not a strong swimmer, slipping on rocks and not being able to stand in just a few feet of water can be very disorienting and lead to drowning. It also sounds like there were some things she could have hit her head on. I had to rescue someone once in the shallow end of a swimming pool because they had very quietly had a heart attack while lap swimming.
The thing about drowning is that it doesn't usually look the way it does in movies. It happens quickly and quietly such that there have been many cases of people looking right at a drowning person a few feet away and not realizing they were drowning. There's been a lot of new educational resources put out that try to educate about this (the last recreational swimming pool I was at was plastered with them).
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:29 AM on August 21, 2018 [8 favorites]
What was the lakebed like? Slippery rocks? Mud that might have made it difficult for her to walk on the bottom? If you're not a strong swimmer, slipping on rocks and not being able to stand in just a few feet of water can be very disorienting and lead to drowning. It also sounds like there were some things she could have hit her head on. I had to rescue someone once in the shallow end of a swimming pool because they had very quietly had a heart attack while lap swimming.
The thing about drowning is that it doesn't usually look the way it does in movies. It happens quickly and quietly such that there have been many cases of people looking right at a drowning person a few feet away and not realizing they were drowning. There's been a lot of new educational resources put out that try to educate about this (the last recreational swimming pool I was at was plastered with them).
posted by soren_lorensen at 6:29 AM on August 21, 2018 [8 favorites]
A friend of a friend (young, and fit) drowned in a swimming pool because, if I recall correctly, they had a heart attack. Despite being pulled out relatively quickly it was too late.
Sometimes a seizure can be triggered by sunlight glinting on water.
Seizures can also be caused by brain tumours. A family member had seizures out of nowhere because of this.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:39 AM on August 21, 2018
Sometimes a seizure can be triggered by sunlight glinting on water.
Seizures can also be caused by brain tumours. A family member had seizures out of nowhere because of this.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 6:39 AM on August 21, 2018
God, I'm sorry.
Heart attack, certainly a possibility. Or could she have hit her head on something? Or was there any spot under the dock where there wouldn't have been room for her to come up for air? Or some combination (come up for air, hit head instead...)
Things happen so fast in the water. What a terrible thing.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:04 AM on August 21, 2018
Heart attack, certainly a possibility. Or could she have hit her head on something? Or was there any spot under the dock where there wouldn't have been room for her to come up for air? Or some combination (come up for air, hit head instead...)
Things happen so fast in the water. What a terrible thing.
posted by fingersandtoes at 7:04 AM on August 21, 2018
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I am so sorry, it is terrible, terrible news.
posted by lydhre at 6:02 AM on August 21, 2018 [1 favorite]