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Karen, The lungs are not a balloon, nor are they a condom. If the human lungs were constructed of latex, your analogy might hold. Sometimes, however, analogies fail, and we must rely on experience. So here I am, a humble student of diving, trying to figure out what is the safest and most effective method. On one hand, I have your analogy of blowing up condoms with your reg. On the other hand, I have the experience of an anesthesiologist who actually did this on a patient, and reported it worked fine. So, I wonder which answer I'll choose? Rich L ----- Original Message ----- From: Karen Nakamura <karen@gp*.co*> To: <techdiver@aquanaut.com> Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 1999 7:33 PM Subject: Experiment: Purge inflating > Folks - > > There's been a lot of medical evidence against purge inflating an > unconcious, non-breathing drown victim. The proponents of this dangerous > practice haven't presented any evidence to the contrary. Nonetheless, there > are still some folks who think it's both safe and practical. > > Here's an experiment to try in the safety of your own home. You will need: > > * Condom or large-mouth balloon > * Scuba regulator and tank (air is fine) > > Blow the condom/balloon up once or twice with your own breaths. Notice the > size and shape. The condom will inflate so that it's almost balloon shaped > when you've given it a good full breath. > > Now put the mouth of the condom over your regulator's mouthpiece. Now, try > to inflate the condom. If you don't have your hand over the regulator vents, > the condom will become ... well ... semi-erect, but it won't balloon up to > full lung size since there isn't sufficient pressure. In order to get > sufficient pressure, you have to close the mouthpiece vents, but this is > much more difficult than it appears and it's hard to get enough coverage > over the vents at the same time as applying just the right amount of > pressure to the purge valve. > > You'll get one of two results most of the time: an underinflated condom > (lung) or overinflated, burst condom (lung). > > Now imagine trying to do this at the same pace as you'd be giving rescue > breaths. Try imagine doing this while towing someone in the water. It just > isn't very practical either in or out of the water. > > This isn't even the full picture, in real life you'd also have to worry about: > * Making sure the mouthpiece seal is secure > * Making sure the victim's airway is open and clear > * Lung inflations aren't as visible as a condom inflating > > Conclusion: take a rescue/CPR/O2 course and stick to what you know. > -- > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. > Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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