What Is Dry Drowning?
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Medically reviewed by Michael Menna, DO
Dry drowning is a term people use to describe a situation when someone experiences complications after swallowing small amounts of water during a water accident. Dry drowning may be used in reference to someone's airways closing up in an attempt to block water from entering the lungs. Or, the term can refer to someone experiencing worsening symptoms hours after their water incident.
However, the term "dry drowning" is not an actual medical diagnosis. In fact, many health and rescue organizations discourage people from using the term "dry drowning" because it is not entirely accurate and takes attention away from the entire process of drowning, which so-called "dry drowning" is essentially a part of.
While the term dry drowning should not be used, the events it is used to describe can happen. That said, there are a couple red flags to watch out for if you or a loved one have been involved in a recent water rescue and want to ensure you're taking precautions for staying safe during and in the hours following the incident.
How Dry Drowning Happens
Drowning is a process that occurs when too much water gets into your airways, causing impaired breathing. It can be a fatal or nonfatal incident, depending on if you're able to be rescued.
If you're rescued, you may experience only a few mild symptoms upon getting pulled out of the water. Most times, the lungs can absorb the small amount of water that entered.
Sometimes, the limited water you swallow can trigger laryngospasm. Laryngospasm is the seizing up of your airways in an attempt to not let anything get down your windpipe, causing your airway to become partially or completely blocked. Some people refer to this as dry drowning.
Dry drowning may also be used to describe complications that happen hours after your water incident. Rarely, you can get progressively worse after having been pulled from the water due to pulmonary edema, which is when too much fluid builds up in your lungs. Over the following hours after your rescue, the alveoli (the tiny air sacs in the lungs where the breathing process is carried out) can become inflamed. This inflammation disrupts the thin barrier of tissue where gases are exchanged during breathing, leading to "dry drowning."
Dry drowning is not the filling up of water in your lungs days after your water accident; it is a continuation of the drowning process that started a few hours before when you first accidentally swallowed water. This occurrence is also known as secondary drowning, another term experts say not to use.
Editor's Note: The term "dry drowning" may also be used to describe when someone is found dead in the water but the autopsy determines there is no water in their lungs. Experts don't want the term to be used in this situation either because there was likely another cause of the sudden death, such as a heart condition.
Signs and Symptoms
A main sign of laryngospasm is a sudden and either a complete inability to breathe or a harder time breathing. With laryngospasm, your voice may get hoarse or you may lose your voice.
Although considered pretty rare, it is possible for any mild drowning-related symptoms to get worse within eight hours after a nonfatal water rescue incident. Some of the warning signs that a person might be deteriorating following a water distress incident include:
Breathlessness
Excessive coughing
Abnormal symptoms or behavior, like confusion
Prevention
Drowning is so common that it's considered to be a serious public health issue. A drowning incident can happen to anyone, at any time, wherever there is access to some type of water. Thankfully, drowning can be preventable.
And because dry drowning is either treated the same way as drowning (in the case of laryngospasm) or part of the drowning process anyway (in the case of pulmonary edema), preventing drowning would, in turn, prevent dry drowning.
The following tips can help prevent the likelihood of a drowning incident taking place:
Take swimming lessons.
Wear a life jacket while boating, no matter your age or swimming ability.
Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) skills in case you would need to use them before paramedics arrive.
Avoid alcohol before and during water activities, as this can lead to impaired judgment, balance, and coordination.
Be mindful of medications like anti-anxiety drugs that may impair your balance or coordination.
Take additional safety precautions if you have a medical condition, like epilepsy, that might increase the risk of drowning.
Don't attempt to hold your breath underwater for long periods of time.
Keep pools fully fenced in and children supervised closely to avoid any potentially dangerous situations.
Be aware of your surroundings, as a person who is drowning typically won't be able to shout for help.
Related: 5 Ways Chlorine Affects Your Body Long-Term
What To Do When Someone Experiences Dry Drowning
Drowning can cause serious long-term health injuries, like brain damage. But drowning isn’t always deadly, and the drowning process can be interrupted if a rescue takes place in time.
You can expect someone who's been rescued from a water incident and experiencing relatively minimal symptoms to start recovering within two to three hours. But it's still possible to experience complications that may cause initial symptoms to get worse—in a worst-case scenario, maybe even progressing to respiratory failure.
If you think someone might be experiencing dry drowning complications, get immediate medical help. If you're unsure what exactly should prompt an emergency call or visit, a general rule of thumb is to seek immediate medical care if you notice any respiratory symptoms that are worse than something like a drink going down the wrong pipe or a coughing fit.
Keep in mind that any brand new symptoms—like a random cough—that have popped up more than eight hours after a water rescue are likely unrelated to your water incident. Experts note it's not medically possible to "dry drown" days later. The more likely cause for any new symptoms would be something like asthma or an infection.
A Quick Review
Drowning happens when your breathing becomes impaired after unintentionally swallowing some water. The term "dry drowning" refers to respiratory issues that occur on dry land after the initial water exposure. However, the term isn't a true medical term and is one that experts want people to no longer use.
While drowning deaths don't crop up days after the initial event, there are some complications that can occur in the first few hours. If you notice a bad cough, breathlessness, or any other unusual symptoms in the eight hours after a water rescue, get medical care. To prevent any kind of drowning incident, experts recommend prevention measures like taking swimming lessons, using life jackets, and avoiding alcohol while swimming.
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