Is the COVID-19 "ventilator" a euphemism for polio's "iron lung machine?"
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Anonymous
| A ventilator sounds like a fancy bicycle-tire-tube pump. Where is the ventilator on the spectrum? |
Anonymous
| Good lord. what does it matter? You only get one if you can't breathe on your own. |
Anonymous
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Intubation with external ventilation is our generation’s iron lung. Patients are placed in a coma for it, because they shove a tube into your respiratory tract.
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Anonymous
| Huh? An iron lung was a ventilator with the technology they had at that time. |
Anonymous
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My understanding is that the levels of care are:
1) rest and OTC meds 2) albuterol 3) oxygen 4) intubation with vent and anesthersia/induced coma 5) ecmo and/or dialysis 6) call the morgue Not a doctor so someone correct me if Im wrong. |
Anonymous
| From the tone of most of the responses, DCUM'ers are offended by 'euphemism.' |
Anonymous
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Your question doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. No, it’s not a euphemism for the same thing. They’re two different things. Iron lung was the layman’s term for a specific kind of ventilator that encased the body in a metal tube and helped the diaphragm expand through negative pressure. They were also known as negative pressure ventilators or respirators. It was noninvasive. Today’s ventilators are invasive and use positive pressure. You need to be incubated some way, through the larynx or a tracheostomy. There is no large metal encasement, therefore it would make no sense to call today’s ventilators “iron lungs.”
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Anonymous
And perhaps this is what is behind the high mortality since ventilators carry TONS Of their own native risks. There are better ventilators, but the question is.. do we have them? Are we using them?.. Non-invasive ventilation refers to ventilatory support without tracheal intubation. ... Ventilation through a nasal or face mask may avoid the need for intubation, especially in exacerbations of chronic obstructive airways disease. Some patients with chronic ventilatory failure rely on long term non-invasive ventilation. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1116024/ |
Anonymous
| Thank you for the explanation. And for the warning. In the event I ever test positive, I will decline ventilation cum intubation. I will tell the healthcare provider, if in doubt, snuff me out. |
Anonymous
That would be pretty stupid. Many (most?) who are intubated will recover. |
Anonymous
Yes certainly seems that all the Lung authorities out there and their websites do not pain the most idyllic image of the intubated ventilators. If any thing get Do not get ventilation cum intubation, get Ventilator sine intubation. 
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Anonymous
Why do we even still have INTUBATED ventilators since they can cause so much damage to the lungs that is Unwarranted? We should long ago to switch to the ones without intubation. It is bad enough that any ventilator can give you 80% chance of a brain damage, intubation or not, just sheer oxygen stuff.. but add to it the injuries and infections and alike due to intubation. Researchers find why ICU ventilation can cause brain damage. Patients who have been mechanically ventilated in intensive care units have long been known to suffer some form of mental impairment as a result. ... They note that the incidence of delirium in patients who are mechanically ventilated is around 80%. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266626 |
Anonymous
One could only assume that since this makes recovery much worse, then the elderly don't make it and the young one can survive such an ordeal of ventilation.  You clearly must have very strong body to put up with the demands of the recovery process.. 
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Anonymous
If this is what you want, pin a DNR to your chest. |
Anonymous
They probably think you consider them oxymorons.
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