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Do people this age just stop breathing in their sleep?

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NNN0LHI

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Mon Aug-11-03 05:56 PM
Original message

Do people this age just stop breathing in their sleep?

Edited on Mon Aug-11-03 05:56 PM by NNN0LHI

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030811/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_deaths&cid=540&ncid=1480

A Look at U.S. Daily Casualties in Iraq

<snip>Spc. Levi B. Kinchen, 21, of Tickfaw, La., died Aug. 9 in Baghdad, Iraq. A fellow soldier tried to wake Kinchen and noticed he was not breathing. Kinchen was assigned to 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Polk, La.

_Pvt. Matthew D. Bush, 20, of East Alton, Ill., died Aug. 8 in Camp Caldwell, Iraq. A fellow soldier tried to wake Bush and noticed he was not breathing. Bush was assigned to F Troop, 1st Squadron, 10th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.

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Clete

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Mon Aug-11-03 06:03 PM
Response to Original message

1. It could be from heat stroke.

With the high summer heat it is possible for a young person, not accustomed to the heat to die.

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leftofthedial

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Mon Aug-11-03 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. If the guy was from East Alton and Fort Hood

He's accustomed to some pretty serious heat.

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SoCalDem

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Mon Aug-11-03 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. But... at home

he does nor wear a hundred pounds of gear and only get two bottles of water a day.:(..

Loss of electrolytes and heat exhaustion can cause a heart to stop..:(

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DUreader

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Mon Aug-11-03 06:14 PM
Response to Reply #1

4. It could be from rapid onset mystery pneumonia

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Andy_Stephenson

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Mon Aug-11-03 06:28 PM
Response to Reply #1

5. Not coming from Ft Hood

I am from that area...and it gets hotter than hell in the summer and it is waaaaay humid. With the THI tempratures can feel like 130+ there, so I don't buy the heat stroke idea.

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NYC

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Mon Aug-11-03 06:46 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. Don't people in Ft. Hood stay out of the heat as much as possible?

The American soldiers in Baghdad don't have the opportunity to stay out of the heat.

I would imagine anyone in Ft. Hood without air conditioning would at least avoid strenuous activity.

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yella_dawg

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Mon Aug-11-03 06:48 PM
Response to Original message

7. I used to live in Riyhad

Edited on Mon Aug-11-03 06:49 PM by yella_dawg

back before BFEE blew up Iraq the first time. We lost a couple of people a who stayed out in the sun too long, then went into an air conditioned room. Just laid down and died.

edit for spelling.

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NYC

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Mon Aug-11-03 06:51 PM
Response to Reply #7

8. I'm assuming the air conditioning had nothing to do with the death?

They just entered the air conditioning too late to recover? Let me know. Thanks.

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yella_dawg

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Mon Aug-11-03 07:02 PM
Response to Reply #8

9. I don't know any specifics

we were just told never, never go directly into a really cold environment from working out in the sun during the heat of the day. Had to cool off with something cool to drink in a shady spot before crashing under the AC. It has something to do with thermal shock (entering a 60 deg. environment while dehydrated and suffering hyperthermia). But yes, it was the AC that was the problem.

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NYC

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Mon Aug-11-03 11:49 PM
Response to Reply #9

19. Thanks.

:hi:

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DemBones DemBones

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Mon Aug-11-03 07:10 PM
Response to Original message

10. Sure. Young people die of aneurysms. I've known of several

who did, one was the son of a friend.

The heat is likely a factor in these deaths. Every year in August, there are one or more deaths of football players in pre-season practice. I believe the actual temperatures in Iraq are 140 degrees and more and, as already mentioned, they wear heavy equipment all day (40 lbs. of it, I think is what I've heard), don't have enough water, etc.

And then there's infection to consider. There's such a thing as "walking pneumonia" where people think they have a bad cold but have actually developed pneumonia. That happened to another friend of mine (who is an R.N. and married to an internist!) so it can sneak by even health professionals! Like health professionals, soldiers are likely to (and encouraged to) "tough it out" when they're sick.

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leftofthedial

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Mon Aug-11-03 07:32 PM
Response to Reply #10

12. don't the football players usually collapse

during proactice?

Not go to sleep and never wake up.

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amazona

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Mon Aug-11-03 07:24 PM
Response to Original message

11. OMG...not that far from Tickfaw

It could be heatstroke, I suppose. In Louisiana, we do have heatstroke, but we are more aware of it, because the high humidity causes us to sweat and so we don't forget to drink a lot of fluids. So it is not as common as in places with lower humidity like Arizona and Nevada.

I have heard reports of water rationing in Iraq, which, if true, could indeed cause a killer heatstroke.

I will look for local reports about this story. What a damn shame.

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brook

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Mon Aug-11-03 09:47 PM
Response to Reply #11

13. I had a pretty serious heatstroke...

working on *The Color Purple* in NC. The water cups we had were the tiny ones with pointed bottoms - so even if you could get away from the set to get a drink, you couldn't fill a cup and take it with you. The stroke came on very suddenly. I just had time to say "oooh..I don't feel well* when I keeled over. It was almost a slow motion, out of body sensation. I was in the hospital when I came to - with one of those defrib patches on and a bunch of people asking me if I knew where I was.( I didn't because I had no idea where they'd taken me, but obviously it was an emergengy room somewhere). I was in hospital about a week and another week *indoors*. I was also told by the doctors that once you've had a heat stroke, you are a candidate for another one.

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patcox2

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Mon Aug-11-03 10:03 PM
Response to Original message

14. Stopping breathing is a symptom of death.

21 year olds can indeed die in their sleep. And when they die, they stop breathing. Stating the question like that is a bit cute, don't you think? The real question is whether it is anomolous for two out of 140,000 young men die in their sleep from unexplained causes. You assume it is, in your ininuating way, and then go on to infer from your presumption that there is something amiss, that something mysterious is going on. Facts would be heplpful. For example, you cite initial reports from before the causes were determined; are there later reports that give a cause?

I have lived long enough to see friends and family an acquaitances die, and you know, there is never a good reason, its just that everyone has to go sometime. An old girfriend of mine, at the age of 40, came down with the flu, went to the hospital, and died the next day. I have known others who died of heart valve infections and aneurysms. Its freaky, but it happens. I don't think Bush killed my ex-girlfriend.

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brook

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Mon Aug-11-03 10:37 PM
Response to Reply #14

15. 40...

is a long way from 21.

It doesn't appear likely that * killed your girlfriend . However, everyone sent to war by * are his responsibility-like it or not.Even the suicides. There is always a cause of death, often exacerbated by 'unusual circumstances'- such as war.

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NNN0LHI

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Mon Aug-11-03 11:03 PM
Response to Reply #14

16. "Stopping breathing is a symptom of death."

Don't let your imagination get the best of you. Here is what I wrote: Do people this age just stop breathing in their sleep?

I never implied anything in that sentence, cute or otherwise, beyond the question I was asking. I am 48 years old and have never heard of anyone who has to be heathly enough to be in the service to simply die in their sleep at this age. If this is a very common thing as you suggest then you have answered my question. Leave it at that. Thanks.

Don

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Ladyhawk

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Mon Aug-11-03 11:16 PM
Response to Reply #16

17. Yes, they occasionally do.

I suffer from sleep apnea which can affect even young, fit people. Without my CPAP I stop breathing in my sleep hundreds of times a night. Some people with sleep apnea never start breathing again.

Even young, seemingly fit people can suddenly die. It isn't common, but it happens.

(By the way, I can no longer be called young or fit, so if I die tomorrow...um, never mind.)

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sugargoose

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Mon Aug-11-03 11:18 PM
Response to Original message

18. Sleep Apnea is somewhat common

Though I would not expect it to be prevalent in young military men since it is often (not always)associated with obesity.

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