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Anal oxygen administration may save lives

economist.com

81–90 of 169 posts

Re: Anal oxygen administration may save lives

#81
post #13

The rectum is an interesting place. You can apparently also absorb water there, if you are severely dehydrated and unable to hold anything down (eg seasick). All you need, the saying goes, is a funnel and a friend.. full disclosure: I've not tried that!

These people spent 37 days in a 9ft dinghy in the ocean. A ladder rung, plus the rain water mixed with turtle guts from the bottom of the boat saved their lives.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/aug/22/shipwre...

Re: Anal oxygen administration may save lives

#82

So they got O2 into the bloodstream. How does the CO2 get out of it?

It also dissolves in PFCs. Presumably the PFCs are flushed through the gut and the CO2 is carried out by the outflow. Outside, I imagine the CO2 would come off when the PFC is aerated for reuse.

Re: Anal oxygen administration may save lives

#83
post #60

I confess my first thought was mixing oxygen in a methane environment inside the body isn't ideal. And this isn't a joke..... for example, cyclopropane is an excellent anaesthetic gas but no longer used due to the explosion risk. I believe (?) there was a case of a patients throat catching fire on the operating table. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhalational_anesthetic#Gases

I don't think the trace amounts of methane humans produce is enough to be any real danger...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracolonic_explosion

Re: Anal oxygen administration may save lives

#84

I confess my first thought was mixing oxygen in a methane environment inside the body isn't ideal. And this isn't a joke..... for example, cyclopropane is an excellent anaesthetic gas but no longer used due to the explosion risk. I believe (?) there was a case of a patients throat catching fire on the operating table. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inhalational_anesthetic#Gases

If my choice is between definitely dying of boring old hypoxia and maybe dying in a cool explosion I know which one I'm picking.

But to be serious it's risk management and if the patient is definitely going to die of low oxygen then the patient having a risk of dying another way is still a lower risk.

Re: Anal oxygen administration may save lives

#85
post #83
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the trace amounts of methane humans produce is enough to be any real danger...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracolonic_explosion

>An intracolonic explosion or colonic gas explosion is an explosion inside the colon of a person due to ignition of explosive gases such as methane. This can happen during colonic exploration, as a result of the electrical nature of a colonoscope. The result can be acute colonic perforation, which can be fatal.

Welp.

Re: Anal oxygen administration may save lives

#86
post #69
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have heard, from some corny Discovery Channel survival show, that the bottom can filter out salt from the water. So if you're surrounded by ocean with no fresh water, the bottom is the place to go.

Wouldn’t the water seek isotonic equilibrium by moving to the side of the membrane with higher salt concentration? I don’t think that would work in your body’s favor.

[deleted]

Re: Anal oxygen administration may save lives

#87

First thing I needed to check that I have not woke up in alternate reality and that today is not 1 April, after I remembered that some drug addicts use similar techniques to get high.

Ah, the great suppository of wisdom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oep_DPDy6xw

Re: Anal oxygen administration may save lives

#88
post #56
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*Fuck* ventilators. They damage the patient's lungs, and laying tubes into the trachea requires traumatic surgery and carries significant secondary infection risk. ECMO – for patients with too destroyed lungs – is even worse, massive infection risk due to exposing vital arteries and veins, and it destroys your blood cells, requiring constant topping up with fresh blood transfusions. This has the potential to be less…

What a bizarre comment. Every patient who goes under general anaesthesia for surgery (life saving or otherwise) is ventilated and usually without issue. “Laying tubes into the trachea” I presume refers to tracheostomy. Let’s be realistic here - if you are requiring a tracheostomy and ventilator, or ECMO the you are severely unwell. A blood transfusion, or small risk of infection is the least of your worries at that p…

General anesthesia is fraught with peril. Every time somebody is put under they're dicing with death.

Re: Anal oxygen administration may save lives

#89
post #44
post #13

The rectum is an interesting place. You can apparently also absorb water there, if you are severely dehydrated and unable to hold anything down (eg seasick). All you need, the saying goes, is a funnel and a friend.. full disclosure: I've not tried that!

I have heard, from some corny Discovery Channel survival show, that the bottom can filter out salt from the water. So if you're surrounded by ocean with no fresh water, the bottom is the place to go.

Absolutely not. Osmotic gradient. This is another reason not to watch TV and spend more time reading trustworthy sources.
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