"Firebreather's Lung" or ARDS

Thanks Dave, this is what I'm saying. Maybe the bold writing (as in 'fat' ) makes me appear like shouting, but is only used to highlight what I regard the particulars.

As previously said, I will bear any hostility that derives from being anti-Fire Breathing, to me it's just a question of integrity.

I know it's a stunning act, I've been mesmerized by it too, until I found out about the dangers involved and the risk that every FB is putting himself and his audience at. I don't care how old it's traditions are (bullfighting has an even longer tradition, I still appreciate it vanishing).

99% of the firebreathers I previously encountered had NO CLUE that drinking milk or veg oil will decrease the amount of paraffin absorbed by their body. I mean, guys this is THE most simple precaution you can perform to protect yourself. Only TWO of all had towels to wipe excess fuel from their faces and only ONE was telling the kids present that they should not try this a home.

Would you (not) agree that:

1) there is a competition amongst firebreathers going on about who spits the longest and furthest, involving higher amounts of fuel - and increasing the dangers of backfiring (yes I'm aware of what "a mouthful" is)
2) some firebreathers just aim to distinguish themselves and happily use "aggressive fuel", if nothing else is available, increasing the likelihood of an accident
3) most firebreathers are displaying a horribly lax attitude towards their health and that of their audience
4) the least firebreathers use and display the necessary precautions to the general audience before and whilst performing their act
5) Fire Breathing is one of the most attractive fireperformances, at the same time one of the easiest to perform (unless 'safe' is the emphasis), thus being one of the most appealing to imitate.

I find it extremely strange that especially the two of you, Pele and Mike, seem to have a problem with my stance. Is it technical or personal? Pls specify.

As I've been talking to 3 Russian performers, they claim to face great hardship from government officials since the Fire Breathing accident in that Moscow nightclub. Meaning that they get harassed and prohibited from legally performing in public in Moscow.

I still have to verify with more performers and hear about the details, but that's what it is so far and I just would like to see ppl help to avoid similar scenarios in other places.

If anyone is interested (because some said here a while ago there have been no studies on Fire Breathing) I've found a few studies on incidences!!

Just in case people are interested. I hope you can see the articles, I have to use password and the like to enter the journals.

r Med J. 2002 Oct ;95 (9):276-7 12470000 (P,S,E,B)
Fire Breathing pneumonia.
[My paper] M Moore, E Fitzgerald, M Bennett
Department of Medicine, Mercy Hospital, Cork. drmmoore@eircom.net
Rounded lesions on chest x-ray can often be difficult both to diagnose and to treat. We report a case of a right middle lobe lesion in a young, previously healthy patient who presented with pleurtic chest pain and haemoptysis. His symptoms and chest x-ray appearance were caused by exposure to paraffin oil (kerosene), a substance commonly used for medical as well as domestic purposes.
http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:12470000


Pulmonary infiltrates following butane 'fire-breathing'

T. R. Cartwright, E. D. Brown and R. E. Brashear

Rapidly progressive bilateral pulmonary infiltrates occurred in a 19-year-old man following an unusual hydrocarbon abuse. The acute illness was the result of a "trick" known as "fire-breathing." Fire-breathing involves filling the oral cavity with butane gas, from an ordinary butane cigarette/cigar lighter, and exhalation of the volatile vapors over an open flame producing a flame-throwing effect. Because of the pulmonary toxic reaction, this activity could have a serious or even fatal outcome.
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/143/10/2007

Burn injuries caused by Fire Breathing

Michael McCleaveCorresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author and John Greenwood
Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, The Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace, Adelaide 5000, South Australia, Australia
Accepted 28 October 2004. Available online 5 March 2005.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob...fdc68f5c4#bbib3

Burn injury due to fire eating

J. VargheseCorresponding Author Contact Information, P. J. Regan, P. G. Budny and A. H. N. Roberts
Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Bum Surgery, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK
Accepted 10 September 1991. Available online 29 April 2005.

Abstract

Two examples of the injuries sustained by fire-eaters' are described, the hazards of the occupation are explained and preventive precautions are discussed.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob...ff&ref=full
- this one I haven't been able to recieve a full text of yet, but I'll tell you when I do

Yay, just my two cents...

ok first of all, i did not finish reading the last 8 or so posts, instead i got all fired up to write something back so here it is!

i strongly disagree with anybody telling anyone to quit doing something just because it's dangerous. it is just as dangerous every time you take a bite of a sandwich (mama cass!), sit down on the toilet (elvis!), get behind the wheel of a car, pick up an UNLIT toy (if things are moving fast enough and you crack yourself in the eyes or nose just right..doc?), wake up, fall asleep, step out of your house, etc. etc. etc.

i strongly advocate that you provide all the information possible for people to be able to make an educated decision themselves, regardless of the activity. if someone has no information about the potential hazards of something (fire, electricity, sadism, rock & roll...), the chances that they are going to know how to avoid hurting themselves and others are slim to none. i would be willing to bet those of you who are raging against providing this information also firmly disagree with sex and drug education in schools, yes?

as someone who is fairly young and fairly healthy who has very low interest in Fire Breathing at all, seeing this thread and the articles written about it has indeed opened my eyes to some dangers and precautions i did not already know about, the ARDS being one of them. I had a friend tell me the other day about getting drunk near a lake and Fire Breathing with his friends using lamp oil

when i get in touch with him again, i will link him to the articles here because i don't think it's fair to be involved with something unless you know all the risks associated with it, and what to do if something happens.

while i don't believe that this information on the internet should be the end-all be-all of someone's training in Fire Breathing or other activities, it is ultimately much more beneficial for it to exist than to ban people from it forever.

and i also don't think you should taboo something like Fire Breathing just because a bunch of people are assholes. i am afraid every day when i get into my car and get ready to drive the <5 miles to work, because of all the idiots out there on the road. i also know full well all the pollutants my car emits and all the potential hazards it poses to everyone around me and in future generations....yet i still choose to drive.

so pele got hurt. she learned a very valuable lesson. i have even more respect for her that she continues to work in her craft and educate people about it rather than condemn it to some dark empty hole. fear controls us all - just look at the american government ;3

she is rising above that fear and becoming its master, rather than letting it rule her. to poorly paraphrase her article, she was reminded that RESPECT is the most important thing to know. no amount of training or knowledge will save you if you do not hold respect (and NOT fear) for whatever it happens to be that you are dealing with. accidents are not called accidents because they happen on purpose, after all...but increasing the knowledge that people have in their hands and in their mind about something before they choose to pursue it will GREATLY reduce the risk of harm (like what the doc says) and the risk of accidents happening.

i don't pretend to be eloquent, but i hope i was able to provide another viewpoint to this >year long discussion. that being said, over and out!

I don't think Fire Breathing should be avoided or banned.
All the fire breathers I know are responsible and sensible people who know how to firebreath and take all possible safety precautions. Then again, I live in the Netherlands, and it might be different in other countries.

I do Fire Breathing, I wouldn't say I am a star at it, but I do think it's pretty and impressive. And I love to do it, It makes my fireshow more complete. I would never ever endanger audience. I breath twice a day twice a week maximum, no more. Often less. I don't drink, smoke or abuse drugs. I don't do a fire breath if I don't feel like it or when I'm tired.
I know the risks. I have heared many horror stories. Even my very own brother lies in the hospital right now, Due to Fire Breathing.

A few day's ago he had been Fire Breathing with me and his girlfriend. It was his second time. It all went perfect and smooth, But afterwards he had been coughing really badly and even trew up a couple of times, eventhough we told him not to. If he had accidently and unnoticing swallowed some oil, it would do more damage. The next day he felt good enough to go to the gym. but the day after he had some fever and musle ache in his chest, and was still coughing. We made him see the doctor (he took the msds with him). Who told him it was probably because he didn't feel very well and went to the gym. the next day (today) he felt worse, He had high fever and was short on breath, he couldn't do anything for more than three minutes without beïng exhausted. He was dizzy and tired, trew up again and kept coughing. a few hours ago he was transported to the ER of the nearest hospitale. He's is now being examined. We don't know what he has. but It's most likely due to the Fire Breathing.

It's horrible, But I know that in no way this would affect my Fire Breathing. I will continue doing it because I love it.
But should it, just because it's very dangerous, (and more dangerous than other fire arts) be avoided? I don't think so, people will continue to do it, even if they are not allowed. Smoking is dangerous too, but somehow they continue to do so and even endangerer the lives of others (passive smoking).

I thinks it would be better to make people know the dangers they put themselves into and teach them how to reduce the risks rather then having them breathing fire anyway, but without proper assitance and safety masures.

Btw, I hope you don't mind my english, it sucks, it's not my native language.

Edit: My brother has chemical pneumonia, and lies on the lung department. He has to stay there for a while to see if the antibiotics work.

The reason he has chemical pneumonia is because his breathing technique is different then mine (and different from others) which caused fuel getting into his stomach, it is a very little bit of fuel but he is allergic to it which made him trow up. And when he was trowing up the fuel came into his lungs.

He has to stay in the hospitale for a few weeks, his fever lowered and in the evening it went up again.

it could be a mixture of stomach acid and fuel, in that case. if he inhaled his own vomit and the last thing he ingested was the fuel then a combination of that AND stomach acid seems most likely, but not definitely one or the other.

So, how does vomit end up being inhaled?

I know this can happen with people who are very drunk, but presumably, this wouldn't be the case in this situation, as the person was fire-breathing.

Is it common for people to end up in hospital due to inhaling their own vomit?

So what is the difference between ARDS and a mild case of chemically induced pneumonia?

There was one time where I must have inhaled a tiny bit of fuel and got a slight case of pneumonia. For the next couple of days I had a sharp pain in my chest up near my collar bone when taking deep breaths. It wasn't severe, just noticiable. I did not go to the hospital or treat it in any way. Just waited till it went away.

Recently I got a chest X-ray done and it showed no signs of distress (despite the fact that I've been a heavy smoker since I was 13 and a fire performer/eater/breather for the past few years).

There's no clear-cut difference between aspiration pneumonitis and ARDS. ARDS is a more severe situation. Also, aspiration pneumonia classically refers to aspiration of mouth flora, which causes an infection.

It's sort of a subtle semantic difference.

hi, this is pretty random but, anyway, i was watching a video on facebook from burn concept crew, and their Fire Breathing is bloody insane, i was wondering if anyone else has seen their stuff and if so could tell me what kind of fuel they are using, because it can not be kerosine
if you want to see it add me on facebook and ask me to send it to you, dontaskquestionsplz@hotmail.com