Lightning Strike Survivors

Symptoms and Common Injuries

Symptoms Sometimes Experienced:

• Muscle Pains- may be cramp-like, sometimes intense
• Tingling Sensations
• Loss or Alteration of Senses- eyesight and/or hearing problems,loss of touch, inability to feel heat, cold, pressure, and/or pain, or sensations of pain (sometimes severe) with no source
• Dizziness
• Disorientation
• Nausea and/or Vomiting
• Headaches
• Siezures
• Mental Depression- common among survivors, depression may set in as a result of: The bothersome symptoms that no doctor can seem to explain, and the reality that the symptoms may last a lifetime; the feeling of isolation, as lightning strikes are relatively rare and survivors have little or no faculties for sharing their experience.

Common Injuries Caused by Lightning

• Cardiac and/or Repiratory Arrest- The leading cause of death for strike victims. However, most victims that have gone into cardiac arrest can be easily revived with the immediate and proper administration of Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (C.P.R.). Many lightning-caused deaths could have been avoided if C.P.R. had been immediately administered to the victims.
• Central Nervous System (C.N.S.) damage
• Burns
• Deafness or hearing loss
• Blindness or loss of eyesight
• Muscle and/or Ligament tearing, Bone Fractures- caused by violent muscle contractions due to the electric current from a lightning strike