What Was It Like to Live in an Iron Lung?
For one polio survivor, it was a relief. After an uncomfortable respirator mask, she found that lying flat on her back while the machine took over her breathing was “quite relaxing.” She recorded her story in October 2008 for the Berkshire Medical Heritage Centre, and it was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine in 2010.
She had polio in 1949, at about age 7. She recovered well enough to walk, but her spine began to curve. In 1971 she developed breathing problems, ended up in intensive care, and was moved to Oxford, where she was put into an iron lung.
Dr. Kumar’s Take
The iron lung is usually described as a symbol of fear. This patient’s account is more practical than that. She describes the small problems of living inside the machine: timing each swallow to the pump, not being able to scratch her nose, tears running into her ears. She also describes how quickly it became routine. She went back to work, drove herself around, and slept in the iron lung at night for 15 years. For anyone who cares for patients on long-term breathing support, her story is a reminder that the machine is only part of the experience.
What the Patient Describes
Inside the machine. The bed pulled out like a tray. She lay on it and was pushed inside, with her head outside. The pump sat underneath, so she felt its vibration: “breathing, bump; breathing, bump.” It was “not quite like a smooth breath.”
Passing the time. A mirror in front of her let her see what was going on behind. A frame could hold a book or newspaper, but someone had to turn the pages, so she usually just closed her eyes and slept.
Eating and coughing. She could eat because her head was outside. She had to swallow in rhythm with the machine, waiting until it was breathing out. Coughing was harder, because a cough does not come in rhythm with the iron lung.
Care through portholes. Portholes on the side had rubber seals. Staff could open them on the down breath and put a hand in to do physiotherapy.
Coming out. Staff let her out to sit up, perhaps for a cup of tea. Her fingers would turn blue, and after about 15 minutes she had to go back in. Gradually 15 minutes became 20, then 30, and then she could sit in a chair. She was in the iron lung for about three weeks.
Life With an Iron Lung at Home
She went home around September, but a week without the machine proved impossible. An iron lung was put in her bedroom. Her mother shut her in every night.
With her arms inside, she could not scratch an itch on her nose, so her mother’s last job each night was to sort out any itches. If she laughed until she cried, the tears ran into her ears. Once she accepted that the iron lung was just for nights, she returned to work around November.
Her humor carried her through. One night a replacement pump, swapped in while hers was serviced, was set to positive pressure instead of negative. The hospital technician found transport, and at about 2 in the morning two firemen delivered her own pump back.
She used that iron lung from 1971 to 1986. After that she moved to smaller devices: a cuirass jacket, a shell-like device over the chest driven by a small pump, and from 1991 a “nippy,” a positive pressure machine with a small mask over her nose. She said the iron lung was probably better at taking over her breathing, but the newer machine let her sleep in a bed.
Historical Context
The history of the iron lung is well documented beyond this memoir. Philip Drinker and Louis Agassiz Shaw at Harvard built the first widely used version, a large metal tank that enclosed the body with the head outside and a rubber collar sealing the neck. It was first used in 1928 at Boston Children’s Hospital, on a young girl with breathing failure from polio.
In the early 1930s, John Haven Emerson designed a simpler, cheaper version. Drinker and Harvard sued him for patent infringement, and the court ruled Drinker’s patents invalid. In 1937, Edward Both in Australia designed a cheaper respirator made of plywood.
Iron lungs became standard equipment in polio wards as epidemics grew. The worst US year was 1952, with about 58,000 cases. After the polio vaccines arrived, the machines were gradually replaced by positive-pressure ventilators.
How This Works (Biological Rationale)
The iron lung used negative pressure ventilation. A pump lowered the air pressure inside the sealed tank around the patient’s body. As the pressure fell, the chest expanded and air flowed into the lungs through the nose and mouth of the exposed head.
When the pressure in the tank rose again, the lungs deflated and air flowed out.
Unlike modern positive-pressure ventilators that push air into the lungs, the iron lung made the chest wall move by changing the pressure outside it. That is why the patient here had to time her swallowing to the machine.
Safety, Limits, and Caveats
This is one person’s memory of her own care, recorded decades later. Her experience, as an adult with breathing failure from a curved spine years after polio, may differ from that of children in the acute polio wards of the 1950s.
Patient Limitations: She could not turn over. Physiotherapy and other care inside the machine went through the sealed portholes.
Dependence: Her first stay was about three weeks, but she could not manage without the machine at night, and she used one for 15 years.
Family burden: She felt her parents were “probably worse off,” since her mother had to shut her in every night and they could not take holidays.
Practical Takeaways
- Understand the innovation: Iron lungs used negative pressure to make paralyzed chests move
- Listen to patients: Small daily problems, like swallowing in rhythm or an itch you cannot reach, shape life on breathing support
- Weaning takes time: This patient built up from 15 minutes out of the machine to longer periods
- Recognize the family’s role: Home ventilation depended on her mother every single night
- Appreciate modern alternatives: Smaller devices let her travel and, later, sleep in a bed
Related Studies and Research
- What Is Poliomyelitis? The Virus That Once Terrorized America
- Paul Alexander: The Man Who Lived 72 Years in an Iron Lung
- How Bad Was Polio in 1952? The Year It Struck 57,879 Americans
- The March of Dimes: How FDR’s Campaign Funded the Polio Vaccine
- Episode 28: Iron Lungs, Fear, and a Miracle: How We Stopped Polio
FAQs
How did the iron lung actually help patients breathe?
The iron lung used negative pressure ventilation. A pump lowered the pressure in the sealed chamber, so the chest expanded and drew air into the lungs, then let the pressure rise so the air flowed out.
Why did the patent dispute over iron lungs matter?
As a matter of history, Drinker and Harvard sued John Haven Emerson over his simpler, cheaper design, and the court ruled Drinker’s patents invalid. That left Emerson free to keep building his version.
What was daily life like for iron lung patients?
In this patient’s account, it was restful but limited. She watched the room through a mirror, needed someone to turn book pages, swallowed in rhythm with the pump, and could not turn over or scratch her nose.
How long did patients typically stay in iron lungs?
It varied. This patient’s first stay was about three weeks, but she then slept in an iron lung at home every night from 1971 to 1986.
What replaced iron lungs after polio vaccines?
Positive-pressure ventilators gradually replaced iron lungs. This patient moved to a cuirass jacket and then, in 1991, a positive pressure machine with a small nose mask.
Bottom Line
For one polio survivor, the iron lung was not a terror but a relief. She found it relaxing to let the machine breathe for her, learned to swallow in rhythm with it, and slept in it at home for 15 years while working and driving. Her account shows the daily reality behind a machine better known as a symbol of the polio era.
