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Join Date: Jan 2003
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Public Service Announcement
I truly hope that no one here ever has to use this tip. That being said, this kind of thing is good to know...just in case. You are all very dear to me, so I thought I would pass this along. Please share it with all those who are dear to you as well.
How to survive a heart attack when you are alone:
Let's say it's 6: 15 p.m. and you're driving home
(alone of course), after an unusually hard day on the job. You're really tired, upset and frustrated.
Suddenly, you start experiencing severe pain in your
chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home; unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far.
What can you do? You've been trained in CPR but the guy that taught the course neglected to tell you how to performit on yourself.
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this article seemed to be in order.
Without help, the person whose heart stops beating
properly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.
A deep breath should be taken before each cough. The cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. And a cough must be repeated about every 2
seconds without let up until help arrives, or until
the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.
From Health Cares, Rochester General
Hospital via Chapter 240s newsletter AND THE BEAT GOES ON . . . (reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. publication, Heart Response)
How to survive a heart attack when you are alone:
Let's say it's 6: 15 p.m. and you're driving home
(alone of course), after an unusually hard day on the job. You're really tired, upset and frustrated.
Suddenly, you start experiencing severe pain in your
chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home; unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far.
What can you do? You've been trained in CPR but the guy that taught the course neglected to tell you how to performit on yourself.
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this article seemed to be in order.
Without help, the person whose heart stops beating
properly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.
A deep breath should be taken before each cough. The cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. And a cough must be repeated about every 2
seconds without let up until help arrives, or until
the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.
From Health Cares, Rochester General
Hospital via Chapter 240s newsletter AND THE BEAT GOES ON . . . (reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. publication, Heart Response)
Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: North Vancouver, British Columbia
Posts: 1,714
Gabe - I appreciate you posting that info - I don't think that it ever hurts to have that kind of knowledge, and as a matter of fact it's something that has occurred to me on more than one occasion - what if it happened when you were alone? Thanks again!
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