Ken posted: > HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK 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 perform it 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. If everyone who gets this sends > it to 10 people, you can bet that we'll save at least one life. > > Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives! > > > >> From Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital via Chapter 240s newsletter AND >> THE BEAT GOES ON > > (reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. publication, Heart Response) BE A FRIEND > AND PLEASE SEND THIS ARTICLE TO AS MANY FRIENDS AS POSSIBLE > In reply:
Sorry about the off topic nature, but I would rather people were not fooled by these types of emails. Firstly "Heart Attack" is the common name for Myocardial Infarction, this is where a blood clot in the coronary blood vessels cuts the oxygen supply to part of the heart muscle, causing the death/damage of that part of the muscle. The usual symptoms are chest pain, shortness of breath and moist/clammy skin. The heart does not usually stop unless there is massive damage to the heart muscle. The best treatment is give oxygen, loosen tight clothing, take 300mg of aspirin (1tab) and prompt transport to hospital. CPR is usually performed in the event of "Sudden Cardiac Arrest" this is most commonly caused by the heart going into "Ventricular Tachycardia" or "Ventricular Fibrillation" or one of several other cardiac arrhythmias. If the person is pulseless and unresponsive then CPR and Defibrillation (an electric shock) are the main treatments. If the person has one of these "fatal" arrhythmias but is still conscious, then drug treatments and/or cardioversion (elective defibrillation) can be used to "reset" the hearts pacemaker. In neither of these circumstances is "Cough CPR" going to be any use. Just remember if you have ten seconds warning call an ambulance on 000, or 112 from most mobile phones!! Now that I have said that we don't need any more OT comments about it! Regards Daniel -- Daniel Forsdyke, RN (B.Sc.) Registered Nurse Emergency Department Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital
