HEALTH FOCUS: How To Survive A Heart Attack When You're Alone
Tips On How You Can Help Yourself Until Help arrives
by MBA
posted on 3/31/04 9:00 AM
I got this forward in email today with something that seems to be a very valuable tip. We've all heard the stories about young basketball players collapsing on the court at 19 years old, and about young women having heart attacks at 27 while exercising.
Let's face it, with diabetes and high blood pressure being common among us, a heart attack is something we all need to work on preventing. Look for articles on these subjects, coming soon in Health Focus. Until then, here's a credible tip on how to increase your chances of surviving a heart attack until help arrives.
A Scenario
Let's say it's 6:15 pm 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 to experience severe pain in your chest that radiates out into your arm and up into your jaw.
You are only five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately, you don't know if you'll be able to make it. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.
How To Survive A Heart Attack When Alone
The fact is that many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack. Without help, a person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However, you can help yourself simply by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. Here’s how:
1. Take a deep breath before each cough, and then cough. This cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.
2. Repeat take a deep breath and a deep, prolonged cough every two seconds without letting up until help arrives, or until your heart feels like it is beating normally again.
Deep breaths allow oxygen to get 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 get to a hospital. As always, check with your doctor on other tips that can save your life, particularly those that can prevent the onset of a heart attack.
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