Living Return
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 you 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.
HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE
(Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this
article seemed 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, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing
sputum from deep inside the chest. A
breath and a cough must be repeated about every two 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 phone and, between breaths, call for help, or if possible
get to a hospital.
Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives!
From Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital via Chapter 240's newsletter
AND THE BEAT GOES ON... (reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. publication, Heart Response)