HEART ATTACK ALONE (CPR given to yourself)
From F. Daniel Rochman MD
Lets say you're driving home alone, after an unusually hard day. 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 will 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, and 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 letup until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen tinto 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. Tell as many other people as possible about this, it could save their lives! From Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital via Chapters 240s newsletter AND THE BEAT GOES ON.
Testimonial from Judy 12 7 05:
After losing a close family member we found out that if you are an insulin dependent diabetic you may not feel the same symptoms (i.e. chest pain which radiates down the arm). The only symptom our family member had was chest congestion for 3-4 days prior to the massive, fatal heart attack. In talking to his doctor and ours we found out that doctors know of this but usually fail to tell patients. Thank you Judy!
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