Thread: What to do if you have a heart attack

Forwarded to me. Might be useful to know :



Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to drag 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.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help,the person whose heart is beating improperly 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 hospital.

I'll try to remember that if I ever have one....well, assuming there is time between clutching my chest and my lifeless body hitting the floor.

So if you have TB then there's a good chance you'll survive the heart attack.

Originally Posted by Bangyai

However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.

Thanks. Did you check to verify the advice?

Originally Posted by Frankenstein

Thanks. Did you check to verify the advice?

No, but I thought the persistant cough would help. Perhaps smokers can take heed of Mr Bangyai's post also ? Carry on puffing boys, or should I say coughing ?

Actually, this advice has been proven to be an urban myth and total bollox. What typically happens in a heart attack is that you drop stone dead on the floor. Coughing is the least of your concerns (for the 0.0001 seconds that you are conscious prior to pegging out)

Simon

Remember it this way.

Start coughing and stop the coffin

snopes.com: Cough CPR end of thread

I'm old school on this one. Fall to the floor and flounder like a fish.

It's not going to do any harm coughing, so better than nothing.

Originally Posted by keda

It's not going to do any harm coughing, so better than nothing.

Shouting 'HELP' would be better, similar actions ?

Originally Posted by superman

snopes.com: Cough CPR end of thread

Yep, that just about nails it. I'll return that link to the person who forwarded me the email in the first place.

As it happens, I once saw a person have a heart attack in one of the car parks at Heathrow airport. I was waiting by a lift with several other passengers and their baggage trolleys when one of them just keeled over grabbing his chest. There was about 1 seconds warning in which I think he uttered ' Oh dear ' and then he was sprawleds out on the deck shaking in a spasm. Some of the other people tried to help but I had a flight to catch and didn't see if he pulled through.

I thought about it afterwards and reflected how it must feel to know something is very wrong but not knowing if there was something you could do to help in the bit of time available. Here's what the American Heart Association encourages you to do :

The American Heart Association encourages you to:

1. Recognize the warning signs.
2. Take immediate action, including calling 9-1-1.
3. Begin CPR, using a combination of rescue breaths and chest compressions.
4. Get early access to automated external defibrillation (AED).

The signs of sudden cardiac arrest are:

• Sudden loss of consciousness
• Loss of responsiveness (no response to stimulation)
• Absence of normal breathing

I guess if you've already lost consciousness calling 911 could be problematical.

More usefully :

Heart Attack Warning Signs
Here are some of the signs that can mean a heart attack is happening.

• Chest discomfort - Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and come back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body - Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath - This feeling often comes along with chest discomfort. But it can occur before the chest discomfort.
• Other signs - These may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

If you or someone you're with has chest discomfort, especially with one or more of the other signs, get help quickly (within five minutes).
Call 9-1-1. Get to a hospital right away. Calling 9-1-1 is almost always the fastest way to get life-saving treatment


Yep......get help quickly.... Of course if you're living out in the boonies in your girlfriends village the kind of help you're going to get might only be a bunch of the locals who will stare and gawk you back to life....at least until the first vendors turn up to block ambulance access....then they might drift away to eat.

All in all it looks like if you're having a heart attack the best thing to do is get your head down between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye.

However :

2003 update: In September 2003, four years after this email rumor began circulating, Polish physician Tadeusz Petelenz presented the results of a study which he said demonstrates that cough CPR can indeed save the lives of some heart attack victims. While not immediately embraced by all the members attending the European Society of Cardiology meeting where Petelenz spoke, the findings were characterized by some as "interesting." At least one heart specialist, Dr. Marten Rosenquist of Sweden, found fault with the study, objecting that Petelenz had presented no evidence that the subjects had actually experienced cardiac arythmias. He called for further research. Read more...


Probably best to just keep kissing your arse goodbye until the further research is
concluded.

Keep a car battery with you at all times, then lick in times of heart attack.

Beats coughing.

Originally Posted by Chairman Mao

Keep a car battery with you at all times, then lick in times of heart attack.

Beats coughing.

Will a motorcycle battery do ? Less bulky.

True story told to me by the owner, I was working in a nursing home, one of the residents, a blind lady rang her emergency bell, her visitor had had a heart attack and died while making love to her, in that split second I guess he was too much of a gentleman to cough or she would have ended up pregnant, I don't know how long she waited before realising something was wrong.

They have started to sell "home heart starters" probably the best solution if you want to help people who get a heart attack.

Back in my home country they are quite expensive still though, converted about 75.000 thb. but neighbours could on estates could get together and get one, place it most convenient for everybody in a locked box with everyone getting a key.

They are saving many life's, have been placed on public places for a while back home and have been very effective.

Looks like this-



Have been threads on here for past few months. But this one , funny as all hell. Great morning heart starter!

If you're a young bloke then let us know in another 40 years if it's still funny.

I wish! Maybe in 10 years, but until then....

I had a heart attack about 12 years ago – I was wandering up a mountain in New Zealand –it started as a mild upper abdomen pain - I thought I had indigestion and kept trying to walk. Then I went into shock and kept getting more pain spreading to my arms and jaw. A couple of the guys I was with went down for help and a few hours a rescue chopper winched me off – dropped me on top of the hospital.
For me it was very much like indigestion – started with minor discomfort in the same place you get normally indigestion and over several hours got progressively worse.
If you’re over 40 any chest pain should be checked out. Quickly.