If you are on your own when your heart starts playing up:

[David Morton]

I have been sent this as a valuable piece of information. Make of it what you will.


Let's say it's 6.15pm and you're going home (alone of course), after
an unusually hard day at work. You're really tired, upset and frustrated.

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. Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives!!

A cardiologist says If everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10
people, you can bet that we'll save at least one life.

Rather than sending jokes please...... Contribute by forwarding this mail
which can save a person's life....If this message comes around you more
than once.....please don't get irritated......YOU need to be happy
that you are being reminded of how to tackle....Heart attacks....AGAIN...

 

[Jim Rosenthal]

Well, there is quite a bit of truth to this, as follows:

One of the problems we treat in the ER (Casualty/Receiving to you folks over there) is a cardiac dysrhythmia called supraventricular tachycardia, which is a very rapid abnormal rhythm typically at about 180 beats per minute. This isn't good for the heart, or the person that the heart is inside of, so we have a variety of ways to slow it down. In most cases we use a drug called Adenocard, which is intravenous adenosine. One of the effects of this drug is a momentary cardiac standstill- no beats at all. This usually lasts a second or two. When you're at the bedside waiting for things to start up again, it's a long second or two.

So what we do before we give the drug is coach the patient to deep-breathe and cough on command. What this does is that each time the patient coughs, it raises the pressure in the chest momentarily and drives enough blood up into the brain to keep the patient conscious for a few seconds. Each deep breath draws blood into the central circulation- each cough drives it out. Kind of like auto-CPR. It also give the patient something to do and to pay attention to. It can be a long two seconds when your heart is figuring out how to beat again.

 

[David Morton]

Thank you Jim.

 

[Jim Craik]

David, Jim

Thanks for the very good info, I will pass this on to friends!

 

[David Morton]

Indeed Jim.
I didn't know about this and I was in that situation for about 45 minutes.
Please - everyone - pass it on.
Dave

 

[BenL]

Snopes.com quotes sources that say that the "Cough CPR" procedure can kill you if you're not under a doctor's supervision when you do it.

Instead they quote doctors that say it's better to call for an ambulance and then take some aspirin.

snopes.com: Cough CPR

 

[David Morton]

Ben,
If all else fails and I'm on my own and I'm not near or can't find my phone (a frequent occurrence for some of us) and I can't get to a supply of aspirin (at the other end of the house) I would ignore that advice. It's judgements made on the day and I certainly had that sort of a day in June 2007.