If everyone who gets this sends it to 10 people, you can bet that we'll
save at least one life.
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 your 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. -----Wendy Forsyth
HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE
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. Deep breaths 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!
From Health Cares, Rochester General Hospital via Chapter 240s newsletter
AND THE BEAT GOES ON ... (reprint from The Mended Hearts, Inc. publication,
Heart Response)