Surviving a heart attack when alone

Oct 18, 2018 | First Aid

Heart attacks are something that have effected all of us in one way or another, millions of Britons have lost someone to one or know someone who has fortunately survived one.

Now, let’s put you into a position where YOU’RE the one suffering a heart attack…
You’ve just got home, finished your dinner, a delicious carb-loaded meal, you’re sat in front of the television flicking from channel to channel on your own. Distracted by the stressful day at work you find it hard to focus on anything.
Suddenly you start to experience severe pain in your chest and that starts to travel into your arm and up to your jaw, you live close to the local hospital but panic has started setting in.
You’ve previously sat a first-aid course and you know how to deliver CPR but you’ve never practiced it on yourself, you didn’t even know that was possible!
Roughly, you’ll have 10 seconds after the heart attack first sets in before you lose consciousness. You can help yourself even after the heart starts beating improperly and you feel faint and your road to recovery all starts with a cough.
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 perhaps buy precious time to get themselves to a phone and dial 999. Rather than sharing another joke please contribute by broadcasting this which can save a person’s life!

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