A gentleman whom I respect recently shared an interesting story about how he “survived” a very dangerous ordeal.
One day, while sitting at work, he started experiencing a tightness in his chest. Instead of calling 911, he recruited a 19-year-old intern at his business to drive him in rush-hour traffic to the hospital. The pain was getting worse and worse, and he frantically told his young driver to “Go faster!” He started to worry he wasn’t going to make it to the hospital, but he remembered something he’d read about “self-help CPR”.
He recalled, “I was trying to use the self-CPR to stay conscious. You cough hard every two seconds. It’s supposed to massage the heart and keep it beating while you get help. People with heart attacks have been able to drive themselves to the hospital! I started doing that even though it hurt my chest – at least pain told me I was still alive.”
The pain got worse and worse, and he told the poor kid driving to go faster still, running red lights and going up onto the grass beside the road to pass other cars. My friend started to see stars, coughing all the while, figuring he’d never have the opportunity to see his family again. Suddenly everything went black.
He awoke a little while later at the hospital, being wheeled on a gurney into a checkout room. Thankful to be alive, he asked the doctor what was going on.
“We’re going to do some tests to see if what you’re having is a heart attack. It’s nice to have you back. You blacked out because you were coughing so hard and fast that you hyperventilated… not because of your heart.”
Thankfully, it turned out that my friend had NOT suffered a heart-attack. But it made me wonder, can we really give ourselves “Cough-CPR” to save our lives during a heart attack?
One of the great things about modern technology is you can look up almost anything on the internet. I went to https://urbanlegends.about.com, to check out this self-CPR idea. They report that legend of self-help CPR began with a 1999 email that was circulated which stated that you can save your own life during a heart attack by coughing.
About.com experts checked it out with a number of sources and found out that it is NOT an advisable thing to do. In fact, the American Heart Association specifically states that one should not attempt self-help CPR and that there is no validation of this particular method. On the contrary, belief in self-help CPR is dangerous because it can lead you to think it is safe to drive yourself to the hospital (even dodging traffic like my friend did).
Doctors say that the coughing procedure has only been used in very limited and experimental occasions with patients experiencing some sort of irregular heartbeats. There are no known cases where a person who was alone survived a heart attack by using Cough-CPR. In other words, if you experience intense chest pain or other symptoms of a heart attack, don’t cough! Call 911 and allow the emergency medical system to get you the kind of help you need.
*For more information on heart attacks and how to recognize the symptoms please click on the following links:
**For more information about CPR and lifesaving techniques please visit The American Red Cross.
