Self CPR? It really can save your life!

I thought I was reading the National Enquirer when I read an article on this, but after checking with a certified medical cardiologist, it dawned on me that this could be really helpful for rural folks especially. Called the cough CPR, it sounds impossible but it's very true and does indeed work! If you read this please pass it on to someone else and especially anyone that may be at high risk for a heart attack. If we can save just one life, it will be worth the effort.

Let's just consider a very possible scenario, say it's late afternoon and you're driving home alone after work and you've had an unusually hard day. You're tired, upset, and frustrated both physically and emotionally. All of a sudden you start experiencing severe pain in your chest and it starts to radiate out into your arms and into your jaw. The nearest hospital is seven miles away and you really don't think you can make it that far. You've been trained in CPR, but not for yourself. Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this is what you should do. Act quickly because without help you can lose consciousness in as short as ten seconds. You can help yourself by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough and the cough should be deep and prolonged, like when you're trying to clear mucus from deep inside your lungs when you have a bad chest cold. This needs to be repeated every two seconds without letting up until help arrives or until your heart starts to beat normal again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing squeezes the heart keeping blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. This should allow you time to get to a hospital in time to save your life. Please pass this on!