Updated
May 28, 2001

Emergency self treatment for Heart Attack
Not a medical condition you dream of getting on holiday but if you are left concious and know this, it could save your life

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If you are travelling to Africa and you should have a medical check up before you leave and take medical advice.

This advice was emailed to me along with the suggestion of telling others.

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, this article
seemed 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. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let up until help arrives, or until the heart is to begin 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.

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