Heat Attack and Stroke
Stroke and Heart Attack Lifesaver Actions
This might be a lifesaver if we can remember the three questions!
Is It a Stroke?
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately,
the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain
damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now
doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
*Ask the individual to smile.
*Ask him or her to raise both arms.
*Ask the person to speak a simple sentence.
If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately
and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify
facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the
general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at
the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February. Widespread
use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke
and prevent brain damage.
Heart Attack Self Help
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10
people, you can bet that at least one life will be saved. Read this ... it could
save your 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. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy
that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.
HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without
help, the person whose heart is beating improperly 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 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 people as possible about this. It could save their lives!
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