In an acute attack of coronary heart disease, the patient suddenly suffers from severe chest pain, sweating profusely, or even sudden heartbeat and respiratory arrest. When this happens, family members often panic and make a mess, not only do not provide effective first aid to the patient, but even accelerate the death of the patient because of some wrong practices. Such examples are numerous. Now, let’s understand what we should and can do in case of acute attack of coronary heart disease.
Rest
Whether it is angina or myocardial infarction, the patient should first immediately stop all activities, sit down or bed rest, forbid running and calling for help or walking to the hospital. If you are outdoors, you should rest by squatting in place. Because stillness can reduce the load on the heart, thus reducing myocardial oxygen consumption and delaying necrosis of myocardial cells due to hypoxia. At the same time, the spirit should be relaxed and not overly tense. If the onset of the disease is in the wild in winter, attention should be paid to keeping warm.
Breathing smoothly
Smooth and effective breathing is especially important for patients with acute attacks of coronary heart disease. Windows should be opened immediately to keep the room air fresh. At the same time, untie the patient’s collar and remove the vomit from the patient’s mouth in time to avoid airway obstruction by accidental inhalation. Family members should also keep reassuring the patient to avoid airway spasm caused by excessive tension, which can lead to asphyxia. Oxygen can be administered through the nose immediately if possible.
Nitroglycerin
People with a history of coronary artery disease should always have emergency medication. Once angina attacks, take 1 tablet of nitroglycerin under the tongue immediately, which will be effective within 1 to 2 minutes and last for about half an hour. Or take 1 to 2 tablets of cardiac pain, which usually works in 5 minutes and lasts for 2 hours.
The onset of angina is usually relieved in a few minutes after resting and taking nitroglycerin; otherwise, the possibility of myocardial infarction should be considered. At this time, nitroglycerin tablets can be increased to 1 every 3-5 minutes, or oral coronary heart sulforaphane. Some spray preparations for acute attacks of coronary heart disease (such as isosorbide nitrate aerosol) can also be effective in a short time. If the patient is irritable, he or she can take a tablet of Valium orally, or he or she can pinch or needle the acupuncture point of Neiguan (located 2 inches above the transverse wrist line, equivalent to his or her own 3 horizontal fingers, taken between the two tendons). Of course, while doing the above treatment, you should quickly call for help to the emergency center.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
One of the most dangerous types of coronary heart attack and the most common cause of death is sudden cardiac arrest, often called sudden coronary death.
For a sudden death victim, the 4 minutes after the heart and breathing stop is the critical time for first aid. At this time, the energy in the brain has not been depleted, give timely on-site first aid, may bring the sudden death back to life; if more than 4 minutes, the brain cells can be due to severe ischemia, hypoxia and necrosis, the patient almost no possibility of survival, even if survived, most of them are vegetative.
So how to resuscitate a sudden death person on the spot?
While asking someone to call for help from the emergency center, the patient should be immediately put on his back on a wooden board. Then, carry out resuscitation according to the following steps.
(1) Open the airway
Since the tongue root of the sudden death person falls backward and blocks the entrance to the airway to varying degrees, the airway should first be opened to the patient. The method is that the first-aider is located on the patient’s side, with one hand placed on the patient’s forehead and pressed downward, and the index and middle fingers of the other hand placed on the patient’s chin (chin) and lifted upward, so that the patient’s airway is fully opened.
(2) Artificial respiration
At this time, the sudden death of the lungs have collapsed, so the first time you need to blow two mouthfuls of air, observe the chest and abdomen to have heaving. And then blowing 12-16 times per minute. Note that when blowing should pinch the patient’s nostrils closed, and mouth-to-mouth seal. Since 18% of the air blown out by the first-aider is oxygen (the atmosphere contains 21% oxygen), as long as the blowing is correct, the patient can get sufficient oxygen.
(3) External chest cardiac compressions
That is, the heart is made to beat by manual means, so that the flowing blood sends oxygen from the lungs to the brain and other vital organs. The first responder can place the root of the palm of one hand on the lower 1/3 of the patient’s sternum, overlap the root of the palm of the other hand on the back of the former hand, then tense both arms and press down with the strength of the waist to a depth of 3.5 to 4.5 cm. The frequency is 80 to 100 times per minute.
The above is what is usually called CPR. If operated by a single person, it is performed in 15:2, i.e. 15 chest compressions and 2 artificial respirations alternately;
If it is a two-person operation, the ratio is 5:1, that is, 5 chest compressions and 1 artificial respiration alternately.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation can not be stopped at will, until the arrival of the ambulance, the timely passing of the emergency “baton” to the accompanying doctor, is expected to greatly improve the survival rate of sudden death.