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Newsroom Chapter Blog
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Jan
23
1/23/2009 11:22 AM
Yesterday, a colleague here at the Red Cross told me about something his wife heard on the radio: the theory that if you start having a heart attack and you are alone (say, while driving in the car) you can “cough” your heart back into a normal rhythm. It’s commonly called “Cough CPR,” although, it really isn’t anything like standard CPR, since it doesn’t involve chest compressions.
It’s an interesting concept. I’ve heard of people being able to give themselves abdominal thrusts while they are choking, but never self-CPR.
As you can imagine, here at the Red Cross, we don’t endorse Cough CPR. It seems the only instances where self-initiated CPR has worked at in limited clinical situations, where the patient has a cardiac monitor and the heart attack is recognized before the patient loses consciousness. From the Red Cross Stance on Cough CPR:
“To date, there is insufficient scientific research concerning the efficacy of Cough CPR. Therefore, American Red Cross cannot advocate teaching the technique until it has been thoroughly tested in national studies and found to be effective.”
Even snopes.com has tried to de-bunk this perpetual myth. It appeared online with a vengeance in 2004, but now it might be coming back. The dangerous part is that some doctors say in some cases, coughing forcefully could have the opposite effect – and cause more damage.
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