Cardiologist debunks ‘cough CPR,’ encourages heart health conversations

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah doctors have a warning about a widely-circulated social media post that claims to offer some life-saving advice. But in reality, that advice could put your life in jeopardy.

Cough CPR is the topic of a widely circulated social media post. The post suggests coughing repeatedly and strongly, taking deep breaths in between. The idea is to keep blood flowing to the brain.

Social media post

I have attended CPR classes over the years, but was never told this…..

When you are alone and have a heart attack. What are you gonna do then ?

A rarely good post that can’t be shared often enough:
1. Take a 2 minute break and read this:

Let’s say it’s 5:25 pm and you’re driving home after an unusually hard day’s work.

2. You are really tired and frustrated.

All of a sudden your chest pains. They are starting to radiate in the arm and jaw. It feels like being stabbed in the chest and heart. You’re only a few miles away from the nearest hospital or home.

3. Unfortunately you don’t know if you can make it..

4. Maybe you’ve taken CPR training, but the person running the course hasn’t told you how to help yourself.

5. How do you survive a heart attack when you’re alone when it happens? A person who is feeling weak and whose heart is beating hard has only about 10 seconds before losing consciousness.

6. But you can help yourself by coughing repeatedly and very strongly! Deep breaths before every cough. Coughing should be repeated every second until you arrive at the hospital or until your heart starts to beat normally.

7. Deep breathing gives oxygen to your lungs and coughing movements boost the heart and blood circulation. Heart pressure also helps to restore a normal heartbeat. Here’s how cardiac arrest victims can make it to the hospital for the right treatment

8. Cardiologists say if someone gets this message and passes it on to 10 people, we can expect to save at least one life.

9. FOR WOMEN: You should know that women have additional and different symptoms. Rarely have crushing chest pain or pain in the arms. Often have indigestion and tightness across the back at the bra line plus sudden fatigue.

Instead of posting jokes, you’re helping save lives by spreading this message.

COPY (hold your finger, click on the text and select copy, go to your own page and where you normally want to write, select finger again and paste)

Experts weigh in

Dr. Blake Gardner, senior medical director of the cardiovascular clinical program for Intermountain Health, debunked the online advice.

“This is something that’s not been supported by the American Heart Association at all,” Gardner said.

The American Heart Association said there’s a reason the coughing method isn’t taught in CPR courses.

Gardner said it’s most important someone gets medical attention immediately.

He said taking an aspirin can also help, but calling 911 should be the first action taken.

“If somebody is having a cardiac arrest, it’s basically death, in an extreme emergency where you need to be able to get them to professionals as soon as possible,” Gardner said. “And for those that are on the scene, really, they need to be starting CPR.”

A heart attack and cardiac arrest are different.

“Cardiac arrest, if you’re having that you won’t know because you’ll be out immediately,” he said.

People who think they’re experiencing heart attack symptoms should also get help immediately, but this can look different in men and women.

“The traditional things that we think of are chest pain, chest heaviness, chest pressure, sometimes shortness of breath,” Gardner said.

He said women can also experience abdominal discomfort and back pain among other warning signs.

“The thing that I’ve noticed the most is that people just have a sense that something’s not right, and that’s a hard thing to put in objective terms, because it’s a very subjective type of thing,” Gardner said. “But there’s just a recognition that, hey, something’s not right here, and as the healthcare community, we’ve probably done a great disservice not recognizing that that could be heart disease, so we start going down a different pathway when they come into the healthcare community.”

This holiday season, he’s encouraging more conversation about women’s heart health.

“As we’re talking about gathering around the holidays, I think it’s important for women and men, but women especially, to talk to their family about heart disease because it may run in their family,” he said.

The American Heart Association is running the HER-story campaign with local Go Red for Women sponsor Intermountain Health to raise awareness of women’s heart disease statistics and risks.

“We’re in the process of developing a very robust women’s heart program, in fact, and having a medical director that is specific to women’s heart health,” Gardner said.

He said it’s important we understand more about what’s going on in the heart, how to prevent certain issues and give healthcare workers the education and tools to better treat the issues.

“There’s a lot of modifiable things that you can do in your life to help prevent that: blood pressure, blood sugar, weight, exercise,” Gardner said. “These are things that are extremely important, especially in women that may have a genetic predisposition to this.”

Heart disease is the number one killer in women and men, by far.

“If you ask most women what the biggest killer is, most will say quickly, well, breast cancer,” Gardner said. “It’s not even close.”

The American Heart Association said about 45% of women older than 20 have some form of cardiovascular disease. They said someone’s risk for heart disease could nearly double if their parent already has it.

Dr. Gardner said knowing if heart disease runs in the family can save lives.

“And if that’s the case, they really should be getting in contact with a certified practitioner or physician that can help them identify what that risk is and try to mitigate it as much as possible and minimize any future problems,” he said.