Posted on 02/02/2007 4:42:31 AM PST by 60Gunner
I wish I had a nickel for every patient who drove himself/herself to the hospital when they experienced chest pain and shortness of breath and wound up having a heart attack. I'd be living on my own private island in French Polynesia right now.
Note to all and sundry: if you are having chest pain, nausea, sweating, weakness, palpitations, or shortness of breath- or any combination of one or more of those symptoms- CALL 911. DO NOT DRIVE YOURSELF TO THE HOSPITAL.
This may seem silly to someone who only lives five or ten minutes away from a hospital. But if you have those symptoms, it indicates that your heart is already being starved of oxygen (myocardial ischemia). If your heart is ischemic, you may be only seconds away from that heart muscle actually dying (myocardial infarction).
Not minutes, people; seconds. All it takes to convert your chest pain from ischemia to infarct is a shift of that clot by a distance that could fit easily on the head of a pin.
If that happens while you are driving yourself to the ER, you will not only be hurting yourself. You will also harm anyone standing in the path of your vehicle as you lose control. It's happened. I encountered such a person on one of my days off when he rear-ended me at an intersection. I got out to give him a piece of my mind and ended up performing CPR. On my day off. Don't drive yourself!
And don't get a friend or loved one to drive you, either. You may avoid hitting another car when your heart stops, but your friend will be a little distracted by your agonal breathing and will have to live with the guilt forever. Don't do that to your friend or loved one.
Medic units are trained to give care within minutes of the call and to transport you to the ER safely, while providing continuing progressive care for you all the way there. They exist for this reason. USE THEM.
Oh, and here are two more good reasons to let EMS take you to the ER:
1: The Medic Unit can run through red lights without getting stopped by a policeman who doesn't know you are dying;
2: Traffic will get out of the way of the Medic Unit- one way or another.
So when you have symptoms of a heart attack, call 911. Soon, you will be traveling quickly and safely to the ER while passing the corpses of those unfortunate souls who chose to drive themselves and died on the way.
ER Nursing Ping.
Great advice.
THANK YOU 60Gunner.
A clot the size of a head of a pin? I had no idea clots that small could damage a heart - thanks for the information.
The nerve of that guy to have a heart attack on the poor doctor's day off!
This is good advice. Therefore, it must be ignored by all who are in this position.
My buddy actually got a ticket for speeding in this exact situation - literally blocks from the hospital. And he had to pay it. As it turned out it wasn't a heart attack but a rupture in his digestive system requiring immediate surgery but the judge wasn't sympathetic.
The judge told him he was endangering everyone else on the road.
I've seen ads advising to do this but hits a little more home coming from you. Thanks 60Gunner.
I would like to be added to your ping list if you don't mind. I am a Vol. Fire Fighter/ First Responder. Good advice in your post.
There you go, saving lives again!
Glad you're here, Gunner.
The clot is not the size of a head of a pin. It's the critical distance the clot can move that is so tiny.
My wife drove me to the hospital during my first heart attack and that was a mistake.
Another reason to call 911: When you arrive at the hospital by ambulance they'll see you right away. If you arrive by private car you may have to wait, and wait, and wait...
One of the most bizarre stories I heard was guy driving himself to the hospital while having an MI. He went into V tach and crashed into a retaining wall. When he hit the wall, he took the steering wheel to the chest, which defibrillated him and he came back around. True story - you can't make this stuff up.
Wow, Doctor... I had no idea that Honda made defibrillators. What will they think of next?
Maybe all the hybrid cars could double as AEDs. You turn the key and you hear, "ANALYZING NOW."
No kidding. THis was before the era of airbags, of course. I'm not sure an airbag would do the job.
I would have imagined that the guy would have been thumped back into sinus rhythm, only to die from cardiac tamponade. Wouldn't that be ironic?
You do have a way with words, sir.
But as an aside I have an ambulance story to share with you. About 10 years ago my first wife and my best friend were severely injured in a motorcycle accident and were transported to a small local hospital.
My friend was critically injured and 'coded' on the table twice, once right in front of me. My wife was cut up pretty bad but the ER folks said they were going to keep her one night and let her go. I was to go home and bring her some clothes for the night.
By the time I got home there was a message for me saying they couldn't locate a couple of her vertebrea and were going to send her to a better hospital.
So I turned around and sped back to the hospital because they said I could go with her in the ambulance.
Now most folks think an ambulance ride is at 100 miles an hour and most times it is. But this time because my wife had 3 burst fractures in her lower back they moved very, very slowly with lights and sirens.
Well believe it or not we were about half way from one hospital to the other when we got behind this woman who just froze up completely when we got behind her with the lights and sirens going.
I mean she froze like a deer in the headlights.
Of course this happened in a construction zone so there was no way to go around her.
She just sat there like her car had become the Buddha himself.
The driver got on the PA and told her to move.
Nothing.
The driver got out and started talking to her through the window.
Nothing.
Finally I got out and made some gestures which roughly translated into 'Move this *^%$**&%$ car or I'll wring your *^#$%&*(()_ neck!'
We then proceeded to the hospital at the blazing rate of 10 miles per hour.
Oh it's funny now, but at the time....
L
Good advice. I was taken to the ER by ambulance for premature atrial contractions which I mistakenly believed were symptoms of a heart attack. The second time, after getting a bill for $2,000, I drove myself. That was a mistake. I had to wait an hour before seeing a nurse. If it's important call an ambulance.
Last year my (73) year old Mom's defibrillator went of just as she touched the pump handle at a gas station. It almost knocked her down, and a kindly gentlemen finished pumping gas for her. She really thought it was static electricity.
10 minutes later while parked she was on the cell phone talking to a friend about what happened. The defibrillator hit her again, causing her to throw the cellphone down, and then hustle herself to Touro Hospital.
I have an uncle who drove to the hospital when he had chest pains and lived. The ER doctor said he was having a heart attack and that if he had been there a few minutes later, he would have died before reaching the hospital. ER could not have gotten him there sooner -- even ER admitted that. He was within a mile of the hospital.
They may not have gotten him to the hospital quicker, but they are well equipped to treat any arrhythmias (abnormal heart beats) on the way to the hospital. He also would have arrived at the ER with IV access already established, oxygen on board, and an EKG already read and transmitted so the ED physician knew before he arrived that it was a heart attack, and what part of the heart was involved. If it took more than a few minutes to stabilize and transport him, the cath lab would be ready by the time he arrived for definitive care.
The paramedics do a lot more than just drive you to the hospital. An arrhythmia is what kills you early in the heart attack, and they are well equipped to deal with any arrhythmias during transport.
NEVER DRIVE YOURSELF WHEN YOU ARE HAVING CHEST PAIN
Don't forget sex!!
My son had a seizure while we were in the car, so we just drove to the hospital figuring that was under five minutes rather than at least 20 to get an ambulance to us and then transport him. Moron at the front desk put him in line for triage with the people with sniffles! I got some attention for my son and then chewed out the desk person. The hospital staff got huffy so I called my son's neurologist, who chewed out the president of the hospital.
I work IN a hospital, and would still likely call 911 unless I was in a clinical area. I work in the dungeon of our hospital where our primary data center is located. I often work isolated and alone, and would rather have paramedics on the way if I felt such symptoms than to collapse in an isolated part of the facility with no one knowing what happened to me.
Then again, I suppose if I was near a hospital phone at the time I could always call a Code on myself.
Yes, but if you called a code at your location, how many people on the code team would know where your office was located?
Well, it depends on the context. I mean, traffic may not get out of your way, but you would certainly stop it.
It also depends on the timing. If you are having chest pain and shortness of breath before sex, don't have sex. But if you have chest pain and shortness of breath aftersex, that might be one of the side effects of said activity.
And I certainly would not advocate having sex with the Medic crews while being transported to the ER. It's a distraction, and equipment damage may result.
However, there is a correlation between sex and heart attacks. During climax, people tend to hold their breath and bear down with their abdominal muscles. This increases pressure in the chest cavity and triggers baroreceptors in the pulmonary artery. This is called the Valsalva maneuver. This stimulates the vagus nerve, which in turn tells the heart to slow down and also causes arterial dilation...
Which in turn causes the blood pressure of the beloved to fall like a wildebeest off the high dive. The poor slob then passes out. Bummer.
The partner, unaware of what is going on, may be inspired to cry "Why don you always fall asleep? Why don't you ever cuddle with me, honey? Honey? Honey...?!"
FYI, the Valsalva maneuver is not found in the Kama Sutra; but if it was, it would probably be called "Lotus blossom lapsing into unconsciousness and falling heavily onto beloved" or something like that. You're welcome. No charge for that.
Depends where you live. Some places, it might be a mistake. When my mom was pregnant with one of my brothers she was diagnosed with placenta previa and knowing she might need an emergency trip to the hospital any minute, talked to the local EMS and explained everything ahead of time. When it did come that she needed to go to the hospital, immediately, it took them so long to arrive that my dad had given up and taken her himself. And they didn't send an ambulance, they sent a paramedic in a pickup truck.
Admittedly that was an odd combination of a really good hospital ten minutes away and a really small suburban community without a lot of emergency workers, but still. People should know what their rapid response will be.
Very true. We have signs to guide people around in a very general way. They will get you to the area, but sometimes one may have to look further for a specific location. Allot of times I'm not in an office either. It's not completely unusual for me to be in a ceiling or on a roof somewhere. Of course I'm in my early 30s, but I've heard of such things happening to younger people. Having smoked for a long time(just one more day till I quit!), and having hypertension, I'm very aware of such issues. I think it may be a good idea to carry a radio around.
Wow, when did you meet my father?
[Laughing so I don't scream...]
Morons at our local hospital made my daughter go through triage twice. She hadn't been discharged. She still had an IV port in her arm. But she had been sent to a different part of the hospital for a procedure. When she returned to the ER, they made her go through triage again because there were no beds open. She had several seizures while sitting in a wheelchair waiting for a bed.
I'm going to add something to that. I used to be a volunteer EMT in a very rural area, where it could easily be a hundred miles to the nearest hospital. If you're in danger of an AMI under those circustances, you should still call EMS - we might tell you to start for the hospital and intercept you on the way. Also, we could call for a copter.
Not to be callous, but if there were no open beds, what do you expect them to do... toss someone else off of a bed to put your daughter in it?
(When my time comes, I just hope I get a ride to a hospital that doesn't have capacity problems that day!)
I had heard this name given to the method I use to equalize pressure in the middle ear when a plane is descending. But according to Wikipedia a similar method is a test of cardiac function.
Did you get a look at this woman? What was her age and appearance? She sounds like someone I know.
So you have sex to equalize the pressure in the middle ear when a plane is descending?
Wow, the things I learn on FR!
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
You know my mom?
*sigh* I won't do it again...
This is what I'm so afraid of - that I'll have something happen out in public and someone will call an ambulance for me (as they should) but I can't pay for, or even obligate myself to pay for, an ambulance at this point in my life, so I wouldn't call one myself.
Next time make a dramatic entrance, come in the ER door groaining, clutching your chest and collapse in front of the admission clerk. You will get taken directly back to the ER.
Must suck to live your city
Ride an ambulance and live
Save money and die......
I guess you could always give a fake name - like they do up here.
Joe Dokes (Pssst Maria, where is little Jose?")
ER Tech "Ah Mr Dokes, is that spelled with an 'a'?"
Joe "Que? No, I mean, yes, an 'a'."
ER Tech "Tenga por favor un asiento, un doctor estará con yu pronto"
Joe "Thanks. Uh, do I have to show insurance card? You know back home this kind of visit is free"
ER Tech "Have a nice day." Walks off.
Make those Spainish classes from high school pay off.
She had been in a post-op room with lots of empty beds. But she was told she couldn't stay there and had to go back to the ER. I think they should have kept her there until a bed became available in the ER.
How's your wife now? That idiot really shouldn't be driving. Duh. But it does now bring to light why sometimes you see the ambulance speeding and sometimes they are moving slow. I never put much thought into it.
Thanks, Gunner. Worth remembering.
Have a nice (stress-free?) weekend.
That reminds me of a scene I watched some 20+ years ago on a busy street here in my city. Some ambulance was charging down the street in a fairly heavy traffic situation, until it got stuck at the edge of a park (across from where I was standing), with some lady frozen stopped dead in front of the vehicle. The ambulance driver got on the bullhorn and blurted out, "MOVE IT, A$$HOLE !!!" and that finally did the trick. ;-D
I asked my hubby to read your post.
He was so impressed with your advice that he printed out a copy for his coworkers to read.
I think I'll do the same thing on Monday.
Thanks again.
You are welcome, Mary.
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