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CPR, defibrillator work together for heart
Q: If a person is found unconscious without a heartbeat, would you perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation before attaching an automatic external defibrillator, or would the first response be to attach the defibrillator and give a shock? How many minutes can a person survive without heart function before brain damage occurs?
A: Each year, more than 300,000 people in the United States and Canada die of cardiac arrest, and most of the deaths occur outside the hospital. If people would take the time to learn CPR and how to operate a defibrillator, the number of deaths would decline. Most cardiac arrests involve ventricular fibrillation, a rapid quivering of the heart’s pumping muscles that renders them useless for pumping blood. An electric shock from the defibrillator can often restore a normal heartbeat. The American Heart Association sponsors classes in how to perform CPR and how to operate a defibrillator. Call 1-800-242-8721.
The first thing to do in the emergency you describe is to call 911. Then give the victim two breaths through the mouth while pinching the nostrils. The breaths should be strong enough to make the chest rise. Without wasting any time, begin chest compressions. The pace of compressions should be 100 a minute. After every 30 compressions, give two quick breaths.
Then, as soon as possible, apply the defibrillator pads to the chest and deliver the shock according to the directions on the machine. The shock should be given within five minutes, after which brain function deteriorates.
Chest compression is the key part of resuscitation. Some are promoting chest compression alone without delivering any mouth breaths.
Q: I need help for my irritable-bowel problem. I have pain most mornings, and it can wake me from sleep. The pain is so severe that I almost pass out. The pain doesn’t go away until I go to the bathroom.
A: Stomach pain is the hallmark of irritable-bowel syndrome, and people usually say the pain is crampy, sharp or stabbing. Often the pain is relieved by a bowel movement, and many have diarrhea or constipation. They also notice a change in the consistency and appearance of their stools.
No one knows for sure what causes the pain. It might be that an individual’s intestinal tract is extremely sensitive to the contractions of intestinal muscles, or those contractions might become uncoordinated and counterproductive.
Avoid dairy products, fatty foods, alcohol and large amounts of meat, and see if that helps. Sorbitol, a sweetener in many gums, candies and commercial baked goods, can give people with irritablebowel syndrome tract trouble.
Dicyclomine (Bentyl is one brand name) and hyoscyamine (Levsin) can sometimes calm intestinal-tract muscles. The anti-depressant amitriptyline can bring pain relief. It’s not used in this instance for its anti-depressant actions.
Your pain is extreme. I am sure you have had many tests and nothing was found. That’s true of irritable-bowel syndrome. But at this point, and with this degree of pain, it would be worth your while to get the opinion of another gastroenterologist.