Thanks to the timely provision of first aid before the arrival of doctors, a person can save a life. Attacks of suffocation are periodic problems with difficulty breathing, which lead to acute insufficiency in the tissues of oxygen. Signs of suffocation are a change in the color of the skin (cyanosis), chest tightness, shortness of breath.
A sensation of suffocation can occur in a person suffering from bronchial asthma. If a foreign object, vomit, etc. enters the respiratory tract, it also leads to suffocation. Small children also sometimes experience asthma attacks due to the increased excitability of the larynx. An inflammatory process in the throat can also lead to paroxysmal difficulty in breathing , since laryngeal edema develops with it.
Before you begin to provide first aid for choking, you should definitely find out its cause.
In a patient with asthma, most often asthma attacks occur at night. He breathes noisily, with wheezing and whistling. Trying to alleviate the condition, the patient sits down, while leaning on his hands. A short inhalation and a long exhalation indicate that sputum and mucus cannot leave the bronchi alone - this is bronchial asthma. If it is difficult for a patient to exhale and inhale, this is cardiac asthma.
First aid for asthma suffocation in a patient with asthma is as follows: seat a person to ensure free access of oxygen. Then give him an inhaler or a tablet of aminophylline and ephedrine. With the ability to make injections, you can give the patient an injection of adrenaline. It is necessary to warm the upper and lower limbs. To do this, you can put the person’s legs in a container of hot water or apply heating pads to the legs and arms. Another option: put on the back (lower than the shoulder blades), on the sides and chest - mustard plasters.
If asthma attacks are caused due to laryngeal edema due to allergies, give the victim an antihistamine, calcium gluconate, or fifty milliliters of a 10 percent calcium chloride solution . If this does not help, call an ambulance.
If foreign bodies or liquid get into the larynx, asthma attacks can also occur. To free the airways from them, it is necessary to compress the chest of the victim, and then, if he is conscious, pat him vigorously on the back in the area of the shoulder blades. Acting in this way, we help the air remaining in the lungs to go outside and push out a foreign body that has fallen into the larynx. If the person is unconscious, put him belly down on his knee and pat on the back, as is usually recommended to do with drowning people. The baby can be taken by the legs and lifted up, while clapping on the back.
If there is no result, try putting the person on a flat surface to examine his airways. It is possible that a foreign object is visible and can be pulled out with tweezers or hands. The main thing in the case of foreign bodies entering the larynx is to act calmly and quickly, because delay can lead to irreparable.
Very often, children who are on artificial nutrition and older children may experience asthma attacks, fainting, etc. They can cause fright, coughing, laughing, crying, increased excitability of the larynx and its neuromuscular system, and getting the object into the respiratory tract.
There can be many causes of suffocation. The main thing is to have time to provide the child with first aid before the arrival of doctors. First, be sure to try to calm the baby, because when excited, the child's oxygen demand increases, and there is not enough air for suffocation. Secondly, be sure to provide an influx of fresh air (in the warm season, you can take the baby to the balcony, the street, in the cold - open the window, balcony door). Thirdly, give the preschooler a warm drink, and put a mustard plaster on his chest. You can sprinkle the breast on the face with water, pinch, slap, pat on the back, in a word, apply all the irritants to bring the baby to life. Does not help? Use ammonia, artificial respiration, tickle in the nose, twitch lightly on the tongue. Attacks of suffocation will pass if the baby succeeds in holding your breath for a long time, with the help of your manipulations, and then take a full breath. In no case do not refuse to send your child to the hospital by the doctors who arrived, because attacks can happen again.