❤️ Heart Attack at Home: What to Do Immediately
Be skeptical of posts claiming that one action performed in 10 seconds can stop a heart attack. There is no breathing technique, coughing method, drink, or physical maneuver proven to stop a heart attack.
🚨 Your first priority is emergency care
If you think you’re having a heart attack:
- Call your local emergency medical service immediately. Don’t wait to see whether the symptoms disappear.
- Stop exerting yourself and sit somewhere safe.
- Unlock your door if you’re alone so responders can enter quickly.
- Don’t drive yourself. An ambulance can begin assessment and treatment while transporting you.
- If you’ve previously been prescribed nitroglycerin, use it exactly as your doctor instructed.
- Ask the emergency dispatcher about aspirin. Chewing aspirin may be appropriate for some suspected heart attacks, but it isn’t safe for everyone, including some people with aspirin allergy or active bleeding.
Know the warning signs
Possible heart-attack symptoms include pressure, squeezing, or discomfort in the chest, pain spreading to the arm, shoulder, back, neck, or jaw, shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, or unusual weakness.
Symptoms aren’t always dramatic, particularly in older adults, women, and people with diabetes.
If the person becomes unresponsive and isn’t breathing normally, call emergency services, start CPR, and use an AED if one is available.
If you’re having these symptoms right now, don’t spend time trying an internet “10-second trick”—get emergency medical help.
