Huang Xuan, a thoracic and intensivist physician, reminded that if you hear strange snoring accompanied by two major conditions, it may be a warning sign of "dying gasping" when the heart stops.
If you hear a strange snoring sound from the person next to you in the middle of the night, don't think it's just because you're sleeping too fast. Huang Xuan, a thoracic and intensivist physician, reminded that if the sound does not sound like regular snoring, but instead stagnates for a long time after taking a breath, mixed with a "gurgling" sound and painful moans deep in the throat, it may be a "death wheezing" that occurs when the heart stops. It is reminded that as long as the situation of being unable to wake up, not breathing or breathing abnormally is met, it should be immediately regarded as a cardiac arrest and the four-step life-saving SOP should be initiated.
Huang Xuan posted on Facebook that the most common fatal mistake many people make is that when the person next to their pillow snores in different ways, but when they see the occasional rise and fall of the chest and the movement of the mouth, they assume that the person is still alive and breathing, or even think that the person is just sleeping too deeply or is choking on saliva and does not take it seriously. He pointed out that in fact, this abnormal sound may be what is called "agonal breathing" in medicine.
Why is my heart still moving even though my heart has stopped? In this regard, Huang Xuan further explained that it may be caused by the following three conditions. In addition to paying attention to snoring, many patients with cardiac arrest (OHCA) will also gasp for breath when they first fall. Relatives and friends around them may misjudge, resulting in missing the golden first aid period. The reminder should also be more vigilant:
●Brainstem hypoxic residual reflex: When the heart stops and blood stops pumping to the body, the cerebral cortex loses function within a few seconds. However, the underlying brainstem respiratory center will still send out residual convulsive nerve impulses under extreme hypoxia.
●Ineffective gas exchange: This reflex affects the respiratory muscles, causing the mouth to open wide to inhale and the chest to occasionally twitch, but the lungs do not undergo normal oxygen exchange at all.
●The hidden killer of delayed first aid: Clinical studies show that up to 40%-50% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients will gasp for breath when they first fall. Because it sounds like heavy snoring or sighing, it often causes relatives and friends around you to misjudge and miss the golden first few minutes of emergency treatment.
Huang Xuan reminded that if someone suddenly collapses, you don’t need to spend too much time feeling for the pulse. It is recommended to confirm two things within 10 seconds: 1. Whether there is a reaction after tapping the shoulders and calling loudly; 2. Whether there is regular and normal breathing ups and downs in the chest. As long as the patient "cannot wake up" and is "not breathing or breathing abnormally", including wheezing, convulsive breathing or weird snoring, he should be treated as a cardiac arrest first.
In addition, Huang Xuan emphasized that you should not hesitate for a second to confirm an abnormality. In addition to keeping in mind the "Four Don's Principles": do not pinch people, do not pat the back to give water, do not try to move the patient, and do not hesitate to wait for the patient to "woke up naturally", you should immediately start the four steps of first aid: 1. Call 119 for help immediately; 2. Call someone next to you to get an automatic external electric defibrillator (AED); 3. Do not hesitate to perform CPR; 4. Continue to press until the ambulance personnel take over; in order to increase the patient's chance of survival.
