I had a surreal experience once. I was at a busy, casual restaurant at a booth, sitting across from my wife. There was a lady eating alone at a booth a little way behind my wife, and I noticed she looked kind of distressed - looking around like she was trying to catch a waiter - but she seemed to be getting more panicked looking and her face didn't look right. I got up and went over and said "Are you chocking?" and she looked at me with big eyes and nodded. I asked if she wanted me to try and help and she said yes and stood up. I never learned how to do the Heimlich except from TV shows, but seemed worth a try, so I did what I remembered, and she coughed up a piece of chicken. She looked really embarrassed and said "Thank you." I said I was glad to help and went back to my seat. No one in the place noticed a thing except for my wife.
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holy shit! pretty calm, glad it was chill, but you totally saved their life!!
Funny, when I sat back down, my wife just calmly said, "Did you just save that woman's life?" It was weird, we just went back to eating and never really talked about it again except when someone would mention the Heimlich and my wife would tell the story.
That was too awkwardly casual of everyone. I would've at least given you a high five!
We're such weird creatures. That woman was choking to death and she was too shy to ask for help and too embarrassed after to say much of anything.
Might have been shock on her part. I choked in a restaurant before on a peppermint and my mom saved me with abdominal thrusts but I was really shaken up afterwards from how scary it got and couldn’t really react much for a while afterwards
Same for the person I performed the heimlich on, I found it odd at the time and her daughter thanked me profusely, it was surreal. I also remember being terrified on hurting her as well as potentially being sued if I had, she was a bigger lady and really short so I had her like fully off the ground squeezing the absolute fuck out of her
What a world where I have to have that thought while trying to help
Yeah it’s quite the experience, you can’t breathe and that’s freaking you out and then you’re just airborne all the sudden and something flies out of you and then you suddenly aren’t dying anymore. It’s a trip but damn I’m glad my mom was able to react to it cos the choking part was horrifying. I’m sure the person you saved feels the same way that you were there to react to it, even if in the moment they seemed a bit dissociated.
I have the exact opposite experience. I was waiting tables at place with a stage and 500 seats, lights are out, I notice a woman is choking and I went for the heimlich, successfully dislodged something as the house lights were brought on and 500 people are staring at us.
Oh, wow. What did people do, applaud?
Right after the comedian said "well that was fucking crazy"
I could not have gotten out of that room fast enough
What did the person you helped say?
Nothing at all. Likely in shock or embarrassed or something. Her daughter thanked me quite a bit and I asked if I could grab her a water or something, I grabbed her a water, still nothing, they left after the water
Funny enough a coworker told me "you're not supposed to do the heimlich anymore"
Funny enough a coworker told me “you’re not supposed to do the heimlich anymore”
Which is funny because in both your story and mine it worked.
Yeah, it's effective, definitely more risk of damage apparently. Was kind of violent when i did it, larger shorter lady so I had to like pick her up in order to effectively pull in the right spot, I know there was probably bruising and whatnot.
I'll end up starting with the back if I ever end up doing it again, but ol reliable will be there if I need it.
To be honest, I didn't even think of anything else. I'd never done the Heimlich, wasn't trained, it just seemed like the thing to try.
thankfully all i do is blow backs. everytime i see someone i make sure to blow their back. im just back blowing nonstop. i saw your mother at the market last week and blew her back.
Not all heroes wear capes!
I’m just over here saving my wife’s life on the regular.
Fuck me I was about to question why you see so many choking people 🤣🤣
The more eyes the better and this seems to be the recommendation:
If an adult or child can still cough, cry or speak clearly, then they are still able to clear the obstruction themselves. Get them to lean forward while encouraging them to cough forcefully.
If the person goes quiet, cannot speak or cry, or can only weakly cough, you want to start with five strong back blows first. With the person bent forward at their hips, deliver firm glancing blows between their shoulder blades using the heel of your hand up to five times.
If the obstruction does not clear, switch to abdominal thrusts. Continue alternating five back blows and five abdominal thrusts until the obstruction is cleared or the person becomes unconscious.
I'm still looking for what to do if I'm alone and something happens.
The article also uses the text "In the updated guidelines, our Canadian study was cited to inform this critical change, and was the only study directly comparing different choking techniques." to link here:
https://cpr.heart.org/en/resuscitation-science/cpr-and-ecc-guidelines/adult-basic-life-support
But I see no mention of any of these directions there. If someone does, let me know where I'm scanning over.
Edit: Failing at adding an underline to signal the actual link while having the URL readable.
Edit: Added the preceding "then they are still able to clear the obstruction themselves" paragraph that I'd mostly scanned over when reading the article
I’m still looking for what to do if I’m alone and something happens.
This video is surprisingly entertaining and covers:
- You can't talk to 911 (or equivalent) if you're chocking
- Ideally go where people might see you
- How to try to dislodge what you're chocking on if no-one helps
Back when I was in Boy Scouts, we learned how to do abdominal thrusts, and how to do it to yourself. You make the same hand shape (IIRC, one hand clasped over the other with your thumb knuckles forming a triangle into the abdomin), and place your hand in the back of a chair (assuming you're near a chair, which is likely). You then press yourself into it.
I'm still looking for what to do if I'm alone and something happens.
You can do abdominal thrusts on yourself, or you can use something like the back of a chair or a railing to rest your fists on and use your body weight to basically perform the same action
If you're alone. Call 911 (or your regions equivalent) and wait outside for emergency services. Keep trying to cough while you wait. If you see anyone flag them down but don't go searching for people. I know you're looking for a self heimlich but your safest bet is to keep trying to cough and to wait for emergency services or for other help to come along. Getting the thrust you need to clear your airway, especially while starved for oxygen, is not guaranteed. So if you ever find yourself in that situation call for help. If you start choking and you're a healthy adult you'll have 3 to 5 minutes of consciousness. Use it wisely.
I had to wait 45 minutes for an ambulance when I thought I was about to die. You'll fall unconscious within 5 minutes. Die within the next 5. Even if you manage to make the call, they won't know what the hell is wrong with you because you can't talk. Learning to save yourself in that situation is extremely important, because actual first responders won't make it there on time.
that seems… atypical? in australia at least, the average response time for a code 1 (most critical) emergency is 15-16min depending on the state
which is still super problematic for complete obstruction (your 5+5min might even be too high for a complete obstruction)
but 45min would make the ambulance service as a whole basically a useless concept
the extra information is pretty important too… afaik most remediation for choking should be avoided early on because it’s actually fairly likely the person can clear the obstruction themselves, but if you time a thrust with their breath it can be very bad, and actually cause them to suck the object further in when they gasp for air
not a doctor or anyone with medical training, but i heard it at some point and it kinda makes sense
Hol up, the maneuver formerly known as Heimlich??
Was Heimlich canceled? First I've seen this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdominal_thrusts
See the History section here for some controversies. From what I remember, there is disagreement on whether he asked for the name to be changed or if institutions changed it first
Now tell me what to do when I swallow a too-large piece of potato that is also still hot, and am having a near-death experience while it's slowly making its way down.
Learn to be ok with taking the L and spit food that is too hot back out of your mouth instead of swallowing. Also, test the temperature with smaller bits that will cool inside your mouth easier before going for a big bite.
Too late. I have a hot potato piece in the esophagus right now, and the tunnel in my sight. I don't need preaching, I need urgent advice.
Water. Lots of it.
I need more information. Are the potatoes stuck in your throat mashed? Or if they aren't, are you able to get a masher in there? Might help loosen it up and make it more delicious if you add some butter and milk or heavy cream.
I get water and drink that too.
I often burn my mouth, oesophagus and hands because my tolerance for heat are greater then what my skin can handle it seems
Interesting. I was eating at a restaurant with my mom a few years ago and she accidentally inhaled a piece of food which had the same diameter as her esophagus. It was terrifying. She just pointed at her throat and had this look on her face like she knew she was going to die. She stood up, turned around, and I did what I thought was the heimlich maneuver. I must've done it right, or got lucky, but it worked flawlessly. The food came flying out. I guess we're in that 59%.
The same thing happened to my son. Luckily I had first aid training and actually knew how to do the Heimlich. I didn't know that you were supposed to do back blows first though. When I learned, they just told me to go straight for the Heimlich.
We're god's perfect creations, except accidentally running the very simple commands "swallow" and "breath" at the same time can result in a fatal error.
Don't forget the amusement park right next to the waste disposal facility.
Finally, a YSK post that actually is a YSK.
Interesting because all of my first aid instructions say not to slap people on the back. Why should I believe this over instructors and doctors?
The sources for this are also instructors and doctors, OP listed them. It sounds like this is new research and best prescribes may be in the process of changing if further research bears these findings out.
You can read the wikipedia about the abdominal thrusts that another comment linked. There's a line in there about heimlich not being 'scientific' in his pushing of the abdominal thrusts and denigration of back blows.
Evidence says begin with back blows
I don't think I can push enough air out to make a difference - even from the back.
I remember health class around 1993 we were watching a filmstrip from the 70s or early 80s, and the filmstrip told us to do the back blows before performing the Heimlich maneuver. Our health teacher then paused the video and told us NOT to do the back blows, because new research had found that back blows are more likely to push the obstruction further inwards.
I’m glad they had it right in the filmstrip!