First aid for asphyxia

A sharp restriction of oxygen supply to the body causes asphyxia or suffocation. With a lack of air in the body and a delay in the removal of carbon dioxide from it for a long time, various anomalies can occur in the work of many systems and organs. The central nervous system, cardiovascular and respiratory systems of the body suffer from a lack of oxygen more often and more than others. When asphyxia occurs, it is urgent to eliminate the causes of its occurrence and provide first aid to the victim before the arrival of doctors.

Types of asphyxia

According to the type and nature of the factors limiting breathing, asphyxia can be conditionally divided into mechanical, toxic and compression. With mechanical asphyxia, the flow of air into the respiratory system stops due to compression of the airways by some object or edema that has entered them. So in drowned people, mechanical asphyxia is noted.

With the toxic form of asphyxia, the cessation of air intake is associated with exposure to substances that negatively affect the human body, which weaken the ability of the circulatory system to carry oxygen and depress the respiratory muscles. Toxic asphyxia can be caused by medicines, drugs, poisonous substances, bites of various insects. Compression or traumatic asphyxia can occur when various organs are injured during traffic accidents, collapses of structures, and other things.

Causes and symptoms of suffocation

Sometimes choking can occur in unconscious states, when the tongue sinks into the pharynx and begins to interfere with the normal penetration of air into the lungs. Under the influence of high doses of various drugs, the respiratory muscles can spasm or relax too much.

The same thing often happens with some diseases, for example, with bronchial asthma, allergic reactions, false croup, pathologies of the nervous system. It is also difficult for a person to breathe with tumors in the trachea, in the bronchi or in the larynx. If a person has prolonged convulsions for one reason or another, this can also contribute to asphyxia. Some working professions also cause a person to go through moments when his breathing can be stunted, which often occurs underground for miners or underwater for divers.

The symptoms of suffocation are largely dependent on the cause that causes it. The most common symptoms of asphyxia include:

• with bronchial or cardiac asthma – the occurrence of noises, whistling during breathing, wheezing in the lungs before the onset of suffocation and the release of mucus and sputum after it ends;
• with an allergic reaction – frequent grasping of air by the mouth, redness of the skin of the face, swelling of the neck;
• with compression suffocation – bruises, wounds, abrasions in the area of ​​uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe human respiratory system.

All asthma attacks can be diagnosed in advance. Anxiety should be caused by bouts of dizziness, darkening in the eyes, shortness of breath. At the same time, in a person who complains of such symptoms, it is necessary to consider the color of the skin, measure his pulse and pressure, and study the movement of the respiratory muscles of the chest. At the same time, the doctor must listen to the lungs and determine the presence of wheezing in them, sometimes blood saturation is determined.

First Aid

Before providing first aid for asphyxia, it is very important to determine its cause, otherwise it will not be possible to help a person. The patient should be reassured by all possible means so that he does not interfere with subsequent actions aimed at providing first aid.

In the presence of mechanical asphyxia, an object that has entered the respiratory system should be tried to remove it outward. This is done by the Heimlich method, when the rescuer is located behind the patient, clutches the chest of the choking hand in the lock and compresses the diaphragm with sharp squeezing movements. Such shocks help to remove accumulated air from the lungs, which, with its mass, helps, in turn, push the stuck object out.

In case of an allergy or an attack of bronchial asthma, the victim is released from tight clothing, taken to fresh air.

For allergies, it is appropriate to give a person an antihistamine, a warm liquid to drink, which will speed up the elimination of the allergen from the body. In case of asthma, the legs of a choking person should be placed in heat, and it is advisable for the person himself to drink aminophylline.

In case of mechanical asphyxia, it is urgent to release the body of the victim of objects that prevent his normal breathing. If at the same time the patient has lost consciousness, and his pulse is not heard, it is important to urgently perform artificial respiration and chest compressions.

Before this, the victim is laid on his back, his head is thrown back, and his chin is raised up – this will allow the tongue not to block the larynx.

If a person regularly has asthma attacks that are not associated with mechanical causes, he needs medical supervision and therapy. Such symptoms are the result of serious diseases, the uncontrolled course of which can lead to irreparable consequences.

After providing first aid, you should urgently contact a specialist to find out the true causes or consequences of asphyxia for the body. The doctor must exclude the occurrence of suffocation due to tumors in the trachea, larynx or bronchi, heart failure and other serious pathologies. With obvious symptoms of suffocation, it is imperative to visit a pulmonologist, allergist or cardiologist.

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