In a message dated 10/23/2002 2:01:56 AM Mountain Standard Time, NJ-MEMORIES-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > Without help, the person whose heart stops beating > properly and who begins to feel faint, has only about > 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. > However, > these victims can help themselves by coughing > repeatedly and very vigorously. So-called "cough CPR" is fairly controversial, but it sure can't hurt! When I took my critical-care course, some eleven years ago, our instructor was telling all of us potential CCU/ICU nurses that if we saw a patient go into a lethal rhythm on the monitor and he hadn't yet lost consciousness, we should yell at him to cough and coach him through until he lost consciousness (in the meantime, calling a code, since CPR of any kind won't stop the lethal rhythm -- it only maintains circulation until a shock can be delivered that breaks the rhythm and restores a normal beat). Doris in Colorado (Up2Nutrix@aol.com) "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -- Jim Elliot, missionary and martyr