First Aid for Chest Pain

Chest Pain First Aid

There can be many problems related to chest pain. Chest pain can occur as a result of stress, indigestion or even heart attack. It is difficult to tell the actual reason for chest pain. If a person is suffering from heart attack, he/she may get the signs, days or even weeks before it actually happens. Below are the symptoms of heart attack and first aid tips to follow.

Causes of Chest Pain

• Any problem related to the heart
• Asthma
• Anxiety
• Ulcers in the stomach or Indigestion
• Inflammation in the lungs
• Stress
• Gall bladder stones
• Rib muscle strain

Symptoms for Heart Attack

• The person may experience severe squeezing pain in the center of the chest that may last for a couple of minutes.
• The pain may spread to the neck, arms or shoulders.
• Sweating, lightheadedness, nausea and fainting are signs of heart attack.

First Aid for Chest Pain - Heart Attack

Contacting Someone - If you have a chest pain that is for more than 5 minutes, it can be a heart attack. The first thing is to get in touch with a friend and ask him/her to drive you to the hospital. In extreme situations only you should think of driving.

Chewing Aspirin - Immediately chew aspirin. This reduces the clotting of blood and helps the blood to flow through the arteries that gets narrowed because of the attack. There are some people who are allergic to aspirin, so they should avoid it. They can rather take another blood thinning medication.

Take Nitroglycerin (only if prescribed)- If you get a sudden chest pain and its confirmed that it’s a heart attack, then you can take nitroglycerin if your doctor has prescribed it. Do take only your nitroglycerin as directed.

Start CPR if it’s a Heart Attack- If the person has a heart attack and is unconscious, then immediately call the ambulance. In the mean time you may have to do the CPR by putting your hand one on top of the other and pushing fats and hard on the chest (compressions). You need to give 100 compressions every minute.

Therefore, there are many reasons for a chest pain and if you know the reason follow the above first aid procedure for chest pain and you can save a person. Do remember to stay calm and do not panic.