Heart attack: delayed brain death in victims of cardiac arrest

When a heart attack victim stops breathing, irreversible brain damage begins to occur within the first three to four minutes. Now, right?

Years ago, while researching heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest, I came across an article in Newsweek magazine about a boy drowning in icy waters. Despite being submerged for over half an hour, he was pulled out of the frozen river, resurrected, and lived to make a full recovery. He had no brain damage and I wondered how this could happen.

My research focused on how some people can apparently drown in cold water, cause their heart to stop beating (as in an acute myocardial infarction or cardiac arrest), stop breathing and, after resuscitation, sometimes up to an hour afterwards, fully recover and experience no brain. hurt.

I was wondering if the chance of a person surviving a heart attack without brain damage could extend beyond the 4 minute mark, as if immersed in cold water.

My investigations focused on why there is a delay in brain damage and brain death in cold water drowning victims and it could be transferred to heart attack victims.

Brain damage

Injury to the brain occurs when blood flow is interrupted. It’s called hypoxic-anoxic brain injury or “HAI.” Hypoxic means partial lack of oxygen, anoxic means total lack of oxygen.

When oxygen deprivation to the brain is caused by an internal event such as a heart attack or acute myocardial infarction, it is considered a hypoxicischemic injury or IIH. The most common cause is cardiac arrest.

Driven by research

I was curious … Every day I thought “What if?”

What if … we could delay brain death by submerging the heart attack victim in cold water?

What if … in an emergency, a victim could be placed in cold water at the first signs of cardiac arrest?

What if … we could trigger this delay in brain damage in the event of an acute myocardial infarction by placing the victim in a cold shower? What if … that would delay the onset of a hypoxic brain injury? What if … there was something we could do to delay brain death in heart attack victims, such as cold water drownings …

The real question remained: in an emergency, can the delay of brain damage be extended in victims of cardiac arrest?

If this were possible, delaying brain damage beyond four minutes would allow critical additional time before brain damage began to occur to allow emergency personnel to reach heart attack victims and apply CPR, compressions thoracic or other therapy.

What if … you lived in the country and your spouse had a heart attack and you didn’t know CPR? Would immersion in cold water delay the onset of brain damage? Because your choices of what you can do would be very bad without this type of option. You could call for help or an ambulance, then you could look. Sorry if this doesn’t sound good, but that’s the reality.

The questions kept me awake at night for years.

I kept thinking about it and thinking about it: what about cold water that delays brain damage? Can it be used on heart attack victims? What if … if it worked? How many lives would it save.

I spent nights, weekends, and the following summers in the libraries at the Philadelphia Medical Hospital. Research days and nights. Until I discovered the answer. And here it is.

Here’s how to slow brain damage in heart attack victims.

My research on cold water drowning victims showed that the hypothermia created by cold water helps delay brain damage in cold water drowning victims. But that’s not the specific reason cold water drowning victims survive for up to an hour without brain damage.

The specific reason cold water drowning victims survive without brain damage is due to the activation of a natural reflex called the Mammalian Diving Reflex. This oxygen-conserving reflex, found in all mammals, is responsible for delaying brain death and saving the lives of cold water drowning victims without brain injury or HAI.

My research also found that the specific trigger point for initiating the dive reflex is a facial immersion in cold water. Only the face. Cold water, just on the face, triggers this whole reflex.

Hypothesis:

When the oxygen supply to a person’s brain is interrupted by a heart attack or acute myocardial infarction, I believe that it is possible to delay the onset of brain damage by activating the diving reflex of mammals.

The Dobkin Technique for activating the dive reflex is to apply cool, wet compresses TO the victim’s FACE. When a person has a heart attack and stops breathing, immediately apply cold water, cold wet towels, or cold compresses (58 degrees or colder) to the victim’s face, specifically covering the eyes.

The eyes, the ophthalmic nerve, is the exact trigger point for initiating the diving reflex and delaying the onset of brain damage previously thought to occur within 3 to 4 minutes after oxygen deprivation to the brain.

The most apparent and immediate application for initiating the Dobkin technique is delaying brain damage in heart attack victims. Heart attacks are the fourth largest cause of death in the US Using the Dobkin trigger to initiate the dive reflex would expand the 3-4 minute safety window by delaying brain damage and brain death for up to half an hour, maybe more in heart attack victims.

The Dobkin Technique to delay brain death in heart attack victims will also work in victims of suffocation (suffocation), electrocution, drug overdose, drowning in warm water (which does not trigger this reflex), chest trauma – all of these people could benefit from this. Easy-to-use procedure that saves time with a simple cold damp towel or cold water compress on the face to delay the onset of brain damage.

Can you help. You can help a lot. Just keep in mind that you can save someone’s life by initiating the Dobkin Technique – the immediate application of cold water or cold wet towels to the face of a heart attack victim in an emergency.

The Dobkin Technique is a simple, non-invasive time buying procedure to delay brain damage. It can be explained over the phone. The procedure can be done by someone who is not trained; or by a child.

Please help. Report any cases of drowning with cold water or the application of the Dobkin technique to delay brain damage to the writer; we will make sure to publish all the results.

You can make a real difference. Here and now. Pass it on. Post this article on your website. Forward this article to family and friends, to anyone you care about. This simple technique can save someone’s life. Perhaps the life of someone you know or the life of one of their children. Thank you.