As a heart attack victim stops breathing, a process of irreversible brain damage begins within the first three or four minutes. Or if?
Years ago, while researching heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrest cases, I came across an article in Newsweek magazine about a boy drowning in freezing water. Despite being submerged for over half an hour, he was pulled from the frozen river, resurrected, and lived to make a full recovery. He was not brain damaged, and I was wondering how this could happen.
My investigations focused on how some people can apparently drown in cold water, cause their heart to stop beating (as in acute myocardial infarction or cardiac arrest), stop breathing, and then resuscitate, sometimes for up to an hour. later, fully recover and not experience any brains. damage.
I was wondering if a person’s chance of surviving a heart attack without brain damage could be extended past the 4-minute mark, like being submerged in cold water.
My research focused on why there is a delay in brain damage and brain death in cold water drowning victims and might transfer to heart attack victims.
Brain damage
An 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 in the brain is caused by an internal event such as a heart attack or acute myocardial infarction, it is considered a hypoxycischemic injury or IIH. The most common cause is cardiac arrest.
Research Driven
I became 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 submerged in cold water at the first signs of cardiac arrest?
What if… we could trigger this delayed brain damage in the event of an acute myocardial infarction by placing the victim in a cold shower? What if… that delayed the onset of a hypoxic brain injury? What if… there was something we could do to delay brain death in heart attack victims, like cold water drowning…
The real question remained: in an emergency, can the delay of brain damage in cardiac arrest victims be extended?
If this were possible, to delay brain damage beyond four minutes, it would allow critical additional time before brain damage began to occur to allow emergency personnel to reach heart attack victims and perform CPR, chest compressions 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 his choices of what he can do would be very poor without this kind 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 up at night for years.
I kept thinking about it and thinking about it: what is it about cold water that slows brain damage? Can this 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 of 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 slow brain damage in cold water drowning victims. But that’s not the specific reason cold-water drowning victims survive up to an hour without brain damage.
The specific reason that 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 victims who drown in cold water without brain injury or HAI.
My research also found that the specific trigger point for initiating the diving reflex is facial immersion in cold water. Only the face. Cold water, just on the face, triggers all this reflex.
Assumption:
When the oxygen supply to a person’s brain is interrupted by a heart attack or acute myocardial infarction, I believe it is possible to delay the onset of brain damage by activating the mammalian diving reflex.
The Dobkin Technique for triggering the diving reflex is to apply cold, 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 below) to the victim’s face specifically covering the eyes.
The eyes, the ophthalmic nerve, is the exact trigger point to initiate the diving reflex and delay the onset of brain damage previously thought to occur within 3-4 minutes of brain oxygen deprivation.
The most apparent and immediate application for starting the Dobkin Technique is to slow brain damage in heart attack victims. Heart attacks are the fourth leading cause of death in the US Using the Dobkin Trigger to initiate the diving reflex would extend the 3 or 4 minute window of safety by delaying brain damage and brain death by up to half an hour, perhaps increasingly in victims of heart attacks.
The Dobkin Technique for delaying brain death in heart attack victims will also work on victims of suffocation (choking), electrocution, drug overdose, warm water drowning (which does not trigger this reflex), chest trauma – all of these people could benefit from This Easy to use, buy time procedure of a simple cold wet 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 non-invasive and easy-to-do procedure that saves time to delay brain damage. It can be explained over the phone. The procedure can be done by someone who is not trained; or for a child.
Please help. Report to the writer any cases of cold water drowning or the application of the Dobkin technique to delay brain damage; we will make sure to publish all the results.
You can make a real difference. Here and now. Pass it on. Publish this article on your website. Forward this article to family and friends, 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.
