According to the National Safety Council’s fact book, “Injury Facts 2014,” choking is the eighth leading cause of unintentional injury deaths. Foods are responsible for most choking incidents. Choking can cause a simple coughing fit or something more serious like a complete block in the airway, which can lead to death. A few simple behaviors can keep you and your loved ones from choking, such as chewing food slowly and not drinking too much alcohol.
A choking person’s airway may be completely or partially blocked, so that not enough oxygen reaches the lungs. A complete blockage is a medical emergency. A partial blockage can quickly become life threatening if the person cannot properly breathe in and out. Without oxygen, permanent brain damage can occur in as little as four to six minutes. The universal distress signal for choking is grabbing the throat with the hand, but rapid first aid for choking can save a life.
Choking in older adults
In older adults, having dentures and difficulty with swallowing can increase their risk of choking. Older adults who live alone may not have the help they need if they choke. A choking adult will be coughing or gagging, wheezing, may pass out or turn blue.
Warning signs
Occasionally an object will enter the lung. While the person may appear to improve and breathe normally, in a few days symptoms may develop that include: persistent cough, pneumonia and wheezing. Instead of the object being expelled, these are possible signs that show the object entered a different part of the body.
The causes could be a number of factors, which include: eating too fast, failing to chew food well enough, eating with improperly fitted dentures, drinking alcohol (even a small amount of alcohol affects awareness), being unconscious and breathing in vomited material, breathing in small objects and having enlarged tonsils or tumors of the neck and throat. Other danger signs include: bluish skin color, difficulty breathing, inability to speak, loss of consciousness if blockage is not cleared, noisy breathing or high-pitched sounds while inhaling, and weak, ineffective coughing.
What if someone is choking?
If someone is choking, call 911 immediately. If you can, use CPR or perform the Heimlich maneuver. Even after someone stops choking, it is very vital for that person to seek medical attention.
The Heimlich maneuver is a significant tool to have to combat choking. Named after Dr. Henry Heimlich, the surgeon who first described the procedure in 1974, this first aid procedure treats upper airway obstructions by foreign objects. The Heimlich maneuver is an emergency technique for preventing suffocation and can be used safely on both adults and children, but most experts do not recommend it for infants less than 1 year old. You can also perform the maneuver on yourself. Some estimates claim since this technique was created it has saved more than 100,000 lives in the U.S.
To perform the Heimlich maneuver, first ask, “Are you choking? Can you speak?”. If the person is coughing forcefully and is able to speak, do not perform this procedure on that person because a strong cough can dislodge the object. Stand behind the person and wrap your arms around the person’s waist. Make a fist with one hand. Place the thumb side of your fist just above the person’s navel, well below the breastbone. Grasp the fist with your other hand. Make quick, upward and inward thrusts with your fist. Continue these thrusts until the object is dislodged or the victim loses consciousness.
If the person loses consciousness, lower the person to the floor. Call 911 or the local emergency number or tell someone else to do so. Begin CPR. If you see something blocking the airway, try to remove it.
If the person who is choking is pregnant or obese, wrap your arms around that person’s chest. Place your fist on the middle of his/her breastbone between the nipples. Make firm, backward thrusts. After removing the object that caused the choking, keep the person still and get medical help. Anyone who is choking should have a medical examination. Complications can occur not only from the choking but also from the first aid measures that were taken.
For more information, visit www.nsc.org or call (800) 621-7615. For more information about how to perform CPR and the Heimlich maneuver, visit the National Institutes of Health’s website www.nlm.nih.gov.
