My grandmother would choke up every few months, coz after she lost her teeth, she would gulp food and hated dentures. A gulp too big and she’d start spasming, eyes bulging, no sound from her and well we’d all rush to grab her from behind and try to do the rib cage pressing. It worked and she finally died of cancer.
I’ve choked on food a few times, and mostly if one can make a noise a sound then you know you’re not really choking. Except a couple of months ago, I choked on sth. hot. It burned my throat and couldn’t be dislodged and there was no one at home and I began to panic, a few seconds later with hot food in my throat and no sound emanating from it, I jumped. I just hopped a few times and the morsel went inside and it was uncomfortable, but tears rolled down my eyes and all was well. I don’t know if you’re supposed to jump while choking. But I had stood up and couldn’t writhe so I jumped. :loco:
My 1st girlfriend to be 20 years later - when she was 2 or 3, choked on a crust of dry bread that her mother gave to her when being busy in the kitchen. Being raised in a family of 9 and only the father working, there was no money for fresh bread each day, nor milk to soak it in.
Kid turning from red to blue already, her mom failed to get it out by hand so she used scissors. Kid survived but as of that day, my GF lived her life without a Uvula (accidentally cut out by mom ) and as she was not brought to the hospital, insufficient oxygen provision gave her brain injuries.
This brain damage - resulting in delayed actions /judgement /responses - might have been a partial contributor to her death many years back when she crashed her car- avoiding an obstacle on the road.
Very good idea to post a link to the Heimlich maneuver.
I was a full-time lifeguard for five years and choking was a not-uncommon issue in the pool (most often caused by people eating just before going for a swim). However, and somewhat interestingly, we were never taught the Heimlich maneuver, instead being taught a less-extreme method (a hard slap in-between the shoulder blades, basically). As suggested by divea’s story, I think shaking the item lose is often enough for your body to manage the rest. It’s kind of described here, and is a lot less scary if you want to help but don’t feel confident carrying out the Heimlich maneuver: firstaid.webmd.com/choking-treatment
You’ll notice that the Heimlich maneuver is recommended if that doesn’t work though.
Another thing to note is that the more the body panics, the worse it is, as things tend to close up even more when this happens. I once had to save a guy who was choking in the pool and managed to sort him out just by getting him to relax. Of course this is easier said than done once you can’t breath, ha.
