Strange musings

[kengr]

Using a defibrillator is essentially applying "Have you tried turning it off and back on?" to the heart.

And ECT (ElectroConvulsive Theraphy) is applying it to the brain.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

I always thought that ECT was more like smacking the side of a TV to make it work...

[fayanora]

I think defibs actually work by correcting an irregular heart rhythm.

[kengr]

Fibrillation is when the heart muscle is in a weird state.

Instead of going contract... relax ... contract... relax
it's just rapidly quivering. And ignoring the normal signals that pace the beat.

A defibrillator basically dumps a whole bunch of electricity into the heart to stun it and make it quit quivering. Then with luck, it'll start paying attention to the normal signals.

Back before defibrillators, they'd basically punch you in the chest, right over the heart to try to do the same thing/

[fayanora]

Apparently it is possible, though not very likely, to get hit in the chest over your heart with like a ball or something in a way that instantly stops your heart. It has to be just the right amount of force, delivered in just the right spot at exactly the worst possible time, for it to work. But it IS something that HAS happened before, and could happen again.

[kengr]

Where do you think they got the idea of the chest thump from?

Just happened recently,, in fact

[ng_moonmoth]

Buffalo Bills (American football) defensive back Damar Hamlim was playing in his team's last regular-season game a couple of weeks ago and got a helmet to the chest at exactly the wrong instant. Got up after the play like nothing had happened -- then collapsed on the field and did not get up. Medical personnel on the sideline recognized what had happened, got him defibrillation and emergency care, and he is now out of the hospital and attended his team's playoff game yesterday.

He has a long road ahead to recovery, and will almost certainly never play again, but he is alive.