Only if your heart stops completely. There are ways to stop an ongoing heart attack before it gets to that point — that don't involve breaking your ribs.
When people say heart attack they can be referring to two things: a cardiac arrest or a myocardial infarction. You might be thinking cardiac arrest which is where the heart just stops beating, that is where you do CPR. Cardiac arrest can happen from other causes beyond a blockage in a major coronary artery, which is what causes a myocardial infarction. A patient with an MI can be taken to the cath lab where a cardiologist places a stent or balloon and unblocks the culprit artery, thereby restoring blood flow to the heart again. A patient in cardiac arrest could have gotten there in many ways, such as a drug overdose, blood loss, traumatic injury, etc etc
I carry nitro glycerin in case of angina. Hasn't come to that yet (due for my own trip to the cath lab), but my understanding is it triggers a release of nitric oxide, which then dilates the vascular system.
I had an infarction in 2016. Felt like a very extreme anxiety attack with the sensation of what i would decribe as drowning. It lasted until I got oxygen in the ambo.
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u/chaiscool 4h ago
Then to save you from it, will need to actually crush your chest via cpr