Defibrillators paddles literally do that exact thing. They don’t restart your heart like on TV; they *stop* it to end dangerously fast/arhythmic beating and let the heart reset itself. (Hopefully. You were about to die anyway, what do you want?)
I was about to complain about the order of “on and off” as obviously! it should have been “off and on” but apparently, Adam was right in the first place.
Actually there are cases where “pulling the plug” can cause the body’s response to awaken people in coma’s (this… isn’t the magical cure people might think it is though, and is pretty rare). And ECT is basically an attempt to perform a reset in the brain (and yes, it is still used, and no, it isn’t nearly as barbaric as it is portrayed in common media). Weirdly, a lot of medical procedures have similarities to IT diagnosis, main difference is humans are WAY more complex, we know less about how they work (even though we’ve had them longer :P), and because of that whole… ethics thing, mistakes are much much less forgiveable, so, hopefully, your doctor will be more inclined to research side effects and potential hazards before he tries trepanning with you.
Melinda May, Agents of Shield this season — they did exactly that. Killed her — not just stopping the heart but momentary brain death — on purpose, then shocked her back to life, in order to rid her of a terrible illness that was wrecking her brain. I think it was even described as ‘rebooting’ her.
A stopped heart is just cutting off the fuel supply, but the system stays running on stored energy for a while; brain death is when that energy runs out and brain cells themselves kick it. How do you shock a dead brain back into functionality? Nerve tissue doesn’t regrow so what’s gone is gone.
That’s why most of the time on TV when they use the paddles to start a heart beating (incorrect usage, as noted in earlier posts), what they should be doing is chest compressions to force the heart to beat and provide oxygenated blood to the brain so that doesn’t happen.
Yeah they didn’t just use paddles (or compressions) to restart her heart, they were restarting her brain too, after having stopped her heart and left her “dead” for long enough that things were really shutting down. They had a strict time frame — too soon and they wouldn’t clear the illness, too long and she’d be un-retrievable. This is sci-fi, using advanced tech that doesn’t exist in the real world, and they knew that it might not even work and that even if it did the damage might be too severe anyway etc.
There is a drug called adenosine that is literally the equivalent of “turn it off and turn it back on again”. It is given for super ventricular tachycardia (which is when your heart rate is extremely elevated at rest). It has a very short half-life (once it hits the bloodstream it only works for about 10 seconds). It disrupts the electrical conduction of the heart and actually stops the patient’s heart for a short while in the hopes that when it restarts the heart rate will be normal.
They’ve done that to my mom a couple times. She inherited a condition that occasionally rockets her heart rate to 120-180bpm for sometimes more than half a day. I didn’t know what the chemical they used was, good info.
There are also fun medicines that essentially kill you, then bring you back to life (if you use both of them, obviously). It stops some pretty nasty system malfunctions.
And “sending someone to a specialist” is basically like handing the computer off to someone else to deal with. 😀
I actually tried that once. Hit an old lady on the head after surgery so she’d wake up faster. Didn’t work though.
(Ok, I didn’t hit her, I just dropped the operating table remote on her head, but same difference)
Defibrillators paddles literally do that exact thing. They don’t restart your heart like on TV; they *stop* it to end dangerously fast/arhythmic beating and let the heart reset itself. (Hopefully. You were about to die anyway, what do you want?)
It’s pretty cool.
I was about to complain about the order of “on and off” as obviously! it should have been “off and on” but apparently, Adam was right in the first place.
Jeez. Education.
Was about to say this exact same thing… dang.
Actually there are cases where “pulling the plug” can cause the body’s response to awaken people in coma’s (this… isn’t the magical cure people might think it is though, and is pretty rare). And ECT is basically an attempt to perform a reset in the brain (and yes, it is still used, and no, it isn’t nearly as barbaric as it is portrayed in common media). Weirdly, a lot of medical procedures have similarities to IT diagnosis, main difference is humans are WAY more complex, we know less about how they work (even though we’ve had them longer :P), and because of that whole… ethics thing, mistakes are much much less forgiveable, so, hopefully, your doctor will be more inclined to research side effects and potential hazards before he tries trepanning with you.
was going to point out they do exactly this for somethings they literally KILL YOU then they restart you…
Melinda May, Agents of Shield this season — they did exactly that. Killed her — not just stopping the heart but momentary brain death — on purpose, then shocked her back to life, in order to rid her of a terrible illness that was wrecking her brain. I think it was even described as ‘rebooting’ her.
A stopped heart is just cutting off the fuel supply, but the system stays running on stored energy for a while; brain death is when that energy runs out and brain cells themselves kick it. How do you shock a dead brain back into functionality? Nerve tissue doesn’t regrow so what’s gone is gone.
That’s why most of the time on TV when they use the paddles to start a heart beating (incorrect usage, as noted in earlier posts), what they should be doing is chest compressions to force the heart to beat and provide oxygenated blood to the brain so that doesn’t happen.
Yeah they didn’t just use paddles (or compressions) to restart her heart, they were restarting her brain too, after having stopped her heart and left her “dead” for long enough that things were really shutting down. They had a strict time frame — too soon and they wouldn’t clear the illness, too long and she’d be un-retrievable. This is sci-fi, using advanced tech that doesn’t exist in the real world, and they knew that it might not even work and that even if it did the damage might be too severe anyway etc.
There is a drug called adenosine that is literally the equivalent of “turn it off and turn it back on again”. It is given for super ventricular tachycardia (which is when your heart rate is extremely elevated at rest). It has a very short half-life (once it hits the bloodstream it only works for about 10 seconds). It disrupts the electrical conduction of the heart and actually stops the patient’s heart for a short while in the hopes that when it restarts the heart rate will be normal.
They’ve done that to my mom a couple times. She inherited a condition that occasionally rockets her heart rate to 120-180bpm for sometimes more than half a day. I didn’t know what the chemical they used was, good info.
There are also fun medicines that essentially kill you, then bring you back to life (if you use both of them, obviously). It stops some pretty nasty system malfunctions.
And “sending someone to a specialist” is basically like handing the computer off to someone else to deal with. 😀
As a paramedic, I must say, “Get a grip, folks! Enjoy it for what it is; a fabulous comic.”
Who isn’t enjoying it? I’m not sure who you’re yelling at.
I actually tried that once. Hit an old lady on the head after surgery so she’d wake up faster. Didn’t work though.
(Ok, I didn’t hit her, I just dropped the operating table remote on her head, but same difference)
…and they try and upsell you a warranty.