President
Bush has learned the hard way that his mother was right -- you should
not stuff dry pretzels down your gullet and you should pay attention
when eating, an expert said on January 14.
Doctors said there were several possible medical explanations
for the incident on Sunday in which Bush apparently passed
out after a pretzel went down the wrong way.
Dr. William Ravich said choking can cause a person to faint,
an occurrence known as vasovagal syncope.
Pain, such as that caused by a cramp or choking, sends a signal
to the vagus nerve, which in turns signals the heart, slowing
it down so much that the person faints.
``It refers to a neurologically mediated fainting episode that
is usually brought on by stress or pain,'' Ravich said
in a telephone interview.
``It is something like when a person sees blood, he or she faints
from the sight of blood,'' Ravich said. ``It is a stress-related
response. ... If somebody felt he couldn't breathe, stress could
cause you to lose consciousness. It would essentially lower blood
pressure.''
If Bush coughed and coughed to get rid of the pretzel, he could
also have fainted from that, Ravich said, simply having one's
trachea blocked by food can also cause a faint.
``It is the type of thing the Heimlich maneuver is performed
for,'' he said.
The Heimlich maneuver is a carefully placed push that can help
dislodge an object from a choking person's throat.
``Choking can occur if a person is distracted,'' he said, ''Maybe
presidents are more distracted than others,'' he added.
Choking can also be caused by a number of disorders, especially
if the many muscles involved in swallowing do not work together.
So was grandma right when she advised chewing 30 times before
swallowing? "Who would possibly count?'' Ravich asked. ``You
swallow 600 times a day. Those are old wives tales. But
you do want to chew your food and when people get in trouble is
when they are not paying attention to chewing.''
Notes:
Pass out: lose consciousness; faint
Bring on: lead to, cause or result in something
Old wives' tale: old and usually foolish idea or belief
(Agencies)
Updated: 2002-01-16 01:00
