Is cardiac arrest painful?

Is cardiac arrest painful?

To tell the truth, cardiac arrest in itself, understand the fact that the heart stops beating, is – a priori – absolutely not painful.

There is a reason for this: consciousness and breathing depend directly on the heartbeat (on the other hand, I do not know if one does not also depend on the other), so that, as soon as the heart stops beating, these two processes stop directly: the person falls unconscious "instantly" and the person does not breathe anymore. This person does not have the opportunity to have pain because of the cardiac arrest.

That being said, there is often a reason why the heart stops beating, and, to put it simply, the right question is often to determine

• which caused the cardiac arrest
• How long will the heart have "fought" this reason before stopping

Because we must realize that the reason that causes cardiac arrest can be "more or less" painful. And when I say "more or less", it can really vary from "absolutely not" to "enormously".

Similarly, the heart can stop "more or less quickly" after the occurrence of the reason that pushes it to do so. Again, when I write "more or less quickly", it must be understood that the stop can occur "immediately" (the "time of a heartbeat, he was dead") or ... sometimes a long time later.

Finally, you should know that it also depends on the state of consciousness of the person when the cause of the cardiac arrest occurs: If the person is already unconscious (or even asleep, barely), it may well be that he feels absolutely nothing because of the cause of the cardiac arrest.

I am sorry to provide this "Norman answer" to the "maybe yes, maybe no". Only, it seems to me to be the only appropriate answer to a question that unfortunately is sorely lacking in precision.