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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Helen Johnson

BBC Ambulance: Paramedic's wise words of advice for a young patient who felt ill after taking Viagra

A paramedic had some sensible words of advice for a young patient who started to feel unwell after taking Viagra.

Thursday's episode of BBC Ambulance featured the case of 20-year-old Sam, who was working a night shift at a McDonald's after taking the drug - which is used to treat erectile dysfunction and is also sometimes taken recreationally - the previous day.

The documentary showed the moment Sam's boss called 999 after he started experiencing tight chest pains and dizziness.

When paramedics Jo and Cam arrive on the scene, they discover that Sam's heart is fine, but he is experiencing a panic attack.

They begin to chat and find out that Sam has recently gone through a bad break up.

It prompts Cam to give him some kinds words of advice about taking care of himself.

Sam was experiencing chest pains and dizziness (BBC)

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Cam says: "The best thing is mate, just a bit of man to man advice. I know you are single and you want to fill that void or whatever, but you come first.

"You're number one and you're mixing with things at this age that should come naturally and I can tell you now, the only reason why nothing is going on is because of how stressed you are.

"Eliminate the stress, your sex drive will probably come back. You're a 20-year-old lad, you're going to have a sex drive at the end of the day."

Sam eventually relaxed and even managed a laugh when his colleague joked: "One night of passion and you've ended up in A&E."

Sam eventually relaxed and started laughing when his colleague made a joke (BBC)

Other patients featured in the latest episode of the BAFTA awarding winning documentary included premature baby Ivan, who stopped breathing suddenly while his dad was giving him a bath.

Although the two-month-old boy was breathing again when medics Rich, Lauren and Alice arrived on the scene, they had to step in to resucitate him when he stopped again.

Paramedic Rich said: "It shows you how quickly things can turn, he seemed fine, he was alert, his eyes were open.

"Next minute we're having to resuscitate a baby that's stopped breathing in a paramedic's arms.

"He'd changed colour, he'd gone blue, the inside of his gums had gone blue and he wasn't making any effort to breathe."

Baby Ivan is treated in an ambulance after he stopped breathing (BBC)

By the time he got to hospital, baby Ivan was awake and stable again, and had even started to cry, much to the relief of the team. 

Alice and Lauren were also called to help a young woman who collapsed in the city centre, but when they arrived, they discovered she had run off.

They were then seen trying to convince her friend, who had called the ambulance, not to walk home alone.

They offered to take the young woman to a taxi rank and even flagged down an Uber in an attempt to get her home safely, before the girl got out of the ambulance and went to find a taxi.

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