What to Do If You Are Choking Alone

If you start choking and no one is around to help, don't stand still and hope it passes. Bend over a firm surface — a chair back, a countertop edge, a railing — and thrust your upper belly down onto it, hard and repeatedly, the same motion someone else's hands would make.

If that doesn't clear it, make a fist just above your navel, grab it with your other hand, and pull sharply inward and upward. Call emergency services before you start, if you can reach a phone, so help is already coming. Keep trying — one attempt is rarely enough.