Loss of consciousness: 4 common causes of the problem

The etiology of loss of consciousness in women can be different, but is always associated with impaired blood circulation in the brain. The average duration of this state does not exceed 5 minutes, on average 60-90 seconds. Harbingers of short-term loss of consciousness are a feeling of weakness, dizziness, and flushes of sweat. Sometimes involuntary loss of urine may occur. The causes of fainting in women can be associated with both organic disorders and psychosomatic abnormalities. In addition, 1/2 of all cases are of unknown nature.

Causes of fainting

According to the latest statistics, 20% of people have experienced a short-term loss of consciousness at least once in their lives. This happens to the person himself or to his relatives, friends, acquaintances. Both men and women can faint for a variety of reasons. Even a child can lose consciousness as a result of certain factors. The main thing at this moment is not to give in to panic, but to clearly know what to do if a person faints.

First of all, it is worth paying attention to why a person loses consciousness. There are several common conditions that could lead to a momentary loss of consciousness. They are united by one factor: disruption of proper blood circulation in the brain. The main reasons why people faint include:

a change in body position that occurred unexpectedly or abruptly. For example, a person began to quickly get up;
weather conditions, which include extreme heat or stuffiness;
excessive physical activity. Especially when a completely unprepared person began to attend training;
strong emotional experiences and a state of chronic stress;
emotions such as fright, excitement, panic, fear;
various diseases of the cardiovascular system;
pregnancy;
high or low blood pressure;
poisoning of the body with food or drugs;
diseases that are localized in the cervical spine;
constant overwork;
low level of hemoglobin in the blood;
acclimatization;
sun and heatstroke;
alcohol abuse;
if you drink strong tea or coffee in large quantities;
if you don’t eat anything for a long time and experience severe hunger;
injuries of varying severity.

Another reason why people faint may be when blood is taken for analysis in the treatment room. This occurs as a result of the fact that a person simultaneously experiences feelings of fear, panic and pain.

In addition, there is a significant reason why women often lose consciousness. They always strive to look good, and in pursuit of ideal forms, they resort to various diet pills. Most of them have a diuretic effect and disrupt the fluid balance in the body, which can cause short-term loss of consciousness.

A person may notice some changes in his condition, which become harbingers of impending fainting. These include:

increasing noise or buzzing in the ears;
the heart begins to beat faster. Strong pulsation may be felt in the chest or neck area;
breathing disorder. A person may experience rare or, conversely, too frequent inhalations and exhalations;
loss of balance;
feeling of general weakness and malaise;
limbs begin to go numb;
the appearance of darkening in the eyes;
my head starts to feel very dizzy.

If first aid is not provided, then after these symptoms the person’s skin turns pale, his eyes roll back, and a short-term loss of consciousness occurs. The victim simply falls to the ground.

When a person suddenly loses consciousness, they can be seriously injured or disfigured. The victim's breathing slows down and the pulse is difficult to palpate. Some people experience cold sweat breaking out through their skin.

Fainting can happen very quickly or occur several hours after the trigger. It all depends on the environment and the individual characteristics of the body. If you know the warning signs of fainting, you can avoid short-term loss of consciousness not only in the people around you, but even in yourself.

Prevention

Knowing and following the necessary precautions can help prevent loss of consciousness. To do this, you must adhere to the following recommendations:

eat well, including in the diet all micro- and macroelements that contribute to the proper functioning of the body;
allocate a few minutes a day for moderate physical activity, exercise or running;
women during pregnancy should regularly visit a gynecologist and systematically monitor their health;
avoid excessive physical activity;
if you are prone to fainting, consult with specialists and follow all their instructions; Treatment with nootropic drugs and vitamin complexes may be prescribed.

First aid

It is vitally important at this moment not to get confused, but, on the contrary, to concentrate and provide first aid. There is a certain algorithm according to which this must be done. The basic rules for providing first aid for fainting include:

Check the injured person's breathing and pulse. If they are missing, you should immediately call an ambulance. Immediately after this, you need to begin resuscitation measures.
The person must be placed on his back. It is best to use a hard horizontal surface for this. The victim should be placed in such a way that his legs are raised 30 cm above his head. This pose will help normalize blood circulation, which will saturate the brain with oxygen. If the fainting occurred on a summer day, the victim must be moved to the shade.
Provide fresh air flow. The best way to do this is to open a window or door in the room. Factors such as crowding, stuffiness, and musty air will only worsen a person’s condition.
If a man faints, then you need to loosen the tie and unbutton the top buttons of the shirt. In the event of a short-term loss of consciousness in a woman, all jewelry must be removed from her neck and freed from tight clothing that interferes with proper breathing. If a person has a belt, then it also needs to be loosened or completely unfastened.
Start massaging your earlobes. This improves blood circulation in the head area, which will help saturate the brain with oxygen faster.

If necessary, the victim's face can be lightly wiped with a dampened towel or wet wipes. If you fainted outside during the cold season, it is better not to do this, so as not to provoke frostbite.

It is also worth remembering that a person can remain unconscious for no more than 5 minutes. If after all the first aid measures and after this period, he has not come to his senses, then you should immediately call an ambulance. Qualified doctors will quickly bring the patient to consciousness and determine the cause of deep fainting.

How to do CPR?

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a way to help a person if they have stopped breathing or their heart has stopped beating.

If the person stops breathing, call your local emergency services or ask someone else for help. Before starting CPR, ask loudly, “Are you okay?” If the person is unresponsive, begin CPR.

Place the person on their back on a hard surface.
Kneel next to his neck and shoulders.
Place the palm of your hand over the center of the person's chest. Place your other hand directly above the first and interlace your fingers. Make sure your arms are straight at the elbows and raise your shoulders higher than your arms.
Using the weight of your upper body, press directly onto your chest at least 3.5 centimeters if it is a child, or 5 centimeters if it is an adult. Then release the pressure.
Repeat this procedure again up to 100 times per minute. This is called chest compression.

To minimize potential injury, resuscitation should only be performed by a person trained in CPR. If you have not exercised, perform chest compressions until medical help arrives.

If you are familiar with CPR, tilt the person's head back and lift their chin to open the airway.

Pinch the person's nose and cover their mouth with yours, creating an airtight seal.
Take two one-second breaths and watch the person's chest rise.
Continue alternating compressions and breaths—30 compressions and two breaths—until help arrives or signs of movement appear.

What should you not do when providing first aid?

Activities that will help bring a person to his senses after fainting do not represent complex actions or manipulations. It is important to follow the correct sequence and also avoid common mistakes. A person who is unconscious is prohibited from doing the following:

pour water on your face;
give any liquid to drink;
give different types of medicines. This is especially true for cardiac and antihypertensive drugs.

You should definitely remember that sniffing ammonia and other types of folk remedies can be given to a person only when he is in a pre-fainting state. If he has already lost consciousness, then these substances can provoke a reflex spasm, which will lead to deterioration and difficulty breathing.

What causes unconsciousness?

Losing consciousness may be caused by a serious illness, injury, or complications from drug use or alcohol abuse.

Common causes of loss of consciousness include the following:

car accident
severe blood loss
blow to the chest or head
drug overdose
alcohol poisoning

A person may temporarily lose consciousness or "pass out" if sudden changes occur in the body. Common causes of temporary unconsciousness include:

low blood sugar
low blood pressure
fainting, or loss of consciousness due to lack of blood flow to the brain
neurological syncope, or loss of consciousness caused by a seizure, stroke, or transient ischemic attack
dehydration
heart rhythm problems
muscle tension
hyperventilation

Fainting indoors

Very often in summer the indoors become too hot and stuffy. This can be the main cause of short-term loss of consciousness in both men and women. If a person faints indoors, then, first of all, he should be transferred to a sofa or other horizontal surface. You need to place a cushion under your feet so that they are above head level. This position of the body will help to quickly normalize blood circulation and bring a person to his senses.

If the victim is wearing a belt, tie or similar item of clothing, they should be loosened or completely removed to allow air flow. You can wipe your face with wet wipes or a handkerchief moistened with water. It should not be too cold, on the contrary, room temperature.

In a stuffy room, be sure to provide a flow of fresh air. To do this, you can open the window and doors. In this case, the victim should not be in a draft.

After the person comes to his senses, he can be given warm sweet tea. This will help eliminate discomfort after fainting.

If a person does not come to his senses for a long period of time, then it is necessary to call an ambulance. Qualified doctors will be able to accurately determine the reason why a person constantly faints and quickly remove the victim from this condition.

Losing consciousness on the street

If a person faints, the reasons for which can be completely different, in winter, the victim should be laid on the ground or the nearest bench. You should not remove his outer clothing to prevent frostbite. During strong cold winds, it is necessary to protect the victim from its gusts. To do this, stand on the side from which there is a strong air flow. If a person loses consciousness in the summer, first of all, they need to be taken into the shade. In direct sunlight it will only get worse.

If a person has a scarf, belt, shirt collar, jewelry or other items around the neck, then all this must be loosened as much as possible or completely removed to ensure normal breathing. In winter, you can rub snow on your face. In summer, wipe with damp cloths. If they are unavailable, even fruit juice will do. For example, watermelon.

To make sure that everything is okay with a person who has fainted, you need to call an ambulance. Doctors will conduct a full examination of the patient, after which they will be able to identify the true cause of the short-term loss of consciousness. If necessary, he may be hospitalized to monitor his health for several days.

What should you do in case of heat and sunstroke?

Very often in the summer, during extreme heat, the cause of fainting is heatstroke or sunstroke. In these cases, it is also very important to concentrate and provide first aid correctly.

Heat stroke occurs as a result of prolonged exposure of the body to high environmental temperatures. This leads to general overheating, during which a person experiences the development of painful sensations. The body loses a lot of fluid, which causes the blood to thicken and disrupt the water-salt balance. As a result, the brain does not receive the oxygen it needs to function properly. This also affects the condition of the heart muscle and blood vessels.

The main signs of heat stroke are:

Concept

Loss of consciousness is a condition that occurs due to insufficient access of oxygen to the hemispheres of the brain, which leads to dysfunction of the nervous system. In this case, the person falls and stops reacting to the environment, after which he comes to his senses spontaneously. There are several varieties of this condition:

confused - clouding of reason, manifestation of delirium and indifference to the surrounding world;
soporous – deeply depressed consciousness with preservation of reflexes;
deafening – drowsiness, sharp decrease in level of wakefulness;
stupor – numbness, immobility;
fainting - a short-term unconscious state that lasts from a few seconds to half an hour;
comatose – deep loss of consciousness caused by impaired brain function.

How to prevent

There are often situations when a person, being alone in an apartment or office, feels that he may lose consciousness. At this time, you may feel a ringing in your ears that gets worse every second, or dark spots appear before your eyes. The next stage is a feeling of detachment. That is, objects around begin to blur, there is no clarity in the eyes, it is impossible to focus on one thing. It is very important to prevent fainting so that it does not cause injury.

If there is no one to provide first aid, and the state of fainting is approaching, then you should quickly and correctly perform the following algorithm of actions:

Sit or lie down. If this happened on the street in the summer, then you need to choose a place in the shade, in winter - on a bench.
If you feel dizzy, you should quickly cross your legs and press your back against any support. This could be a wall, tree, pole or any other vertical support. In this position, you need to tense your buttocks and legs. Thanks to this, the blood will quickly flow in the head, which will prevent oxygen starvation.
Take deep breaths. You need to inhale as much as you can. After this, stick your stomach out and take another breath. Then you need to start exhaling gradually. In this case, you should completely retract your stomach. With each inhalation and exhalation, breathing will become much easier. Then you can adjust your breathing according to how you feel.
Massage your ears. To do this, use your fingertips to influence the earlobes and auricle. Massage will help normalize blood circulation in the head.

If you manage to avoid fainting, but your condition remains sluggish, then you still need to call the doctors. Sometimes the body gives signals in this way that there is a malfunction in its systems. Timely diagnosis and establishment of the cause of fainting will help to find and treat the disease at an early stage. For this, the patient is admitted to a hospital for examination, where he is prescribed various tests, an ECG, as well as other examination methods.