If a person has a clear consciousness during vigorous activity, this means that the brain is functioning normally. With its well-coordinated work, a citizen will alternate periods of activity and rest, which cannot be said about people with disorders such as stupor, stupor, coma and the like.
Some disease processes in the body lead to confusion, up to its complete absence. It should be noted that in this case it does not change itself, but is simply violated. One of these conditions is stupor. If such a disorder occurs, then you should immediately consult a doctor to find out the true cause of it in order to eliminate it.
Why there is a disorder of consciousness
Let's consider in detail what a sopor is. This is a sign by which one can suspect problems in the functioning of the brain due to the dominance of the inhibitory effect of the reticular formation. How does this disorder manifest?
Causes of sopor:
- Nervous tissue damage.
- Lack of oxygen in the brain.
- Exposure to a variety of substances,leading to impaired consciousness.
What conditions can provoke this disorder?
These include:
- Sopor after a stroke comes first. The situation is complicated if it originated in the upper part of the brain.
- Severe hypertensive crises.
- Head injuries resulting in blood clots and damage to nerve tissue.
- Endocrine diseases and disorders.
- Brain tumors.
- Metabolic problems with liver or kidney failure.
- Subarachnoid circulation with rupture of the arachnoid space.
- Effect on the brain of carbon monoxide for a long time.
- Inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system caused by infectious agents.
- Blood poisoning.
- Disorder of electrolyte and water metabolism.
- Severe heart failure.
- Sunstroke or low temperature.
Signs of stupor
A person in this state seems to be sleeping, does not react to anything except the strongest stimuli. Hearing a very sharp sound, he wakes up, but the eyeballs look at one point, there is no movement by them. If you press on the nail plate, the patient withdraws his hand. If the patient is given an injection in this state, patted on the cheek, or caused pain in some other way, this will lead to a negative, but short-term reaction. In a mentally disturbed patient, stupor can lead to scolding and even pugnacity.
On examination revealed reduced muscle tone and depressiondeep reflexes. The pupils practically do not react to light, the corneal reflex and swallowing movements, fortunately, are not disturbed.
At the same time, manifestations of neurology can be detected, indicating local damage to some structures and parts of the brain. A stupor condition after a stroke will be manifested by neck stiffness and meningeal symptoms. Sometimes there are convulsive seizures, involuntary muscle twitches.
Hyperkinetic stupor is much less common. This is when a person has delirium, chaotic movements occur, he does not understand what they want from him, his speech is slurred and addressed incomprehensibly to whom.
If a stroke occurs, then a typical picture is observed in the soporous state:
- The person is sleepy and looks tired.
- Reaction to painful stimuli is present.
- Does not answer questions, does not navigate the situation.
- If there is a sharp sound stimulus, then the eyes open by themselves.
- Muscle hypotonicity.
- Tendon reflexes dulled.
- Man is depressed.
- Uncoordinated movements.
I must say that in a normal state, a person has constant brain activity. It then decreases, then increases again. With stupor, a person seems to be sleeping. In simple terms, he is not able to make decisions, and even extreme circumstances cannot change anything. This condition poses a danger to the patient and those around him. AtIn this case, the patient's activity and sleep can change abruptly.
The part of the brain that activates activity is located very deep in the cerebral cortex. Consequently, if its work is disturbed, the signals from the sense organs and perception do not reach the area that is responsible for all this, as a result, consciousness becomes confused. And this is fraught with fainting conditions, which are observed arbitrarily. Shutdown periods can also be short-lived. But after one of them, a person can fall into a coma. And what is this condition?
Coma is a complete depression of the central nervous system, in which there is a loss of consciousness in the clinical picture, there is no reaction to irritation, vital functions are impaired.
Recall what sopor is. This is a complete extinction of the voluntary activity of consciousness. The patient perceives the environment blurry, incomprehensible, even hallucinations and delusions may be present. The patient is disoriented, confuses dates and names, does not remember what he had for breakfast today. But he talks very clearly about the stories that happened in the past. To all this, after a stroke, there is either a high degree of anxiety, or apathy for what is happening around.
Sometimes occurs with stupor "locked-in syndrome". With it, a person retains consciousness and the ability to think, but the body refuses to listen to him, there is a kind of paralysis.
Diagnostic measures for sopor
Sopor, coma and stunning are completely different mental disorders. Therefore, in violation of consciousness, first of all, it is necessary to differentiate the listedstates from each other.
The main examination is aimed at identifying the main cause of one of the disorders and related shifts in metabolic processes. It is extremely important for the doctor to find out as much data as possible prior to the current state.
For this, it is important to study all the patient's medical records and have a conversation with the relatives accompanying him. A study of the bag and personal clothing of a sick person is carried out. Often this helps to detect certain drugs that could lead to a condition that characterizes stupor. Sopor also requires screening research methods.
How should I diagnose?
Required:
- Examine the patient's body for: injuries, rashes, hemorrhages, injection marks.
- Take a urine test for alcohol.
- Measure blood pressure.
- Measure the temperature of the patient's body.
- Determine blood sugar.
- Do an electrocardiogram and auscultation.
Stupor, or stunning, is characterized by a state of semi-wakefulness. At the same time, a person partially or completely loses the degree of expression of the interaction of thoughts and actions due to gross attention disorders, drowsiness is observed. Ordinary stunning must be distinguished from alcoholic delirium. In the second case, stunning is combined with motor agitation, delusions and hallucinations, as well as activation of the sympathetic nervous system.
Signsdeep sopora
Coma and deep stupor have the following symptoms:
- Violation of consciousness.
- Respiratory disorders up to depression.
- Pupils do not react to light.
- Impaired eye movement when lifting the eyelids.
- May have epileptic seizures.
- Muscle twitches.
- Involuntary movements similar to arbitrary.
- Sharp tension or, conversely, muscle relaxation.
At the same time, blood tests are taken for biochemistry and electrolyte levels. If a person has poisoning, then blood is needed for toxicology and urine for the presence of narcotic substances. Sometimes an MRI and a lumbar puncture are required.
First aid for impaired consciousness
How to spend it? Required:
- Call an ambulance.
- Collect history data from relatives to make a probable diagnosis.
- Measure blood pressure, respiratory rate, PS, temperature and blood glucose if you have a glucometer.
- Examine skin, eye strain and limb tone, pupil size and reaction to light.
- Inject 60 ml of 40% glucose with 100 mg of vitamin B1.
Principles of treating stupor
Let's remind once again what sopor is. This is a deep disturbance of consciousness with the loss of voluntary and the preservation of some reflex activity. This means that therapy should be aimed at eliminating the root cause, which led to the oppression of consciousness. This must be done as quickly as possible.
Developmentstupor is often preceded by ischemic disease and edema of brain tissue, which can be observed in various pathologies. If treatment is started quickly, then the disorder will pass faster. Very often, nerve cells that are close to the focus of damage in the brain are affected. With incorrect treatment, symptoms will increase due to damage and further death of neurons in the specified zone. Under such a combination of circumstances, stupor can turn into a coma, and neurological disorders will be pronounced.
The main goal of treatment is to eliminate hydrocephalus and restore normal blood circulation in the brain. Heart rhythm disturbances are also eliminated, and doctors begin to treat kidney and liver failure. In the presence of infections, a course of antibiotic therapy is carried out, the elimination of bleeding is necessary.
Prognosis after treatment
Further prognosis after sopor depends on the cause that caused it, the degree of damage to the nervous tissue and therapeutic measures. The earlier the root cause of the disorder is discovered and all the necessary medical interventions are carried out, the higher the chance for a speedy recovery and normalization of a person’s usual activities.
Soporous state in stroke
The combination of stroke and stupor has a very bad effect on the state of the human body. In the second disorder, a hemorrhagic stroke is usually observed. All this is fraught with coma.
Sopor, like any other pathology, requires timely diagnosisand treatment. If this is not done, then human he alth is in great danger, even death.
Small conclusion
Now you know what characterizes such a condition as stupor. What is it in medicine, we also analyzed in some detail. Therefore, if you encounter this disorder in your life, you will know what to do next and will not sound the alarm prematurely, but will competently approach the treatment of the disease.
