Often people are worried about what a faint and loss of consciousness is, what is the difference between these terms and how to ensure correct first aid to a person who is in an unconscious state.
Loss of consciousness is a condition in which the body does not react to external stimuli and does not realize the surrounding reality. There are several types of unconsciousness:
Thus, it turns out that fainting is one of the types of loss of consciousness.
The main causes of loss of consciousness are:
Knowing what causes fainting and loss of consciousness, what is the difference between these conditions, you can correctly provide first aid.
Damage to the brain that causes loss of consciousness,may be caused by direct exposure (head trauma, poisoning, hemorrhage) or indirect (bleeding, syncope, shock conditions, suffocation, metabolic disorders).
There are several types of unconsciousness:
Any manifestation of malfunctioningsystems of the body can be fainted and loss of consciousness. The difference in severity of symptoms depends on the length of the unconscious state and the presence of additional trauma.
In the unconscious state, the victim is observed:
Knowing what symptom is syncope andloss of consciousness, what is the difference between them and how to properly provide first aid, you can prevent the death of the victim, especially if he has no breathing and heart activity. Since timely cardiopulmonary resuscitation can restore the work of these systems and return a person to life.
First of all, you need to eliminate possiblecauses of loss of consciousness - take the person to fresh air if the room has a smell of smoke or gas or the effect of an electric current. After this, the airway must be released. In some cases, it may be necessary to clean the oral cavity with a napkin.
If a person does not have cardiac contractionsand breathing, you urgently need to start cardiopulmonary resuscitation. After restoration of cardiac activity and breathing, the victim must be taken to a medical institution. When transporting the victim must be an escort.
If there are no problems with breathing and work of the heart,you need to increase the flow of blood to the brain. For this, the victim should be laid in such a way that the head was slightly below the level of the trunk (if there is a head injury or nosebleeds, this item can not be performed!).
It is necessary to loosen clothes (untie a tie,unfasten the shirt, belt) and open the window to ensure the flow of fresh air, this will increase the supply of oxygen. You can bring to the nose of the affected cotton wool with ammonia, in most cases it helps to return it to a conscious state.
Important! If the duration of the unconscious state exceeds 5 minutes, urgent medical attention is needed.
Knowing how the syncope differs from the loss of consciousness, you can give the victim the correct first aid.
Fainting is a momentary lossconsciousness, caused by a lack of oxygen due to disorders of blood supply to the brain. Short-term loss of consciousness does not pose a threat to human life and health and often does not require medical intervention. The duration of this state is from a few seconds to several minutes. Fainting can be caused by the following pathological conditions of the body:
The causes of fainting and loss of consciousness must be known in order to be able to distinguish these states and provide first aid to a person that is necessary.
Fainting is a characteristic manifestation ofsome diseases. Therefore, with frequent fainting, it is necessary to see a doctor and be examined for pathological processes in the body.
Fainting is a momentary lossconsciousness, caused by a lack of oxygen due to a violation of the blood supply to the brain. The main symptoms of fainting are nausea and a feeling of stuffiness, ringing in the ears, darkening in the eyes. At the same time, the person begins to grow pale, his muscles become weak and his legs are weak. With a loss of consciousness, both the increase in heart rate and its slowing down are common.
In the faint, heart tones in humansweakness, pressure drops, all neurological reflexes are significantly weakened, so convulsions or involuntary urination may occur. Loss of consciousness and fainting are mainly characterized by a lack of perception of the surrounding reality and what is happening to it.
With fainting a person may have a tongue sagging,because his muscles are weakened. To prevent this, it is necessary to turn a person on its side and call an ambulance, since it is quite difficult to determine the cause of such a state on its own.
First aid in case of fainting and loss of consciousness givespossibility before the arrival of an ambulance to support the vital activity of the organism of the victim. In most cases, first aid helps to avoid death.
Without proper examination, it is impossible to identify the exact cause of fainting. Since it can be a consequence of the pathological process in the body, and the usual overwork or nervous tension.
After understanding the features of the unconsciousstate of the body, we can conclude that the loss of consciousness is a general concept. It includes many different manifestations. Fainting is one of them and represents a short-term loss of consciousness, which is observed as a result of oxygen starvation of the brain.
