Hungry Syncope: Symptoms, Causes, First Aid
Hungry syncope often happens in people who are too strict a diet. Sometimes women, wanting to lose weight quickly, arrange for themselves unloading days. Some in the fight against extra pounds completely refuse to eat for some time. The human body reacts sharply at first to the lack or lack of food. There is a constant feeling of hunger, nausea, sucking "under the spoon".On such days there is a serious danger of suddenly fainting from a lack of nutrients. However, after some time the body adapts to the lack of food. The state of health is normalized, but against a background of full health a person can suddenly lose consciousness from hunger.
What is syncope
Syncope called fainting is a loss of consciousness that lasts for a short time. In medicine, it is defined as a syncopal condition( "syncope" in Greek means "chopping").It is not a disease in itself, but it always indicates a sharp discomfort in the body. A person loses consciousness because the central nervous system does not get enough oxygen. Under conditions of hypoxia, the brain "turns off", and a syncope occurs.
Physiological causes of unconsciousness from hunger
What causes oxygen deficiency and a consciousness disorder with malnutrition? Most often a person loses consciousness because of a deficiency of glucose in the blood. Prolonged fasting leads to a drop in the level of sugar, which causes hypoxia of the central nervous system. In addition, with a lack of food, slags and toxins enter the bloodstream. Getting into the brain, these harmful substances cause a loss of consciousness.
Most often, the syncopal condition occurs due to a lack of nutrients in the body when a person does not have enough food. But there are other causes of hungry syncope:
- Often, this condition is observed in people who are on a diet with a monotonous diet( for example, they eat only dairy products or fruit juices).This leads to imbalance in the diet, and the body begins to draw the missing substances from internal resources. As a result, brain cells undergo hypoxia.
- A person can eat enough, but often experience stressful situations or experience increased physical activity. This requires additional energy costs, the body begins to spend heavily kilocalories. All systems and organs have to work with increased workload to provide the brain with oxygen. However, this is not always possible, and then the central nervous system turns off, and a faint occurs.
- Irregular eating, when a person eats dry foods or makes large breaks between meals, can also lead to a temporary loss of consciousness. In this case, there is a discrepancy between the intake of calories, carbohydrates, fats and energy costs of the body.
- In gastrointestinal disorders, absorption of nutrients is impaired, which can cause loss of consciousness from hunger, even if the person does not deny himself food.
- Systematic abuse of sugary drinks can cause fainting. Water with gas and sweeteners removes beneficial trace elements from the body, and this leads to a lack of nutrients and a loss of consciousness.
- Anorexia nervosa often becomes the cause of fainting from lack of food. With this disease, appetite is sharply reduced, and the patient consumes very little food for a long time.
Sometimes a person loses consciousness, sharply changing the position of the body, for example, when getting up. This, too, can be a kind of hungry fainting if in this case the body receives insufficient nutrients.
After many days of fasting, a syncope of
occurs. Patients practicing curative fasting are interested in how soon a syncope occurs with total refusal of food. This question is difficult to answer unambiguously, since the human body's capabilities are individual. Some people can do without food for a few days, and they do not have a syncopal condition. Others also lose consciousness even with a slight violation of the usual diet.
Here a lot depends on the physique of a person. Thin people have a small amount of fat stores. They have a hungry pass out after 1 day of total refusal to eat. Dense and plump people can lose consciousness on the third or fourth day of fasting, since at first the body will draw nutrients from its own reserves.
Advance state of
Usually a person does not suddenly lose consciousness. A few minutes before the syncopal condition, the state of health worsens sharply, and the first signs of a hungry fainting come:
- dizziness;
- cold sweat;
- nausea;
- fogging of consciousness;
- weakness;
- sensation of noise and ringing and ears.
These symptoms indicate that the brain lacks oxygen, and soon the body will "cut off" the central nervous system. Then a person has black dots and blurred vision, while the pupil ceases to respond to light. Skin pale and sweat. About 20 seconds after visual disturbances, a hungry syncope begins.
Symptoms of unconsciousness in hunger
Syncopal condition from lack of food usually does not last long. At the same time, the following symptoms of hungry fainting are observed:
- A gradual increase in weakness, which translates into loss of consciousness.
- The person ceases to react to the environment and irritants, he has no reflexes.
- The muscle tone is sharply lowered.
- The blood pressure drops, the heart rate decreases. A weak pulse is heard.
- There may be an involuntary discharge of urine and stool.
This condition usually lasts no more than 20 seconds, completely the person leaves a faint within 4 - 5 minutes.
First aid
It is necessary to provide first aid as soon as possible in case of famine fainting. The syncopal condition itself is not dangerous. But falling during a loss of consciousness can lead to injury. In addition, residual neurological disorders are possible due to hypoxia of the brain during a hungry fainting. What to do if a person falls and lies unconscious due to a lack of food? It is necessary to take the following actions:
- It is necessary to unbutton all the clothes on the patient, this will ensure the inflow of oxygen.
- The patient needs to be laid so that the legs are above the body.
- The head is turned sideways so that the tongue does not fuse and does not block the airways.
- Then you should give a smell of cotton wool soaked in ammonia. If there is no such medication, then you can severely grind the whiskey with a solution of vinegar or cologne. And also it is possible to help the patient by pressing forcefully on the area of the face between the nose and the upper lip.
- Once a person regains consciousness, he should give him a cup of sweet tea or coffee. After 30 minutes the patient must be fed.
What can not be done with a faint of hunger
The most common mistake in a familial fainting is abundant nutrition soon after losing consciousness. It seems to those around him that if a person has been without food for a long time, it should be fed tightly. This is a rather dangerous delusion. Overeating after fasting can cause gastrointestinal obstruction.
After losing consciousness due to hunger, a person can be given food only after half an hour. Food should be light, its quantity should not be too abundant. It must be remembered that the stomach of a patient can not be digested after a large amount of food after a famine.
Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia is a condition similar to a syncope due to hunger. It develops in diabetic patients due to an overdose of insulin. As a result, a person's blood glucose level drops sharply. He feels such symptoms as a strong feeling of hunger, excessive sweating, weakness, nausea. In general, the signs of hypoglycemic fainting are similar to the symptoms of loss of consciousness from hunger.
When approaching hypoglycemia, it is necessary to give the patient any sweetness: candy, glucose tablets, a piece of sugar. If this condition lasts more than 10 minutes, you should call a doctor.
Prevention
If a person has a tendency to fainting, then too severe diets are contraindicated. It is necessary to avoid unloading days, a diet with monotonous food and all the more complete starvation.
During the diet for weight loss should not make sudden movements, expose themselves to physical and moral overload. You can not eat sweet fizzy drinks in large quantities. If a person has to observe severe restrictions in nutrition, it is always useful to have a candy or a chocolate bar. This will help to avoid deterioration of well-being and fainting from malnutrition.