Fainting and losing consciousness: what's the difference? Causes of fainting and loss of consciousness. First aid in fainting and unconsciousness

Often people are worried about what a faint and loss of consciousness is, what is the difference between these terms and how to provide proper first aid to a person who is in an unconscious state.

Characteristics of loss of consciousness

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:

• Confused consciousness is characterized by delirium, obscuration and indifferent state in relation to the surrounding reality.
• Stunning - pathological drowsiness, manifests itself as a decrease in the level of wakefulness.
• Sopor - a deep depression of consciousness with the loss of arbitrary and safe reflex activity.
• Stupor is a state of numbness.
• Fainting is a short-term unconscious condition, loss of consciousness for a short time.
• Coma is a loss of consciousness caused by a malfunctioning of the brain stem.
• Hypnosis - a state in which a person is half asleep, is caused by suggestion. In this state a person completely submits to the will of the soporific.
• The vegetative state is characterized by oppression of the functioning of the central nervous system, while the autonomic nervous system retains its normal activity.

Thus, it turns out that syncope is one of the types of loss of consciousness.

Causes of loss of consciousness

The main causes of loss of consciousness are:

• overwork;
• strong pain;
• Stress and emotional turmoil;
• Dehydration of the body;
• Hypothermia or overheating of the body;
• Lack of oxygen;
• Nervous tension.

Knowing what causes fainting and loss of consciousness, what is the difference between these conditions, you can properly provide first aid.

Brain lesions that cause loss of consciousness can be caused by direct exposure (head trauma, poisoning, hemorrhage) or indirect (bleeding, fainting, shock conditions, suffocation, metabolic disorders).

Types of loss of consciousness

There are several types of unconsciousness:

• Short-term fainting and loss of consciousness (the differences are in the causes of this condition, can be caused by a decrease in blood glucose level, brain concussion, brain blood supply disorder);
• Loss of consciousness, causing severe damage to vital functions of the body (with cerebral hemorrhage, stroke, asphyxia, infarction, injuries and life-threatening injuries, acute poisoning, heavy blood loss);
• An aggravated loss of consciousness is characterized by an increase in the number of disorders of the brain, leading to coma.

Any manifestations of malfunctions of the body's systems can be fainting and loss of consciousness. The difference in severity of symptoms depends on the length of the unconscious state and the presence of additional trauma.

The clinical picture of loss of consciousness

In the unconscious state, the victim is observed:

• Relaxation of the muscular system;
• Rolling of eyeballs;
• The pupil dilates, the pupil's reaction to light decreases;
• Absence of reaction to external stimuli;
• Decreased pain sensitivity;
• Convulsions;
• Pallor of the skin or redness of the skin (with a thermal shock or overheating);
• Lowering blood pressure;
• The appearance of droplets of sweat.

Knowing what symptom fainting and loss of consciousness is, 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 aid for unconsciousness

First of all you need to eliminate the possible causes of loss of consciousness - take a person to fresh air if the room has a smell of smoke or gas or the effect of an electric current. After that, you need to release the airways. In some cases, it may be necessary to clean the oral cavity with a napkin.

If a person does not have cardiac contractions and breathing, it is necessary to urgently start cardiopulmonary resuscitation. After restoring the 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 heart work, you need to increase the flow of blood to the brain. For this, the injured person should be placed in such a way that the head is 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, unbutton the shirt, belt) and open the window to provide 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 losing consciousness, you can give the victim the correct first aid.

Characteristic syncope

Fainting is a short-term loss of consciousness caused by a lack of oxygen due to blood flow disorders in 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:

• Disorders of nervous regulation of blood vessels with a sharp change in position (transition from horizontal to vertical position) or when swallowing;
• With a decrease in cardiac output - stenosis of pulmonary arteries or aorta, angina attacks, heart rhythm disturbances, myocardial infarction;
• With a decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the blood - anemia and hypoxia, especially when climbing to a high altitude (where there is rarefied air) or staying in a stuffy room.

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.

Clinical picture of fainting

Fainting is a characteristic manifestation of certain diseases. Therefore, with frequent fainting, you must necessarily see a doctor and be examined for pathological processes in the body.

Fainting is a short-term loss of consciousness caused by a lack of oxygen due to a violation of the blood supply to the brain. The main symptoms of a syncope are nausea and a feeling of stuffiness, ringing in the ears, darkening in the eyes. At the same time a person begins to grow pale, his muscles become weak and his legs are weak. In the loss of consciousness, both the increase in pulse rate and its slowdown are characteristic.

In the faint, heart tones in a person are weakened, pressure falls, all neurological reflexes are significantly weakened, so convulsions or involuntary urination may occur. Loss of consciousness and syncope are mainly characterized by a lack of perception in the victim of the surrounding reality and what is happening to him.

First aid with fainting

With fainting, a person can fall into a tongue, as his muscles weaken. 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 makes it possible 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 both the pathological process in the body, and the usual overwork or nervous tension.

Fainting and loss of consciousness. What is the difference between these concepts?

After understanding the features of the unconscious state 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.