If the child has lost consciousness. First aid for fainting

What is fainting and its symptoms

Fainting is a short-term loss of consciousness caused by metabolic disorders in the brain. Symptoms of impending fainting in a child are:

• dizziness;
• noise in ears;
• severe weakness;
• nausea;
• blurry vision;
• pale skin;
• increased sweating.

Fainting in a child, as a rule, is very frightening for parents. And for good reason, as this may be evidence of serious health problems.

Causes

Fainting in children develops when exposed to external or internal factors. External reasons are:

• A sharp increase in ambient temperature;
• Reducing the amount of oxygen in the air;
• Unbalanced nutrition of a teenager;
• A surge of emotions;
• Excessive fatigue.

Fainting in children occurs during the period of anemia, which manifests itself in the winter-spring period. At this time, there is a deficiency of vitamins and microelements in the body.

This often happens when a child faints due to diabetes. This condition occurs when a child uses insulin irrationally, then the amount of glucose in the blood decreases, which leads to fainting. I diagnose the pathology with spasms in the blood vessels of the brain. If osteochondrosis occurs in the cervical spine, this leads to pathology . When the brain is concussed, its activity is disrupted, which leads to pathology.

The symptom in teenage girls is diagnosed with aortic stenosis, which is characterized by a congenital defect or narrowing of the aorta. With a congenital anomaly of the coronary vessels, the appearance of a pathological parocess is diagnosed. It develops against the background of viral myocaroditis. Loss of consciousness is observed in diabetic or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

With epilepsy in girls, loss of consciousness is diagnosed, during which convulsions are observed. If, against the background of impaired heart function, cardiac output decreases, this leads to pathology . It develops when the heart rhythm is disturbed - tachyarrhythmia. The disease has a ventricular paroxysmal and supraventicular type.

With bradycardia, which is accompanied by sinus node dysfunction or heart block, loss of consciousness is diagnosed in girls. The causes of fainting in adolescence are the influence of unfavorable provoking factors or the course of diseases in the child’s body.

Causes of fainting in children

There can be many reasons for a child fainting. They can be divided into internal and external. The main external reasons include:

• too high an air temperature, which leads to overheating of the brain and it switches off for a while;
• oxygen starvation (hypoxia);
• increased content of carbon monoxide in the air, which binds to hemoglobin more actively than oxygen and leads to hypoxia (occurs during fires, high levels of exhaust gases and in rooms with an open fire source);
• poor nutrition can cause a lack of vitamins and microelements in the body, which play an important role in metabolic processes;
• violation of the diet - prolonged fasting causes a lack of glucose - the main nutrient for proper brain function;
• excessive emotional reactions, accompanied by screaming and hysteria, which leads to hyperventilation and overexcitation;
• excessive stress and fatigue, especially if they are accompanied by lack of sleep.

Internal factors that can cause fainting in a child are symptoms of acute or chronic diseases, metabolic disorders and other processes that affect the functions of nutrition and blood supply to the brain. These include:

• low levels of hemoglobin (anemia), which is responsible for transporting oxygen to tissues and the brain;
• diseases of the cardiovascular system;
• diabetes;
• concussion;
• osteochondrosis.

In some cases, a child's fainting may be accompanied by convulsions. Seizures and fainting are common in epilepsy and brain tumors.

Orthostatic collapse: should it be treated or will it outgrow?

A wait-and-see attitude with regular fainting is not justified. Sooner or later, the teenager will grow up and all regulatory functions will return to normal. But fainting significantly complicates life and deprives the child of the opportunity to play sports and be active. Poor blood circulation leads to oxygen starvation of the brain, which has a bad effect on learning. With vegetative-vascular dystonia, prolonged absence of treatment perpetuates distorted regulatory mechanisms and subsequently negatively affects overall health and brain function.

Treatment of orthostatic collapse includes physical therapy and medications that improve autonomic regulation. Intense physical activity is not recommended, since after unusually high stress there may be overcompensation, which will lead to an even greater decrease in blood pressure.

Long-term intake of the amino acids cystine, glycine, and glutamic acid helps improve tissue metabolism and gently establish autonomic regulation. During the process of active growth, amino acid support facilitates the body’s adaptation to new conditions. Cystine, glycine and glutamic acid are part of the drug Eltacin®, which is recommended from 12 years of age to correct vegetative-vascular dystonia and ease the transition period in adolescents.

First aid for a fainting child

If a child faints, parents should under no circumstances panic and provide their child with emergency assistance. To do this you must:

1. Place the child on his back and raise his legs 30 degrees to ensure blood flow to the brain.
2. Unfasten constrictive clothing and allow fresh air to enter.
3. Place a wet towel on your forehead and lightly sprinkle your face with water.
4. After the child comes to his senses, do not let him get up immediately. Some more time is needed to restore blood circulation.
5. Give sweet tea or juice to drink.

Parents should remember that fainting in a child can be a symptom of a serious illness and self-medication is completely unacceptable. You should immediately consult a doctor and, if necessary, undergo a comprehensive examination.

Types of fainting

Fainting in children is divided into types according to the reasons for their occurrence. They are:

• Vasovaginal . A child faints due to sleep disturbance, overwork, or fatigue. If the patient is emotionally overstrained or experiences pain in the body, then this leads to pathology.

Within a few seconds or minutes, the baby experiences dizziness, nausea and blurred vision. When these symptoms appear, the child should take a horizontal position, which will avoid pathology.

• Syncopal . This type is diagnosed if the child faints while coughing, swallowing, or urinating. Syncope in children is diagnosed by drawing blood from a vein or finger.
• Syncocardioid . If a child loses consciousness when turning his head or eating, this indicates a syncocardial pathology. When the neck is pressed by jewelry, ties, or shirts, loss of consciousness is diagnosed.
• Orthostatic . The occurrence of fainting is diagnosed when blood pressure decreases. Loss of consciousness is observed after assuming a horizontal position.
• Medicinal . The occurrence of pathology is diagnosed when the dosage of medications is exceeded.

Experts recommend determining the type of fainting, which will allow the patient to choose treatment aimed at eliminating the cause.

Treatment of fainting

Treatment of these conditions begins with first aid. Any doctor, regardless of specialization, knows the rules for providing this assistance. To avoid asphyxia, airway patency is ensured by all available methods. In case of fainting, there is no need to transfer to artificial ventilation, because the patient breathes on his own. However, inhalation (inhalation) of moistened oxygen is not only desirable, but also mandatory.

In the future, blood circulation and metabolic processes are stabilized, and consciousness is restored. For this purpose, various groups of drugs are used - cardiac drugs, neuroprotectors (improve metabolic processes in the central nervous system), vasopressors (increase low blood pressure).

After stabilization, the patient is observed in the intensive care unit. At the same time, diagnosis and treatment of the underlying disease, complicated by fainting, is carried out. A cardiologist, neuropathologist, endocrinologist, functional diagnostics doctor, and other specialists take part in diagnostic and treatment activities.

What to do if fainting happens to you or your relatives?

1. Contact a cardiologist at the Teremok Health clinic
2. If you have relatives who have witnessed fainting, it is advisable to take them with you to the doctor’s appointment.
3. If an ambulance was called during a faint and an ECG was taken, then you need to take it with you.
4. If you have any medical documents on hand, such as previous examinations, tests, hospital discharges, then you need to take them with you. The cardiologist will begin to carry out the necessary diagnostics: to exclude life-threatening arrhythmia or heart block (which are very often transient, i.e. unstable and are rarely recorded on a regular ECG!!!) If necessary, other specialists will be involved: neurologists, arrhythmologists, epileptologists and etc.

Attention! If fainting happened to you even just once, then a visit to a cardiologist cannot be postponed!

The doctor will find out the causes of fainting, select the necessary treatment, tell you in detail about your personal risks, some restrictions that arise in your life due to the diagnosis, and write you a follow-up plan for the following years. Restrictions may even apply to taking certain medications!

It must be remembered that it is not the fainting itself that is treated, but the disease that led to it. Often diagnostics are very complicated and it comes down to the use of loop recorders. The European Society of Cardiology calls for more widespread and bold use of this diagnostic method. In some cases, diagnosis ends with the installation of a pacemaker. In such difficult cases, it may be necessary to get a second opinion from leading foreign clinics. Our cardiologist has this opportunity