Understanding medical conditions like Autonomic Hyperreflexia can help you deal with them sooner. The sooner you deal with a medical condition the better you will be and sooner it will go. If you feel like a medical problem is happening to you then you must see doctor as soon as possible because if you ignore it for too long it may end up getting worse and this may lead to some bigger health issues and if you ignore chronic diseases for too long then it may end up leading to life-threatening situations.
Emergency conditions like the Autonomic Hyperreflexia need the instant medical attention otherwise it may sometimes lead to the death of the person too. Understanding Autonomic Hyperreflexia may help you in such a way that if it ever occurs to you, you will recognize it right away and will help you seek the medical assistance at the right time too.
Autonomic Hyperreflexia
Basically, Autonomic Hyperreflexia is a situation in which the autonomic nervous system gets hyperactive and this may be caused by some external stimuli. The autonomic nervous system is the system in a body which produces involuntary responses in the body and these actions are those which happens on your own and you have no control over them. So if they start happening on their own increased pace they may even lead to your death due to following some life-threatening conditions.
- Stroke
- Pulmonary edema
- Cardiac arrest
- Haemorrhage
Following are some of the symptoms that may arise due to the Autonomic Hyperreflexia that may help you recognize it right away
- Confusion
- Sweating
- Tremors
- Nasal congestions
- Pupil dilation
- High blood pressure
- Lightheadedness
- Anxiety
- Tachycardia
So these are some of the symptoms that might help you recognize that you may have the Autonomic Hyperreflexia. Recognizing these symptoms you must definitely visit a doctor because even if not for the Hyperreflexia of Autonomic nervous system it may still be the indication of a dangerous medical disorder that needs medical attention.
What may cause Autonomic Hyperreflexia?
There may be certain reasons that can cause the Autonomic Hyperreflexia and that may be caused by following some reasons and following are some of the causes of the Autonomic Hyperreflexia:
- Spinal Cord Injury: Spinal Cord Injury might be the most common cause of the Autonomic Hyperreflexia and this may occur when any of the autonomic nerve dysfunction or damage may occur because of this injury.
- Guillain Barre Syndrome
- Drug interaction or adverse effect of a medicine
- Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
- Illegal drug substance use (stimulant drugs)
- Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome.
Any stimuli that can stimulate this response from the Autonomic Nervous System is basically the main reason for it and these
Treatment and Prevention of Autonomic Hyperreflexia
Getting rid of the stimuli that are causing the Autonomic Hyperreflexia can help you with the treatment and in emergency situations following are some things that you can do to make the Autonomic Hyperreflexia go away by lowering your blood pressure.
- Removing tight clothes and socks
- Getting into a sitting position so that blood can go to your feet.
- Treating faecal impaction if present
- Checking relieving any catheter blockage.
- Lower the blood pressure by giving vasodilators
- Removing any other stimulants like the air flow or any other such object in contact with your skin.
So these are some of the emergency treatment methods that can help control the situation or at least stop it from being aggravated. There are also some prevention methods that can help you avoid such situations altogether.
- If you have had a previous such attack of Autonomic Hyperreflexia then you must avoid such things and objects that were the stimulating cause in the previous episode.
- Changing the medications that can improve the elimination of this disease
- Self-management
- High blood pressure becomes a problem in the Autonomic Hyperreflexia so taking medicines for the High Blood Pressure can help you get rid of them altogether.
- Improved management of urinary catheter.
So in order to get rid of such situation you need to have a long term plan and avoid the stimulating agents like anxiety and should take care of your health and you can do that by keeping your blood pressure in the check otherwise it may cause the extremely drastic effects like cardiac arrest.