Starvation fainting often occurs in people who are on too strict a diet. Sometimes women, wanting to quickly lose weight, arrange fasting days for themselves. Some in the fight against extra pounds completely refuse food for some time. The human body reacts sharply at first to the absence 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 a lack of food. Well-being is normalizing, but against the background of complete health, a person may suddenly lose consciousness from hunger.
What is fainting?
Fainting is a loss of consciousness that lasts for a short time. In medicine, this is defined as a syncopal state ("syncope" in Greek means "chopping off"). It is not a disease in itself, but always indicates a sharp ill-being in the body. A person loses consciousness due to the fact that the central nervous system does not receive enough oxygen. Under conditions of hypoxia, the brain "turns off" and fainting occurs.
Physiological causes of loss of consciousness from hunger
What is the cause of oxygen deficiency and malnutrition with malnutrition? Most often, a person loses consciousness due to a deficiency of glucose in the blood. Long starvation leads to a drop in sugar levels, which causes hypoxia of the central nervous system. In addition, with a lack of food, toxins enter the bloodstream. Once in the brain, these harmful substances cause loss of consciousness.
Most often, a syncope occurs due to a lack of nutrients in the body when a person is short of food. But there are other reasons for starving fainting:
- Often this condition is observed in people who are on a diet with a uniform diet (for example, eat only dairy products or fruit juices). This leads to an unbalanced diet, and the body begins to draw the missing substances from internal resources. As a result, brain cells experience 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 expend heavily kilocalories. All systems and organs have to work with increased load to provide the brain with oxygen. However, this does not always succeed, and then the central nervous system turns off and fainting occurs.
- Irregular nutrition, when a person eats dry food or takes long breaks between meals, can also lead to a temporary loss of consciousness. In this case, there is a mismatch between the intake of calories, carbohydrates, fats and energy costs of the body.
- With gastrointestinal diseases, the absorption of nutrients is impaired, which can cause loss of consciousness from hunger, even if a person does not deny himself food.
- Systematic abuse of sugary sodas can cause fainting. Water with gas and sweeteners flushes useful trace elements from the body, and this leads to a lack of nutrients and loss of consciousness.
- Anorexia nervosa often causes fainting from a 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, dramatically changing the position of the body, for example, when standing up. This can also be a kind of hungry fainting, if at the same time insufficient nutrients enter the body.
After how many days of fasting, fainting occurs
Patients practicing therapeutic fasting are interested in how soon they pass out when they completely refuse to eat. This question is difficult to answer unambiguously, since the capabilities of the human body are individual. Some people can do without food for several days, and at the same time they do not have a syncope. Others lose consciousness even with a small violation of their usual diet.
Much depends on the physique of a person. Thin people have a small amount of fat reserves. They have a hungry faint after 1 day of a complete refusal of food. Dense and plump people can lose consciousness on the third or fourth day of fasting, since the first time the body will draw nutrients from its own reserves.
Fainting state
Usually a person does not lose consciousness suddenly. A few minutes before the syncope, the state of health sharply worsens, and the first signs of a hungry faint come:
- dizziness;
- cold sweat;
- nausea;
- blurred consciousness;
- weakness;
- sensation of noise and ringing and ears.
These symptoms indicate that the brain lacks oxygen, and soon the body will “shut off” the central nervous system. Then a person appears black dots and blurred in the field of view, while the pupil stops responding to light. The skin turns pale and sweat. Approximately 20 seconds after visual impairment, a hungry faint begins.
Symptoms of loss of consciousness during hunger
The syncope from a lack of food usually does not last long. In this case, the following symptoms of hunger faint are observed:
- Gradually growing weakness, which turns into a loss of consciousness.
- A person ceases to react to the environment and stimuli, he has no reflexes.
- Muscle tone is sharply reduced.
- Blood pressure drops, heart rate decreases. A faint pulse is heard.
- Perhaps the involuntary allocation of urine and feces.
This condition usually lasts no more than 20 seconds, completely a person leaves a swoon within 4 - 5 minutes.
First aid
It is necessary to provide first aid as soon as possible with a hungry faint. The syncope state itself is not dangerous. But falling during a loss of consciousness can lead to injuries. In addition, residual neurological impairment due to brain hypoxia during starvation fainting is possible. What to do if a person falls and lies unconscious due to lack of nutrition? The following actions must be taken:
- All clothes should be unfastened on the patient, this will ensure the flow of oxygen.
- The patient must be laid so that the legs are above the body.
- The head is turned to one side so that the tongue does not fuse and the airways are not blocked.
- Then you need to let the cotton wool soaked in ammonia smell. If there is no such medication, then you can rub the whiskey with a solution of vinegar or cologne. And you can also help the patient by pressing with force on the area of the face between the nose and upper lip.
- As soon as a person regains consciousness, he should be given a drink of sweet tea or coffee. After 30 minutes, the patient must be fed.
What can not be done with fainting from hunger
The most common mistake with a hungry faint is eating plenty soon after losing consciousness. It seems to those around that if a person has been without food for a long time, then he should be fed tightly. This is a rather dangerous misconception. 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 amount should not be too plentiful. It must be remembered that the patient’s stomach can not digest a large mass of food after starvation.
Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia is a condition similar to fainting due to hunger. It develops in patients with diabetes due to an overdose of insulin. As a result, a person's blood glucose level drops sharply. He feels symptoms such as a strong feeling of hunger, excessive sweating, weakness, nausea. In general, signs of hypoglycemic syncope are similar to symptoms of loss of consciousness from hunger.
When hypoglycemia approaches, it is necessary to give the patient any sweetness: candy, glucose tablets, a piece of sugar. If this condition lasts more than 10 minutes, then you need to call a doctor.
Prevention
If a person has a tendency to fainting, then too strict diets are contraindicated. It is necessary to avoid fasting days, a diet with a uniform meal, and even more so complete starvation.
While following a diet for weight loss should not make sudden movements, subject yourself to physical and mental stress. Do not consume large quantities of sweet carbonated drinks. If a person has to comply with severe dietary restrictions, it is useful to always have candy or chocolate with you. This will help to prevent deterioration of health and fainting from malnutrition.