Ane elderly patient in a nursing home had recurrent episodes of fainting while standing?
kenneth b asked:
An elderly patient in a nursing home has recurrent episodes of fainting when he stands. An alert nurse notes that this occurs only when his room is fairly warm; on cold mornings, he has no difficulty. What is the cause of the fainting, and how does it relate to the autonomic nervous system and to room temperature?
Caffeinated Content for WordPress
An elderly patient in a nursing home has recurrent episodes of fainting when he stands. An alert nurse notes that this occurs only when his room is fairly warm; on cold mornings, he has no difficulty. What is the cause of the fainting, and how does it relate to the autonomic nervous system and to room temperature?
Caffeinated Content for WordPress
January 1st, 2010 at 10:54 am
Caffeinated Content
when the room is warm, more of his blood is near the surface of his skin so water can evaporate out and cause cooling of the skin (and blood). When the room is cool, the blood is kept more in the muscles and organs, so he has enough blood in his brain to remain conscious.
Older people often get what is called orthostatic hypotension, which just means that if they stand suddenly from sitting or lying down, they are likely to black out or faint. (We young kids can do the same, it just doesn’t happen as often.)