Stupor (stupor) is a state of impaired motor activity, consisting of significantly decreased reactivity to essentially any kind of external stimulus. The occurrence of stupor always requires consultation with a doctor - this condition is dangerous not only because of what its causes may be, but also because it can occur, inter alia, to a significant degree of dehydration. But what can lead to the patient becoming stunned - what could be the causes of stupor?
Stuporis a term derived from the Latin word "stupere", which translates as "to be stunned". This is how, in the most general terms, you can illustrate what a stupor is - in his case, the patient freezes and becomes insensitive to stimuli coming to him from the outside world, such as sounds, smells or touch.
Stupor can make the patient's surroundings quite disturbing. Quite right - this condition can be caused by very serious diseases, so any patient who develops stupor should be urgently examined by a doctor.
Stupor: reasons
Typically, stupor is associated with psychiatry - for good reason, because in the course of many mental disorders, people can become stunned. In this case, the causes of stupor are:
- schizophrenia
- affective disorders (such as manic states, but also depression - in the case of the latter, stupor may appear especially in the case of very severe depression and in such a situation it is referred to as depressive stupor)
- dissociative disorders (one of their types is the dissociative stupor - it may appear, among others, in response to some extremely stressful events for a person, such as a car accident, death of a loved one or experience rape)
In practice, however, stupor can be caused not only by psychiatric problems - there are also many somatic diseases in which the patient may become stunned. Here, the reasons for stupor can be mentioned:
- carbohydrate metabolism disorders (stupor can be caused by both hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia)
- hormonal disorders(e.g. in the form of hypothyroidism)
- neoplastic diseases (especially brain tumors)
- poisoning (e.g. with heavy metals)
- epilepsy
- infections (especially those involving the central nervous system)
- cardiovascular disease (one of the causes of stupor may be a complication of arterial hypertension in the form of hypertensive encephalopathy)
- hypothermia
- experience of some serious injuries (especially head injuries)
Stupor is an interesting state because many scientists have already been looking for some specific areas of the central nervous system, the dysfunctions of which could lead to it.
So far, it has been found that the problem may result from damage to the ascending part of the reticular formation (in the light of the research carried out so far, stupor may appear especially when this part of the nervous system is damaged on the left side).
Stupor: symptoms
The symptoms of stupor include two basic problems:
- akinesia (motor impoverishment - in the course of stupor the patient may not move at all, and he may freeze in a strange pose),
- mutism (complete lack of verbal contact occurring with undamaged speech centers)
The patient in stupor is literally stunned - he does not move and does not speak, additionally he does not react to the stimuli reaching him from the environment (an exception here may be pain stimuli - the patient may react to them with a defensive reaction).
Any attempts to establish a conversation with the patient or messages directed at him remain unanswered - with the person in stupor, at least theoretically, there is no contact at all.
The word is used here theoretically, because in reality the patient, stunned, has preserved awareness (it is possible to fog it, although stupor does not lead to complete loss of consciousness).
Stupor: diagnostics
A patient in a stupor not only does not move and does not speak - he also does not accept liquids or food. It is for this reason that the stupor is undoubtedly a dangerous condition and the patient, who is stunned, should be transported to the hospital.
There, basic laboratory tests are initially performed, which allow him to detect, among others, possible water and electrolyte disturbances - if necessary, the patient is then treated with appropriate and corrective treatment.
After exclusion of possible conditions that pose a threat to the patient's life, the diagnostics is started towardssearching for the causes of stupor.
For this purpose, a wide variety of tests can be carried out, both laboratory tests (allowing for the assessment of, for example, blood glucose levels or an increase in inflammatory markers), as well as imaging tests (mainly of the head) or hormonal tests.
The relatives of the patient play a significant role in the search for the causes of stupor - obtaining from them, for example, information that the patient suffers from some mental disorders or has recently experienced some extremely stressful events, significantly narrows the list of potential causes of stupor.
Stupor: treatment
Stupor may disappear in a very short time, but for it to happen, one thing is required: finding its causes. This is because it is at them that all healing effects should be directed.
For example, a patient with stupor, in whom it is associated with depressive disorders, is recommended to use appropriate antidepressants (it is worth mentioning here that in the case of depressive stupor it may be beneficial to use electroconvulsive therapy).
And when stupor is caused by some neuroinfection, it is necessary to use appropriate antimicrobial drugs, while when the problem arises in connection with an intracranial tumor, the therapy is based on the treatment of such a tumor.