Larry
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The first thing that happens when you are unconscious is that homeless drug addicts steal your jewelry and emergency personnel rummage through your wallet for cash. Then, doctors make fun of your big nose and your hair. I’m kidding, although there are some crazy stories about what health care personnel do when they think you are unconscious.
Loss of consciousness or altered states of consciousness are among the common of medical problems, barring scratches and other superficial flesh wounds. Consciousness is measured by doctors on a scale. Responsiveness is measured to physical, verbal, and light stimuli on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being normal and 1 being no response. Before total loss of consciousness, a person can experience several conditions:
• Confusion – Information is not being processed properly. A person experiences sleepiness and apathy.
• Delirium – A form of severe confusion marked by disorientation, memory loss, hallucinations, and delusions.
• Obtundation – Severe fatigue. Even when awake, the person is tired and confused. Waking states can only be maintained by continuous talking or through pain.
• Stupor – Awake but unresponsive except to vigorous or painful stimulation.
• Coma – A state that appears to be sleep but the person cannot be awakened. They may have a loss of reflexes and the limbs may be stiff. Respiration and heartbeat is usually slowed.
Unconsciousness or loss of consciousness is most alike to coma. We tend to think of coma as lasting a long time, but coma can be very limited in duration also. Other than a loss of responsiveness, slowed respiration, and slowed circulation, not much else is going on when unconscious. When someone goes unconscious for a short period and then spontaneously recovers it is called syncope.
 Posted 5362 day ago
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