Symptoms of shock in the elderly

Some elderly people often joke that they are "medicine addicts" and that taking large amounts of medicine for a long time has become a normal part of their lives. However, many elderly people are afraid of bringing financial burden to their children, so they take some drugs to relieve their symptoms for a long time. However, symptoms often become more severe. Children only realize how poor their parents’ health is when they faint in front of them. For example, the phenomenon of shock in the elderly is very scary.

Some diseases will have some obvious symptoms in the early stages of the disease, such as shock. However, because most people do not pay attention to those tiny details, they miss the best time for treatment. Let’s take a look at the symptoms of shock below.

1. Mental state

The patient's mental state often reflects the state of brain tissue perfusion. In the early stages of shock, patients may appear irritable and restless, unwilling to answer questions or talk too much. Later, their expressions may turn apathetic and their reactions may become slow, indicating that the shock has entered the decompensation stage. In severe cases, the patient may become unconscious or even fall into a deep coma. Since the elderly often suffer from cerebral arteriosclerosis, their brain tissue has poor tolerance to ischemia and hypoxia, and impaired consciousness may occur early on, which sometimes becomes the first symptom of shock in the elderly.

2. Skin changes

The color and temperature of the skin often reflect the blood perfusion of the body surface. A temperature difference of 1 to 3°C between the skin and the anus indicates severe shock. The small blood vessels in the skin contract, causing the skin to become pale and cool. The skin becomes pale for a longer time after finger pressure, and the refilling time after pressure is slow (>2s). Sympathetic nerve excitement causes hypersecretion of sweat glands, resulting in cold and wet skin.

3. Rapid pulse

It often occurs before a drop in blood pressure and is a manifestation of the body's compensatory response to reduced circulating volume. Pulse rate increased to 100/min

Or above, even if the blood pressure is not low at this time, you should still be alert to the occurrence of shock. The pulse becomes thin and weak, reflecting the contraction of peripheral arterioles, increased peripheral vascular resistance, and decreased cardiac output. Because the elderly often have degenerative lesions and dysfunction of the sinus node tissue, sometimes their pulse rate does not increase even if shock has occurred.

4. Lower blood pressure

It is an important indicator for diagnosing shock, but in the early stages of shock, due to the body's compensatory mechanism and sympathetic excitement, the peripheral arterioles contract, keeping the systolic blood pressure within the normal range. As peripheral vascular resistance increases, diastolic pressure rises instead, causing pulse pressure to decrease. When the pulse pressure is ≤2.67kPa (20mmHg), shock should be considered to have occurred. A drop in systolic blood pressure to 10.7 kPa (80 mmHg) or below is one of the diagnostic criteria for shock. Although the blood pressure of the elderly or patients with pre-existing hypertension is within the normal range, this cannot be used to deny the existence of shock. At this time, the judgment should be based on the changes in blood pressure. For example, if the systolic blood pressure drops by 30% of the original level, combined with other manifestations (such as a rapid and weak pulse, cold and wet skin, etc.), the presence of shock should still be judged.

Through the introduction of the above content, we can understand that there are many symptoms of shock in the elderly, usually some mental state, skin changes, pulse changes and so on. However, family members must be aware that if the shock is severe, they need to go to the hospital immediately to receive professional treatment and take appropriate medications as directed by the doctor.