Symptoms of senile coma

Senile coma is a pathological state in which brain function is highly inhibited. At this time, the elderly are in an unconscious state, and such symptoms often occur in the elderly. They require immediate and timely treatment, otherwise it will easily threaten their lives. If we want to better prevent it, then first of all we need to know the symptoms of senile coma.

Senile coma actually occurs frequently in middle-aged and elderly people. Cerebrovascular disease, high infarction or some other cardiovascular and brain diseases in the elderly may cause this symptom, so it is necessary to actively receive treatment when treating these diseases.

1. Classification is to determine the degree of consciousness disorder.

2. Manifestations and grading: Coma is a serious disorder of consciousness and is generally divided into three levels according to its severity, namely, light coma, coma, and deep coma.

(1) Light coma (or drowsiness): The patient’s consciousness is seriously unclear and he or she has no active response to external stimuli. He or she only has a defensive reaction when there is pain. Sometimes, the patient will make incoherent, aimless cries without any thought content, keep his eyes closed all day as if sleeping, and have no changes in reflexes, but brainstem reflexes such as coughing, swallowing, sneezing, and corneal reflexes are all present.

(2) Coma: The patient’s consciousness is seriously unclear and he or she does not respond to external stimuli. Painful stimuli cannot cause a defensive response. There is no thought content, no shouting, slow swallowing and coughing reflexes, weakened tendon reflexes, and often pathological reflexes.

(3) Deep coma: the most serious disturbance of consciousness, in which all reflexes including tendon reflexes and brainstem reflexes disappear. Muscle tone is low and sometimes pathological reflexes disappear. Some patients experience decorticate or decerebrate seizures.

In addition, there are 2 special coma states:

① Akinetic mutism (coma with eyes open): It is caused by damage to the thalamus, subthalamus, superior brainstem, cingulate gyrus of the cerebral cortex or corpus callosum, while the oculomotor nerve function is preserved and the patient's eyeballs move from time to time. Orienting reflexes to sound and blink reflexes to visual stimuli are present, but the response to painful stimuli is very slow and may only cause defensive reflexes in the limbs. He is speechless, motionless, unable to communicate his thoughts, takes a long time to fall asleep, has sweating and temperature disorders, and urinates frequently, and is in a vegetative state.

② Decorticate state: The patient's eyes are often open, and the limbs are decorticate rigid (the elbows, wrists and finger joints of both upper limbs are flexed, the lower limbs are extended and internally rotated, and the feet are plantar flexed). The corneal reflex, directional reflex to sound stimulation, swallowing reflex, etc. still exist. The facial expression and escape reflex to pain stimulation are normal or even hyperactive. Having the reaction of falling asleep and waking up is also a vegetative state. The lesion is caused by extensive damage to the cerebral cortex on both sides or diffuse degeneration of the white matter.

The above are the symptoms of senile coma, so when facing some diseases we must not take it lightly. Even if it is not so serious at the beginning, we cannot ignore the treatment, otherwise it will develop into other diseases and threaten life.