Many studies have concluded that cancer has a distinct smell. Dogs can be trained and electronic noses programmed to recognise cancer by smelling patient samples, but there is still no certainty about what exactly causes the smell.
Our noses can quickly distinguish a pleasant smell and a stench, but until now the chemical cues that help us make such decisions had not been understood. Researchers have found that heavier, more spread-out molecules tend to smell worse than lighter, more compact molecules, although exceptions to the rule exist.
The smells vary from person to person but are usually unpleasant, such as burnt toast, metallic, or chemical smells. Problems with the nose, such as sinusitis, or conditions of the nervous system or brain, including migraine, stroke, or schizophrenia can cause phantosmia.
The term for this type of olfactory hallucination is dysosmia. Common causes of dysosmia are head and nose injury, viral damage to the smell system after a bad cold, chronic recurrent sinus infections and allergy, and nasal polyps and tumors. The brain is usually not the source.
So the odor itself cannot make you sick. But some gaseous compounds can have other effects on your health by causing shortness of breath, headaches, eye irritation, or, if large amounts are inhaled, even death.
The mortality associated with syncope, including SCD risk, is greatest in those cases in which syncope is of a cardiac cause. There was no increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity or mortality associated with a presumptive diagnosis of vasovagal syncope.
Many substances in the environment can produce odors. You typically smell these odors when you are outdoors and sometimes when you are indoors with your windows open. You may smell and react to certain chemicals in the air before they are at harmful levels.
Some chemicals with strong odors may cause eye, nose, throat or lung irritation. People who smell strong odors may get headaches or feel dizzy or nauseous. If an odor lasts a long time or keeps occurring, it also could affect mood, anxiety and stress level.
It's possible to lose consciousness only temporarily, and then wake up. When this happens, you think you've simply fainted. But with VFib or sudden cardiac arrest, you won't wake up — and unless someone restores normal heart rhythm with an automated external debrillator (AED), you'll die within 10 minutes.
Less often, people faint suddenly, without any warning symptoms. Seizures, which are a disturbance of the brain's electrical activity, and cardiac arrest, in which the heart completely stops beating, can cause loss of consciousness but are not considered fainting.
Many other substances, such as the muscle relaxants carisoprodol and cyclobenzaprine, have been used as knock-out drugs because of their sedating effects. The same is true of volatile substances including ether, chloroform, and laughing gas (nitrous oxide).
Your eyes will usually stay open. Orthostatic hypotension: this is a fall in blood pressure on standing up, which can cause fainting.
A drop in blood flow to the brain causes fainting. In these cases, you faint because of: The vasovagal reflex, which causes the heart rate to slow and the blood vessels to widen, or dilate. This reflex can be triggered by many things, including stress, pain, fear, coughing, holding your breath, and urinating.
Sleep fainting or “sleep syncope” was suggested as a new clinical entity in, 2006, by Jardine et al. The patient wakes up feeling faint, often with abdominal symptoms and may briefly lose consciousness in bed or immediately upon standing. There is no tongue biting or post-ictal confusion.
When people faint, or pass out, they usually fall down. After they are lying down, most people will recover quickly.
The lack of blood to the brain causes loss of consciousness. Most fainting will pass quickly and won't be serious. Usually, a fainting episode will only last a few seconds, although it will make the person feel unwell and recovery may take several minutes.
GHB (also known as cherry meth, scoop, and goop) is a type of drug that acts as a central nervous system depressant and is prescribed for the treatment of narcolepsy (a sleep disorder).
General anesthesia is treatment with certain medicines that puts you into a deep sleep so you do not feel pain during surgery. After you receive these medicines, you will not be aware of what is happening around you.
A person may be unconscious for a few seconds — as in fainting — or for longer periods of time. People who become unconscious don't respond to loud sounds or shaking. They may even stop breathing or their pulse may become faint. This calls for immediate emergency attention.
Understanding fainting
A fainting spell generally lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes. Feeling lightheaded, dizzy, weak, or nauseous sometimes happens before you faint. Some people become aware that noises are fading away, or they describe the sensation as “blacking out” or “whiting out.”Background. Tongue biting (TB) may occur both in epileptic seizures and in syncope.
A person may be unconscious for a few seconds — as in fainting — or for longer periods of time. People who become unconscious don't respond to loud sounds or shaking. They may even stop breathing or their pulse may become faint. This calls for immediate emergency attention.
A psychogenic blackout can be difficult to diagnose. Most often it occurs in young adults as a result of stress or anxiety. In most cases a psychogenic blackout is an involuntary reaction of the brain to pressure or distress. Psychogenic blackouts sometimes develop after people have experienced ill treatment or trauma.
If they're breathing, position the person on their back. Raise their legs at least 12 inches above the ground. Loosen any restrictive clothing or belts. If they don't regain consciousness within one minute, call 911 or your local emergency services.
