Vegetovascular dystonia — the lady is capricious in every way. Firstly, it is not so much a disease as a syndrome, but so severe that it can compete with any disease. Secondly, according to doctors, it appeared quite recently, in the 19th century, although some sources claim its existence since biblical times. And, finally, the name is also full of confusion: sometimes they call it vegetovascular, sometimes neurocirculatory, which makes it completely elusive.
To sort out all these issues, we asked the doctor, who knows everything and even more about this disease, the author of the project "Vegetative vascular dystonia" — Dortmund model", head of the clinic of neurology and psychotherapy in Dortmund (Germany) Vadim Petrovich PASTUSHENKO.
The principle of a flashlight, or Why only the face turns red
— Vadim Petrovich, vegetovascular dystonia, in addition to its inherent symptoms, also has aesthetic manifestations. In such people, the face burns, the neck and décolleté areas become red. How do you help solve this problem?
— Most people rate this reaction as unwanted. My colleagues and I quite often face the problem of reddening of the skin when a person is very worried during an important speech or conversation. Fortunately, such a problem is easily solved, because there is no complex disease, there is a simple inability to control one's own reactions. Dressing in closed clothes or masking the skin with foundation, a person is only trying to avoid an unpleasant situation, to hide, to hide. But this — short-term effect.
Problems arise when these areas of the body are open and our conscious attention is focused on them. This alone is enough for the superficial vessels to begin to expand, which leads to slight redness (a normal physiological reaction).
This is how the "flashlight principle" works: if you turn on the flashlight in pitch darkness, only those objects that it illuminates will become visible.
Causes of sudden reddening of the skin
• own negative evaluation. The person is trying to read the interlocutor’s thoughts: “Surely he thinks that I am insecure,” “How terrible I look from the outside,” “He must have noticed that something is wrong with me.”
x A mental assessment automatically evokes an emotional response: insecurity, timidity, shame, fear, or anxiety.
The sympathetic nervous system is activated: the body releases adrenaline, norepinephrine and other biologically active substances. This process enhances the reaction of blood vessels. It is especially noticeable in those areas of the body to which a conscious reaction is directed. The circle closes.
A person begins to evaluate himself negatively again. Moreover,
— We work according to the following methodology:
• we conduct special meditation exercises to defocus conscious attention (we learn to observe descriptively, not evaluatively). In such situations, try to pay attention to where your interlocutor is actually looking. You will see that in 90% of cases, those around you are busy with their own problems, and not looking at your deep neckline. You can switch your attention to something else, for example, count how many blue items are in the office;
• learning to manage cognitive (evaluative) and emotional reactions. This is a universal method of work, more complex, requiring control and adjustment by our specialists;
• biofeedback therapy involves teaching with the help of your consciousness to constrict blood vessels. When a person can consciously control his own vessels, the reaction itself will disappear automatically. We treat migraine according to the same principle. Eight sessions are enough to learn how to constrict blood vessels and get rid of headache attacks forever;
• we offer classical methods of behavioral therapy, which are based on confrontation in problem situations (usually unpleasant behavioral reactions are replaced by new functional ones).
— Such patients are characterized by hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating, which is often accompanied by an unpleasant odor, which makes a person asocial. How do you see the solution to this problem?
— It happens that increased sweating of the palms and feet is a congenital anatomical feature of a person. But most often it is a sign of activation of the sympathetic nervous system, a consequence of the fact that a person is "fighting"; or "running away from someone."
Natural reaction — sweating — manifested itself in our ancient ancestors when they ran away from danger or caught up with prey. Sweating performs the function of cooling the muscles. In some people, it is especially pronounced on the palms and feet.
To solve this problem, the aforementioned biofeedback therapy exercises are used, which reduce the electrical resistance of the skin and the activation of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. During the session, a galvanic skin reaction occurs, which works on the principle of a lie detector. The patient watches his reaction on the screen and learns to use it to control sweating. Such devices are used in stress management and psychotherapeutic techniques.
Over time, with the help of such devices, the analogue of which can be purchased in our clinic, patients will be able to train their reactions on their own, at home. They will have a wired connection to your smartphone.
— Paleness of the face and dark circles under the eyes also betray people suffering from vegetovascular dystonia. How can you help them?
— This reaction is the exact opposite of the one we described in the example of skin reddening. Most often, it is observed in hypotensive patients, people who have inspired themselves that they are chronically ill, who are trying to avoid any stressful situations. In this case, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated. It is quite difficult to control and manage such a state, because the equipment shows her insufficient tone.
To get rid of pale skin will help:
• extreme sports, active lifestyle;
• dousing with cold water to tone blood vessels.
— How do you deal with a headache or nervousness?
— Headache and irritation are probably the most interesting topics in neuroscience. This is a separate topic for conversation.
The most common is episodic or chronic tension-type headache. The main reason for its appearance — muscle tension caused by psychosocial or muscle stress, anxiety and depression. It can be measured with special devices.
For headaches, our clinic doctors recommend:
• biofeedback;
• myography (measuring the tension of the frontal muscle). The patient sees a visualization of his tension on the screen and learns to relax it on his own. This skill results in pain relief;
• special exercises.
After time, the relaxation response is automated and the pain no longer appears.
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