The autonomic dysreflexia syndrome is a potentially dangerous condition which affects people with spinal cord injuries of the "SCI" above the T6 vertebra.
Autonomic dysreflexia syndrome causes a sudden and uncontrolled elevation in your blood pressure, which is also often accompanied by other symptoms.
The autonomic dysreflexia syndrome and uncontrolled elevation of blood pressure occurs because of your body's autonomic nervous system overreacting to certain stimuli, which results in a cascade of events which can be life threatening.
Autonomic dysreflexia emerges after a spinal cord injury and often when the spinal cord injury occurs at or above the T6 level.
The higher the level of the spinal cord injury, the greater risk, with up to 90 percent of people with cervical or high thoracic spinal cord injuries being susceptible.
The red flags and signs and symptoms of autonomic dysreflexia include raised blood pressure, bradycardia, pounding headache, flushing, sweating or blotching above level of injury, pale, cold, goosebumps below the level of injury.
The 5 B's or actually 6 B's of autonomic dysreflexia are bladder, bowels, boils, bones, babies and back passage.
Although it can sound a bit crude, the 6 Bs of autonomic dysreflexia encompass and summarize potential triggers and can be helpful for people to recognize the symptoms in themselves.
Autonomic dysreflexia is also known as autonomic hyperreflexia and is an emergency situation.
It's also an abnormal response that occurs when your body experiences pain or discomfort below the level of your spinal cord injury.