autonomic nervous system

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I am confused about this system, can someone explain it to me. We were learning about the drugs to go with it and I got lost

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I am confused about this system, can someone explain it to me. We were learning about the drugs to go with it and I got lost

As you said, this is an entire system...and it can be confusing. This isn't really a good place to get such a big answer. Have you tried pulling your A&P book out again and reading that section again?

Best of luck!

Peace,

CuriousMe

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Specializes in ICU.

Is this the same person who asked the exact same question a day or two ago and got pretty much the exact same response? The people here are more than happy to offer help, but generally you need to ask a specific question. For something this broad, I would suggest the following:

-reread (or read) that chapter in your book

-Google anything that needs additional clarification

-if you are still having trouble, check into any tutoring that might be available at your school or visit your instructor during office hours.

Good luck.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

the nervous system consists of the central (brain and spinal cord) and peripheral systems (cranial nerves and spinal nerves). the autonomic system is part of the peripheral nervous system. therefore, it consists of nerves eminating from the brain or spinal cord. these nerves control unconscious, involuntary actions. the autonomic system of nerves is further divided into two parts:

  1. sympathetic - act on organs and blood vessels to prepare the body to react to stressful situations - these nerves stem mainly from the chest segments of the spinal cord and stimulate many different organs
  2. parasympathetic - oppose the effect of sympathetic nerves dominating primarily during quiet, restful times - these nerves stem from the brain and lower part of the spinal cord and each nerve usually affects only one specific organ

if you have your own copy of taber's cyclopedic medical dictionary you can see a drawing of the autonomic system in the listings for of the dictionary for "autonomic nervous system" as well as a long explanation about it.

if you do not have an anatomy book, there are anatomy weblinks listed here that you can access to find this kind of information:

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
no, it actually wasn't. i was the one who responded to the first one and gave a very similar respose to the #2 post here. i can't find the first thread [even when i look at a list of all my posts], so i'm guessing it must have been deleted somehow....point is, get off your high horse, curiousme had a legitimate point.

are you talking about this post in the general nursing discussion forum? https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/stupid-question-sympathetic-nerve-system-355777.html

i hang out on this student forum and the nursing student assistance forum. questions of the nature posed by the op are encouraged here. students post those kind of questions on the general nursing discussion forum at their own peril. i don't always know when a thread has been moved from there to here, but when i see the kind of posts like above, i can only suspect that the thread may have started there because other students don't usually treat each other that way on these forums. there are some real nasty nurses out there on the general nursing discussion forum who have forgotten what it is like to be a student. this material is not easy the first, second or third time people hear it and some nurses forget that. they also forget how many times they fell off their bikes when they were learning how to ride them or how many dings they put in their first cars when they were learning to coordinate how to press the gas pedal, watch the speedometer, control the steering wheel and navigate the car between the lines on the road. some still can't do it well.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I just had to respond to this question because I had an AWESOME A&P instructor who gave the best explanation of this by telling a story.

Imagine a little boy walking home from school. He has to pee and poop really bad, but he is holding it the best way he can. All of a sudden, a huge angry dog jumps out from behind a fence and starts barking at him! His sympathetic nervous system takes "sympathy" on him...his adrenaline kicks in and his heart rate quickens to deliver more blood to his tissues, his pupils dialate so he can see the big dog better, and suddenly he no longer has to pee and poop! He runs away and escapes the dog with the help of his sympathetic nervous system. Once he is safe, his parapympathetic system reverses the process: heart rate slows, pupils constrict, and he has to pee and poop again!!!

I am sure there is more to the story that I am forgetting, but you get the jist. After that story I have never forgotten which system does what! Yeah to great teachers everywhere! :yeah:

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Specializes in ICU.

I am by no means suggesting that anyone here is against providing help to students. Daytonite is known for her willingness to help others and I see every day what a wonderful impact that has on members of this forum. I have posted copies of my own A&P notes as a way of helping other students supplement their own learning tools and am in the process of building a website for that purpose. I have stayed up late to dig through old handouts to find diagrams of gas exchange to scan and email to students. I have recorded my flashcard Q&A and shared it with people in my classes. However, I do take issue with people who cannot take responsibility for their own learning/lives/anything. OC85 is right...this extremely broad question was posted the other day...the 17th to be exact...and it has since disappeared. If the OP wants access to the notes I have provided, I am happy to direct him/her to that thread, but to ask anyone to explain an entire system seems a bit much. Got specific questions? Need clarification? That's a different type of question entirely. Just my two cents...

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I am by no means suggesting that anyone here is against providing help to students. Daytonite is known for her willingness to help others and I see every day what a wonderful impact that has on members of this forum. I have posted copies of my own A&P notes as a way of helping other students supplement their own learning tools and am in the process of building a website for that purpose. I have stayed up late to dig through old handouts to find diagrams of gas exchange to scan and email to students. I have recorded my flashcard Q&A and shared it with people in my classes. However, I do take issue with people who cannot take responsibility for their own learning/lives/anything. OC85 is right...this extremely broad question was posted the other day...the 17th to be exact...and it has since disappeared. If the OP wants access to the notes I have provided, I am happy to direct him/her to that thread, but to ask anyone to explain an entire system seems a bit much. Got specific questions? Need clarification? That's a different type of question entirely. Just my two cents...

Heh, we seem say such similar things, but with a sort of "good cop/bad cop" delivery.:chuckle

....or maybe polka-dot is just way nicer than I am.

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Autonomic pharmacology was a bit of a headache for me. The things I remember specifically are that if you get a drug that is going to work on the Autonomic nervous system to increase heart rate or something else, it's going to have an effect on the entire autonomic nervous system like slow down GI movement, dilate pupils etc.

There's 2 areas of autonomic pharmacology: Adrenergic and Cholinergic. Treat them seperately.

Firstly, Adrenergic pharmacology. Which is exclusively working on the sympathetic nervous system. There's a few different types of receptors that have different effects on the body. Like alpha 1 receptors cause vasoconstriction, pupil dilation and a slightly lengthy list of other things. Beta 1 receptors which cause cardiac acceleration. So if you have a drug that has an affinity for the beta 1 receptors you will get ALL of the symptoms beta 1 receptor stimulation, even if you were only going for one particular effect. You have to learn all of these things off by heart if you're being tested, there's no short way.

Then you have cholinergic pharmacology and just to make things hard, these affect both the sympathetic and parasympathetic. Which can be broken down into the nicotinic receptors which has one set of effects and muscarinic, named after the first drugs that stimulated them, not those exclusively. More route learning involved. Get a good book with lots of good diagrams and flow charts. Mine is brilliant at explaining these things but it's an Australian/NZ book.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Sometimes its better to ignore some posts.

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