Is this a vagal response? PLEASE HELP

kloe · Oct 25, 2015

It's my last semester in nursing school and I am a preceptee in the "ED" excuse me for putting "ER." I am learning and EAGER to learn so I took the time to make this account and ask a question from a situation that simply puzzled me. I told the Doctor and discussed this with my preceptor. He believes it could be a vagal response however I am confused as to why only the blood pressure would change and not the HR, etc. I simply wanted an idea as to why or what was all about. NOT a hw assignment, I just wanted a fellow nurses thoughts or knowledge about it, however after my first time using this, I'm afraid of getting another demeaning response as you had assumed I was using this site for cheating purposes. I feel sorry for any student who gets a response like that for simply wanting to learn. (as we all know nurses should not make assumptions). Have a good day.

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Oct 25, 2015

Suctioning in an elderly or frail patient can change the fluid balance in the patient that it affects the BP.

Some people live at 90's over 60's, so the freaking out aspect of deep suctioning can make someone feel like they are about to pass out.

The RR would be hard to get when someone is suctioning, and I am curious as to what the PR was....in the 90's is not a "normal" when someone is lying down--or if their normal is 60's, or if they are paced.

I would think a care plan could reflect r/o fluid imbalance. It sounds to me, however, that they did not tolerate the suctioning well (and who the heck could blame them!!) and perhaps at one point "passed out". (

As a student, you can look at a whole patient and decide the most likely scenario. And back it up with more than one care plan, and more than one scenario.

Best wishes!!

LDAthleteNurse, BSN, RN · Oct 25, 2015

It's my last semester in nursing school and I am a preceptee in the "ED" excuse me for putting "ER." I am learning and EAGER to learn so I took the time to make this account and ask a question from a situation that simply puzzled me. I told the Doctor and discussed this with my preceptor. He believes it could be a vagal response however I am confused as to why only the blood pressure would change and not the HR, etc. I simply wanted an idea as to why or what was all about. NOT a hw assignment, I just wanted a fellow nurses thoughts or knowledge about it, however after my first time using this, I'm afraid of getting another demeaning response as you had assumed I was using this site for cheating purposes. I feel sorry for any student who gets a response like that for simply wanting to learn. (as we all know nurses should not make assumptions). Have a good day.

Don't even sweat it. I've been here on allnurses for a minute and the nurses here tend to eat their young and find any and every reason to "throw their weight" around especially against inexperienced nurses. It's quite annoying, ESPECIALLY when us students are genuinely just trying to learn. Unfortunately allnurses does not have a muting capability that allow us to silence those who feel the need to impose their sense of online pseudo self-importance.

ANYWAYS, to answer your question, this very well may have been a vagal response. I was in a very similar situation where a patient post pacemaker placement surgery was complaining of needing to have a bowel movement, we got him to restroom he started to pass out. His wife freaked out and we ended up calling a code blue. Other VS's were pretty much stable, but his blood pressure was very low. He passed a rather large bowel movement and the doctor said that he was most likely experiencing a vagal resonse

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Oct 25, 2015

Unfortunately allnurses does not have a muting capability that allow us to silence

Yes it does. It's called the ignore feature accessible by every registered member via their profile.

Qester · Oct 26, 2015

As far as I can recall:

Some information on the vasovagal response can be found here: The vasovagal response. - PubMed - NCBI

In short it is activation of the parasympathetic system (Rest and Digest) via the vagus nerve. The effect the vagal response would have directly is a drop in blood pressure and a drop in heart rate, not an increase. If an increase in heart rate was seen it would be due to a reflex tachycardia, however the heart is predominately under parasympathetic control so it is unlikely you would see an immediate reflex tachy while the parasympathetic system was being activated.

However make to confirm the accuracy of this as I am just going by that article and off the top of my head

Trauma Columnist · Oct 26, 2015

Several posts have been edited/deleted. The bottom line comes down to being polite.

Moved to nursing student assistance forum

PyridiumP · Nov 8, 2015

Don't even sweat it. I've been here on allnurses for a minute and the nurses here tend to eat their young and find any and every reason to "throw their weight" around especially against inexperienced nurses. It's quite annoying, ESPECIALLY when us students are genuinely just trying to learn. Unfortunately allnurses does not have a muting capability that allow us to silence those who feel the need to impose their sense of online pseudo self-importance.
ANYWAYS, to answer your question, this very well may have been a vagal response. I was in a very similar situation where a patient post pacemaker placement surgery was complaining of needing to have a bowel movement, we got him to restroom he started to pass out. His wife freaked out and we ended up calling a code blue. Other VS's were pretty much stable, but his blood pressure was very low. He passed a rather large bowel movement and the doctor said that he was most likely experiencing a vagal resonse

People get pacemakers for vagal responses like low HR from Valsava(pushing c bm for example). So his HR would not have been low to do this. Valsava decreases venous return so that could be his problem bec the heart can't pump out what it doesn't get in. Always tell peopletobreathe and not close their throat when on the toilet or moving in bed.

sailornurse · Apr 16, 2016

Don't even sweat it. I've been here on allnurses for a minute and the nurses here tend to eat their young and find any and every reason to "throw their weight" around especially against inexperienced nurses. It's quite annoying, ESPECIALLY when us students are genuinely just trying to learn. Unfortunately allnurses does not have a muting capability that allow us to silence those who feel the need to impose their sense of online pseudo self-importance.

But did you die?

But did you die?