Have you seen a person lying down unresponsive, and making certain groan sounds as they try to breath only for you to think that they are snoring? You might be shocked to find out that the person you thought was snoring was actually fighting for their lives as they might be experiencing Agonal Breathing. Are you just hearing that word for the first time, do not worry because I am going to help you understand everything you need to know about it in full.
Our brain, although not bigger than two fist can do a lot more than its size. It is one of the most oxygen demanding organ in the body because to think that the brain uses about 19% of the oxygen inhaled into the body explains how oxygen demanding the brain is and this is not far fetched from the fact that the brain needs energy to do a lot of things, including processing about 11 million bits of operations per second which including ensuring that our organs are working properly, sending response to nerves, maintaining homeostasis and releasing hormones, and ensuring consciousness.
For our brains to send and receive information, it needs the help of neurons. These neurons fire about 50 signals per minute individually, so you can imagine that asides getting nutrients to the brain, oxygen is paramount. The brain is the largest single consumer of oxygen in the body asides from the Liver and Spleen that uses 27% combined, the skeletal muscles uses 18% of oxygen, the kidneys uses 10%, the heart 7%, and every other tissue and muscles use 19% of the oxygen inhaled into the body.
While the muscle cells in our body can store glucose in form of glycogen for a very long time, the neurons in our brain cannot do this for long and that is why the brain needs to be fed oxygen every time, but in the case where there is no oxygen, the neuron go to their reserve to use the glucose they have in store but this isn't always sufficient since it isn't a large storage so it is used up quickly leading to neuronal death as a result of toxic byproduct building up in the neurons which led to the damage of the neurons. This is known as Brain Hypoxia or Cerebral Hypoxia.
When this thing happens in a person, the damage is irreversible within minutes leading to the permanent damage of important parts in the brain like the frontal cortex, and it keeps spreading throughout the brain until it reaches the brainstem. Researchers have said that the brainstem dies last because its neurons has robust Sodium Potassium pumps which allows it to keep sending signals even when other parts of the brain are shutting down.
The Medulla Oblongata located in the brainstem controls breathing and heartbeat and this is why people who have severe damage in their brains can still breath and their heart can still pump. To understand Agonal breathing, we need to understand the brainstem. The brainstem is made up of the midbrain, the pons, and the medulla. the pons and the medulla are responsible for breathing and heartbeat while the midbrain is responsible for functions such as eye movement, sensory processing, as well as sleep and wake cycle. With oxygen deprivation, the upper part of the brainstem which is where the midbrain is found die living the pons and medulla to keep working. It is at this point that the pons and medulla function excessively to pump blood and inhale oxygen vigorously to the brain which is what leads to agonal breathing
People who you see that start agonal breathing are actually unresponsive and unconscious because at this state, most part of the brain is damaged. Person who experience agonal breathing gasp for air which is followed by labored vocalization. While agonal breathing is the brain trying to get oxygen to itself, it is a clear sign that the brain isn't getting the oxygen at all. People who usually have this breathing are people with cases of Cardiac arrest, metabolic acidosis, or stroke. At this point the brain is no longer functioning.
Tell me you are not one of the numerous people who do not know about agonal breathing, because a lot of people do not know what this term is and that is why when they call for help, they tell the emergency correspondent that the person is lying unconscious but still breating whereas in reality the person is experiencing agonal breathing and could die if the medics do not come prepared. Either you are one of the numerous people who haven't heard this term before, or you are part of the few that know it, it is important to always call for help when you see someone lying unconscious and still breathing, you can save their lives. During your wait time, you can perform CPR so you can help the person get oxygen into their system. Remember that not all agonal breathing case can be saved by CPR but it is good to give it a try so as to help save the life.
Read More About Agonal Breathing
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK20367/
https://www.openphilanthropy.org/research/new-report-on-how-much-computational-power-it-takes-to-match-the-human-brain/
https://www.britannica.com/science/information-theory/Physiology
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5067378/
https://learn.saylor.org/mod/book/view.php?id=36933&chapterid=20607
https://books.google.com.ng/books
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6267510/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544297/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1733591/
https://avive.life/guides/agonal-breathing-everything-you-need-to-know/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321974
https://www.aedcpr.com/articles/agonal-breathing-what-is-it-what-should-i-do/
https://cpr.heart.org/en/resources/what-is-cpr
