Your information:

What do I do?
1. Act quickly!
2. Sit up or raise the bed up.

Baseline Blood Pressure

______________________________

Autonomic
Dysreflexia:

Level of Injury
______________________________

is relatively often unrecognized by

individuals with SCI (Spinal Cord Injuries),

3. Loosen or remove anything

tight (clothes, diaper,
stockings, etc.)

Doctor

4. If you have a BP machine,

check it every 5 minutes.

______________________________

and 22% of individuals with SCI reported

Allergies

symptoms consistent with AD that has not

5. Check your bladder. Empty

your bladder.

______________________________

6. Empty your bowels, if needed

Furlan, J. (2013). Autonomic

7. Check your skin, for any

wounds or cuts.
8. If it doesnt get better, call
9-11 or have someone take you
to the hospital.

______________________________
Phone Number

their caregivers and health care

professionals. 41% of individuals with SCI
had not heard of Autonomic Dysreflexia

References:

Dysreflexia: A Clinical
Emergency. Journal of Trauma
and Acute Care Surgery. 75:3.
(496-500).
Stephenson, R. (2014). Autonomic
Dysreflexia in Spinal Cord
Injury. Medscape.
http://emedicine.medscape.com
/article/322809overview#aw2aab6b4
Y

been recognized (Furlan, 2013).

Autonomic Dysreflexia
What is it?

What do I feel?

1. It is a medical emergency!
2. Happens with T-6 injury (right
below your chest) or higher
3. Irritating trigger below injury
4. Cant send message to brain
because your Spinal Cord
Injury blocks it
5. Message that cant be sent
turns on special autonomic
nerves (this makes blood
vessels in your body squeeze
and get smaller)
6. This causes many problems
with what you feel!

What
it?
Some causes
major causes:
1. Full bladder
2. Constipation
3. Tight clothing
4. Bed sores
5. Ingrown toe nails
6. Pressure ulcers