Treatment of vegeto-vascular dystonia

An important place in the treatment of children with vegetative-vascular dystonia should be given to individual rational psychotherapy. The results of treatment of children with vegetative-vascular dystonia are largely determined by the depth of contact with the doctor.

Treatment of vegetative-vascular dystonia should begin with normalizing the daily routine, while regulating the child's physical and mental activities. Mental and emotional stress are well eliminated by physical exercises (swimming, skiing, skating, cycling, measured walking, table tennis, badminton). Not only children, but also their parents should understand that the main thing in treating vegetative-vascular dystonia is normalizing the daily routine and optimizing physical activity, the main components of a healthy lifestyle. It is necessary for the child to be outdoors for at least 2-3 hours daily. It is very important that night sleep lasts 8-10 hours. At the same time, TV viewing should be limited to 1 hour per day. Computer activities should be dosed taking into account the child's condition and age.

A teenager with vegetative-vascular dystonia should receive a complete diet with sufficient minerals and vitamins, limit salt, do not overeat, avoid hypercaloric foods. Complex therapy for vegetative-vascular dystonia should include water treatments such as swimming, circular shower, and therapeutic baths. Acupuncture, massage, exercise therapy, and sanatorium treatment are indicated.

Treatment of children with vegetative dystonia should be comprehensive, long-term, taking into account the age, form and stage of the disease. Success largely depends on the timeliness and adequacy of the therapy. Along with the general effect, a correlation of the leading painful manifestations - syndromes (arrhythmia, hypertension, arterial dyskinesia, etc.) is also assumed, which are the façade of the disease and the subject of special concerns of the patient and his relatives. Considering the child's age, especially in cases of mild course of the disease, preference should be given to non-drug correction methods in combination with general regimen and psychotherapeutic measures.

Non-drug treatment of vegetative-vascular dystonia

1. Maintaining a daily routine: morning exercises, alternating mental stress with physical exercise and walks for at least 2-3 hours a day; watching TV should not exceed 1-1.5 hours a day; sleep at night for at least 8-10 hours; a short rest during the day (15-20 minutes) is useful.
2. Physical education, sports, therapeutic exercises: in case of pronounced clinical symptoms, especially in the crisis course of the disease, sports and participation in competitions are not recommended. Given the pathogenic effect of hypokinesia, complete exemption of children with vegetative dystonia from physical education is not recommended. The most beneficial effects are swimming, skiing, skating, cycling, active games (badminton, table tennis), dosed walking, tourism.
3. Compliance with certain dietary measures: limit table salt, fatty meats, flour products, sweets, increase the intake of potassium and magnesium salts (buckwheat, oatmeal, millet, soybeans, beans, peas, apricots, peaches, rose hips, dried apricots, raisins, zucchini, beets, carrots, eggplants, onions, lettuce, parsley, nuts), consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids (sunflower, corn, olive oil).
4. Therapeutic massage: recommended massage of the spine and neck-collar zone, segmental, in case of hypotension - massage of the lower extremities, abdomen; 15-20 procedures per course.
5. Reflexotherapy: the course consists of 10-13 procedures, which are carried out daily or at intervals of 1-2 days.
6. Physiotherapeutic methods: in the treatment of vegetative dystonia of the sympathetic-tonic type, it is justified to use known procedures with a sedative, hypotensive, and antispasmodic effect. For this purpose, galvanization, diathermy of the carotid sinus area, electrophoresis according to Vermel or by the collar method of 5% sodium bromide solution, 4% magnesium sulfate solution, 2% euphyllin solution, 1% papaverine solution are indicated. In vegetodystonia with a predominance of vagotonia, electrophoresis of 5% calcium chloride solution, 1% caffeine solution, ephedrine, mesaton by the collar method or by the reflex method of Shcherbak, general ultraviolet irradiation in gradually increasing doses (from V4 to 2 biodoses) are used - for a course of 16-20 procedures. To stimulate the function of the adrenal cortex, DVM therapy is prescribed. adrenal areas (TIX - CIV). In case of mixed-type vegetative dystonia, electrophoresis of 1% novocaine solution and 0.2% potassium iodide solution using the orbito-occipital method and endonasal electrophoresis of 2% novocaine solution are used to normalize the limbic-reticular complex. These procedures are alternated every other day.

An effective method of electrosleep in childhood is applied according to the orbito-occipital method with a procedure duration of 20-40 minutes daily or 2 days in a row and 1 day break; a course of treatment is 10-14 procedures. With a sympathetic-tonic tone, a pulse frequency of 10 Hz is used, with a predominance of vagotonia - 100 Hz. Given the inhibitory effect of the magnetic field on the central nervous system, a pronounced antiarrhythmic and hypotensive effect, an alternating magnetic field is applied to the collar area.

Water procedures are indicated: general pine and radon baths are used for vagotonia, carbon dioxide, sulfamide - for sympathicotonia. Turpentine baths, Charcot shower, fan and circular showers are recommended to stabilize vascular tone. At home, dousing, rubbing, contrast showers followed by rubbing with a hard towel, salt-pine, foam baths are used. 7. Psychotherapy: in children with vegetative dystonia on a residual organic background, psychotherapy is limited to hypnotic sleep-rest according to K.K. Platonov and combined with drug treatment. If the leading etiological factor is psychogenic, both rational and group psychotherapy are indicated; both types of treatment are aimed at correcting personality traits, shifting emphasis in the system of relationships towards maximum socialization, and developing adequate reactions.

Drug treatment of vegetative-vascular dystonia

When prescribing drug treatment, the smallest number of individually selected drugs in an age-appropriate dose should be used while continuing non-drug therapy and lifestyle correction. Psychopharmacotherapy includes sedatives: valerian, hawthorn, motherwort preparations; herbal collection - valerian, motherwort, hawthorn, sage, wild rosemary, St. John's wort.

Tranquilizers, antidepressants and neuroleptics are used taking into account age, preferably in minimal doses (if there is no effect from other treatment methods).

Psychostimulants are prescribed for severe hypotension, vagotonia, bradycardia, and depressive disorders. Preference is given to preparations from plant materials (tincture of lemongrass, ginseng, zamaniha, aralia, eleutherococcus extract, rhodiola extract), which can be combined with sidnocarb, duplex injections. Small doses of seduxen and frenolone also have a stimulating effect, which are advisable to use given their main, anxiolytic effect.

Neurometabolic stimulants (cerebroprotectors) are indicated for children with pronounced manifestations of vegetative dystonia, functional somatic pathology, residual organic changes in the central nervous system. Nootropil (piracetam), encephabol (pyriditol), pantogam, etc. are prescribed.

In case of intracranial hypertension, courses of diacarb, glycerol, and diuretic herbs are recommended. Trental, cavinton, and stuteron are prescribed to improve microcirculation. Of the other drugs, potassium preparations, vitamins B1, E are used for sympathicotonia, and calcium, phosphorus, vitamins B6, and pyridoxal phosphate are used for vagotonia. According to indications, resorption therapy is prescribed - lidase, biyoquinol.

Treatment of vegetative paroxysms is carried out according to general rules in minimal age-related dosages of drugs, preferably in combination with psychotherapeutic methods.

Prevention of vegetative-vascular dystonia

Prevention should begin with non-drug measures - normalization of the daily routine, nutrition, walks in the fresh air, water procedures. Prevention of vegetative-vascular dystonia is possible only with its early diagnosis, determined long before the child's complaints appear. Prevention is based on a healthy lifestyle. Optimization of physical activity and a balanced rational diet with low calorie content and anti-sclerotic focus are the main components of the prevention of vegetative-vascular dystonia and other diseases, primarily cardiovascular diseases.