Shock

Shock is not an ordinary symptom — it is an acute breakdown. The circulation fails, blood pressure drops, the skin turns pale and cool, consciousness dims. The organs receive too little — too little oxygen, too little blood, too little supply. The body is fighting for the most fundamental of all tasks: keeping itself alive.

Medically, there are many paths into this state. A major blood loss following an injury. An allergic reaction that derails the vascular system within seconds. An infection that floods the entire organism. A heart that can no longer pump. Or a trauma that forces the body into a kind of emergency shutdown. As different as the triggers are — the core is always the same: the circulation no longer suffices. The system collapses.