What is distributive shock?

What is distributive shock?

Distributive shock or vasodilatory shock is a medical emergency where your body can’t get enough blood to your heart, brain and kidneys. This happens because your blood vessels are extremely dilated (flaccid or relaxed), which brings down your blood pressure and cuts down on how much blood can get to your organs. Often the small blood vessels (capillaries) are leaky in distributive shock, resulting in some fluid loss from the circulation.

You need to get treatment as soon as possible for vasodilatory shock.

The three types of distributive shock are:

• Septic shock (from a bacterial infection). Example: A serious infection complication called sepsis that gets so bad it leads to septic shock.
• Anaphylactic shock (from an allergic reaction or asthma attack). Example: An allergic reaction to peanuts that leads to anaphylactic shock.
• Neurogenic shock (from a spinal cord injury that has damaged your nervous system). Example: A diving accident that injures your spinal cord and leads to neurogenic shock.

Distributive shock vs. hypovolemic shock

Both of these are types of shock, which means your vital organs aren’t getting enough blood and oxygen. The difference is in what causes them. Most often, an infection complication called sepsis or a severe allergic reaction causes distributive shock. A large amount of bleeding or fluid loss from diarrhea or throwing up causes hypovolemic shock.

Distributive shock vs. septic shock

Septic shock is a type of distributive shock. When you have an infection called sepsis, it can get so bad that it turns into septic shock.