Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Vasovagal syncope...is anyone else a sufferer?

ratbastid · 11-06-2009, 07:10 PM

I do. I've written about it here somewhere... I'll try and find it.

My trigger is any thought of internal injury. Last time I went out, I was in a large meeting room with about 200 other people. I bent down to put something in my bag under my chair and had a sudden pain in my belly (which my doctor says was a muscle spasm--there's nothing really there to hurt, where the pain was). Next thing I knew, a woman I knew from that meeting, who I knew is an RN, was asking me what the date was and where we were, and I had 200 people looking at me.

I went to the hospital (at the urging of 200 people) and got checked out. Released just in time to catch a flight home. I went to my regular doc the next day who did a thorough workup. I'm healthy as a mule, it turns out (cardiac enzymes and cholesterol are VERY good for a man my age who eats like I do).

I just have a hair-trigger Vagus nerve. It's dropped me on my can maybe a dozen times in my lfe. Runs in my family, as a matter of fact; my dad and my brother are the same way. Family lore tells of my dad sitting in a chair with his head between his knees while I was being born.

My analogy for what it's like is: rebooting my brain. I fainted once in the shower (I had a sore back which lurkette was rubbing for me under a hot shower, and she said, "It feels like your back has collapsed", and I was done). I remember waking up thinking, "Okay... I exist. Fine. Let's see. I'm lying down. There's water coming onto me. Oh, I'm in a shower. Oh, it's MY shower. Okay. Why am I lying in my shower?" That was disorienting, but not particularly scary. Earlier, before I came to recognize it quickly, it felt like I was waking up from a dream that my whole life had been, into what was now real life that I had never actually lived in before. Wild.

Also, btw, marijuana makes me faint. That's not particularly uncommon, it turns out, but you kill a couple parties that way, you learn to stick to beer.

After the last one, I did a little reading about how one might fight it off. I usually don't have much warning--a couple seconds, max, although it feels like hours. I usually try to pretend I'm not fainting, which doesn't make any sense, so you can tell my faculties are already a bit impaired even as it's starting. My impulse is to relax, breath deep, etc. Turns out that's exactly what not to do. Better to squeeze your muscles tightly, try to keep your blood pressure up. What causes the unconsciousness is lack of BP in the brain, so they say if you can tighten your legs and abs, you might be able to fight it off.

11-06-2009, 07:10 PM	#2 (permalink)
ratbastid Darth Papa Location: Yonder	I do. I've written about it here somewhere... I'll try and find it. My trigger is any thought of internal injury. Last time I went out, I was in a large meeting room with about 200 other people. I bent down to put something in my bag under my chair and had a sudden pain in my belly (which my doctor says was a muscle spasm--there's nothing really there to hurt, where the pain was). Next thing I knew, a woman I knew from that meeting, who I knew is an RN, was asking me what the date was and where we were, and I had 200 people looking at me. I went to the hospital (at the urging of 200 people) and got checked out. Released just in time to catch a flight home. I went to my regular doc the next day who did a thorough workup. I'm healthy as a mule, it turns out (cardiac enzymes and cholesterol are VERY good for a man my age who eats like I do). I just have a hair-trigger Vagus nerve. It's dropped me on my can maybe a dozen times in my lfe. Runs in my family, as a matter of fact; my dad and my brother are the same way. Family lore tells of my dad sitting in a chair with his head between his knees while I was being born. My analogy for what it's like is: rebooting my brain. I fainted once in the shower (I had a sore back which lurkette was rubbing for me under a hot shower, and she said, "It feels like your back has collapsed", and I was done). I remember waking up thinking, "Okay... I exist. Fine. Let's see. I'm lying down. There's water coming onto me. Oh, I'm in a shower. Oh, it's MY shower. Okay. Why am I lying in my shower?" That was disorienting, but not particularly scary. Earlier, before I came to recognize it quickly, it felt like I was waking up from a dream that my whole life had been, into what was now real life that I had never actually lived in before. Wild. Also, btw, marijuana makes me faint. That's not particularly uncommon, it turns out, but you kill a couple parties that way, you learn to stick to beer. After the last one, I did a little reading about how one might fight it off. I usually don't have much warning--a couple seconds, max, although it feels like hours. I usually try to pretend I'm not fainting, which doesn't make any sense, so you can tell my faculties are already a bit impaired even as it's starting. My impulse is to relax, breath deep, etc. Turns out that's exactly what not to do. Better to squeeze your muscles tightly, try to keep your blood pressure up. What causes the unconsciousness is lack of BP in the brain, so they say if you can tighten your legs and abs, you might be able to fight it off.