r/Syncope

I’m a 41 year old female in otherwise good health and for the last 3 months I have had a week or so each month where I become prone to fainting episodes where I don’t actually faint but I feel that I will and I feel terrible. I’m trying to figure out what could be provoking them but they come up at unique times. Sometimes sitting. Sometimes standing. Sometimes after I eat. Sometimes not. Some are worse than others it’s very scary. I can feel my heart beating but it’s not necessarily racing. I don’t feel shortness of breath. My vision is ok. I went to the ER for one and they did a cat scan for a stroke risk and it came back clear. My blood work has come back ok no anemia and thyroid in the past was hypothyroidism but has been normal since having my daughter 2.5 years ago. I went back to the doc they’re doing more blood work and sending me for heart ultrasound and to wear a holster.

The episodes seem to occur during the week after my period.

Has anyone else experienced this? Did you get answers? Thanks in advance 🙏

I get vasovagal syncope from stomach pain and earlier today (around 5am), I was on the toilet and then stood up. I remember my brain and body feeling weird... like I was frozen. I could not 'think' but I was awake. Then next thing you know, I 'woke up' and on the floor with my neck/head against the sink cabinet/corner wall close to the floor.

The issue is ... I do not recall what happened from when I got up and from where I ended waking up. So I do not know if I hit my head against the sink counter or door or corner and then fell onto the floor. Or fell onto the floor and somehow slouched up without me knowing. I know I fell and assumed I shook the place from the fall because I noticed my shower curtain rod not straight (which never happens, it's always in place). So it seems me falling made it fall down a little (though still hanging).

I went to sleep after because I was so exhausted. I woke up feeling fine but since I read about concussions... I'm worried if I potentially have one or not?

Should I go to an ER tomorrow? Is it too late?

What was your experiences when you guys fainted? Anything I should do today?

Normally, I can prevent fainting but somehow this time, I ended up being unconscious really fast without warning whatsoever and I was unconscious for probably a min or more ( I have no idea ). I do not recall anything in between.

I’m 31 (M) have had feinting episodes my whole life as long as I can remember. Always related to medical things. (Blood tests, dentist, school assembly about a guy tombstoning and broke his spine)

My partner is having a baby and we have been to two scans so far. First one I feinted at, was sat down, could feel myself going but couldn’t do anything about it, my partners first time seeing it happen to me. She said she thought I was having a seizure as I was grunting / humming and twitching.

Second scan I stayed stood up but had to sit down after a few minutes as I could feel myself going but I managed to keep it together.

Ive been for CBT therapy which did nothing to help me.

Is there anything I can actually do?

My blood pressure is considered normal. I am healthy, I work out regularly, but I just feel truly pathetic and embarrassed everytime it happens.

Thanks all.

I get a feeling like a plasma ball shocking inside my head. I'm just taking diazepam and a beta blocker atm for an over sensitized nervous system, anxiety and panic.

This happened to me yesterday - I woke up in the morning noticeably hungry, but didn’t eat or drink anything and started working. By 1:00 PM I went to grab lunch with friends and had a couple of sips of water while waiting after ordering.

My friend started telling us a story of how someone he knee tore their Achilles. I noticed it made me physically uncomfortable listening, which usually doesnt happen to me, so I decided to get up and go to the bathroom to take out my invisalign.

On my way to the bathroom, I started to see stars and got very dizzy. Eventually I felt like I was going to fall over, so I tried to grab a table and ended up collapsing to the ground.

I woke up to the restaurant manager and bartender in my face asking if I was ok, while laying on my back on the floor. I got up, drank a couple of sips of orange juice, and then ran into the bathroom and threw up. I started sweating while throwing up, and literally have never sweated like that in my entire life. It was pouring off my arms and my clothes were soaked.

Eventually felt better after drinking some sugary drinks, and had appetite to finish lunch, and I don’t think I injured my head, but my hip and left knee are very very sore.

What should I do now? I haven’t had any additional episodes, but I have never fainted in my life before, despite having been in many situations where I would not be surprised if someone fainted.

Does anyone else get seizure like symptoms when they faint? I mean body stiffness, jerking, and grunting sounds.

I fainted yesterday for the first time in years. It was 4am and my toddler had woken me with a huge nosebleed, it was everywhere and pouring, the smell was so strong and with the heat on top of everything I fainted. We were already sat in bed luckily but my husband said I was out for around 2 minutes, shaking, grunting and stiff.

The last time I fainted was like this too - during a fasting blood draw whilst pregnant, I’d asked to lie down as I usually get dizzy with blood draws (never fainted from one though). Even with lying flat on the bed I still lost consciousness and went stiff, jerking, and grunting. A&E tests decided it wasn’t a seizure as my levels of something were too low and it was diagnosed vasovagel.

Both of these times though I’ve had severe fatigue afterwards. It feels like I’ve been run over by something and punched in the head. I’ve vomited lots immediately after but that stops and I end up feeling nauseous for days.

I used to faint lots as a teen from anxiety and never had these symptoms, I would just drop, regain consciousness, sometimes vomit once and then feel fine. I wonder why as an adult I’m having such a severe response 🤔

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I started uni today and long story short I fainted in front of so many students and it was the most humiliating experience ever, especially because my fainting gets triggered by social anxiety.
I’m not feeling good about going to uni tomorrow, I’m worried about it happening again. I struggle a lot with social anxiety and nothing makes me calm down, i avoided starting uni because of it but now I tried to at least give it a chance and my first day goes this way. For whoever has social anxiety as trigger, what helps you the most?

Those whose fainting is triggered by anxiety-provoking situations, how do you prepare to try to avoid fainting or manage the effects if you do?

I’ve got a blood draw and a dentist appointment coming up (triggers for me), and I’m trying to do everything I can to hopefully stay conscious through them. I’d love everybody’s best tips, and I thought I’d also share what has sometimes helped me (although clearly not always).

- I always tell medical professionals I may faint, and always make them give me a place to lie down.

- I have someone with me to drive me home in case I faint, because I feel totally awful and sick afterwards.

- I find it helps to confront the anxiety ahead of time, not just try to push it down and hope I won’t experience it. That tends to lead to a sudden rush of panic that immediately makes me faint.

Im a 34M with 5’7 and weight about 75 kgs. I had an ACL tear incident about 15 years ago while playing sports. Even though i had to wait about 4 months to get to see a doctor (for insurance reasons) then I was told that I tore my ACL completely and had a partial tear on another legitimate. When the doctor was showing me the MRI and describing exactly what damages I had, I fainted for the first time.

Later, for the next two to three times I wanted to get surgery, I also fainted. Therefore, I just stopped going and get it done. Also, I haf couple of instances where friends would talk about their ACL surgeries or my knee condition, I would just pass out.

Just yesterday, I injured myself on my knee and felt it getting out of place. Now I feel like I should really get this surgery, but I’m just really embarrassed. I feel like I should really get it done for my 2 year old son to be able to play with him while he gets older.

I am only 29 years old and male, and I honestly don’t know what to do anymore about the way my heart rate is affecting my life.
I was on vacation in Japan when I experienced my first vasovagal syncope (fainting episode). Ever since then, I’ve been terrified that it will happen again and that I’ll collapse in public with no way to help myself.
On top of that, I have suffered from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with chronic diarrhea for years, and it has gradually become worse and worse. It got so severe that I could barely keep food in my system because it would pass through me within hours, often liquid and partially undigested. At times, I was having watery diarrhea up to 7–8 times per day.
I also suffer from panic disorder and have been taking Alprazolam daily for years. When my physical symptoms become especially severe, I tend to increase the dose. For over a month now, I’ve been averaging around 7 mg per day (sometimes 6 mg, sometimes 8 mg), but even that no longer seems to help—neither mentally nor physically.
I became so weak that I had to be admitted to the hospital. I spent three weeks there, mostly lying in bed the entire time. During my stay I underwent a chest CT scan, an abdominal ultrasound, an MRI (which had to be stopped because I reacted badly to Buscopan), a colonoscopy with biopsies, and I had already seen a cardiologist before being admitted.
Everything came back normal. More or less every test and examination was considered excellent, except for my calprotectin level, which was close to 400.
One night during my hospitalization, about two weeks after being admitted, I got up to go to the bathroom. Suddenly my heart rate shot up, accompanied by dizziness, severe brain fog, and the feeling that I was about to pass out. Just an hour earlier my resting heart rate while lying down had been around 50 bpm. The moment I stood up, it jumped to 160 bpm. This kept happening over and over again.
The hospital staff couldn’t really help because my blood pressure was always stable while lying down. No matter how often I explained that the problem occurred when standing, I was essentially told to stay in bed because everything looked fine while I was lying down. Eventually I was prescribed 2.5 mg of Bisoprolol.
The thing is, my heart had been evaluated only three weeks earlier and was considered healthy, and my blood pressure has always been normal as well. I don’t want to take beta blockers without understanding the underlying cause. My resting heart rate is already often around 50 bpm while lying down—why would I want to lower it even further?
I continued to have diarrhea but was discharged after three weeks. By that point I was completely deconditioned. I can barely walk without experiencing dizziness, circulation problems, or fear that I might collapse.
Two days after discharge, I received the biopsy results. They found Brachyspira aalborgi, so I started taking Metronidazole 500 mg every eight hours for six days. Unfortunately, the antibiotic has been putting me through hell as well.
Despite that, my condition improved slightly. I was able to move around a little more and walk to the bathroom again. I also underwent a 24-hour ECG/Holter monitor. According to my doctor, everything looked perfect, although it showed 1% atrial fibrillation, totaling about 15 minutes across six episodes. That still worries me.
Yesterday I had an appointment with my gastroenterologist. We were supposed to discuss whether I should undergo capsule endoscopy because of my elevated calprotectin level despite a normal colonoscopy. The procedure involves swallowing a small camera that travels through the small intestine and takes pictures to determine whether inflammation might be originating there.
Unfortunately, on the very day of that appointment I experienced another severe diarrhea flare. Despite taking Loperamide in the days before, my bowel movements had been fluctuating wildly—sometimes no bowel movement at all, then small hard pellets, followed by loose stool again.
I spent almost an hour on the toilet with another episode of mushy stool that had the same unusually sweet odor it has always had. After that, everything went downhill.
About an hour later, while trying to get to my appointment, I developed intense dizziness, a racing heart, pounding heartbeats, and overwhelming brain fog. I feel like I have brain fog almost constantly these days, but this episode was much worse than usual. Eventually I had to call an ambulance.
Again, all of my vital signs appeared stable.
However, my cardiologist, whom I also saw that same day, decided to admit me to the hospital for further evaluation. He still believes my heart itself is healthy, but he felt more investigation was necessary.
The reason for the admission was that my heart rate was around 130 bpm while standing. What confuses me is that it would sometimes drop back down to around 80 bpm and then suddenly rise to 130 bpm again.
What I don’t understand is this: Why am I only stable while lying completely flat? The moment I sit upright or stand up, my heart rate shoots up, I become dizzy, and I feel like I’m about to faint.
Is it my vagus nerve? Is it the sympathetic nervous system? The parasympathetic nervous system? Are beta blockers really the only option for calming whatever is causing this?
I am completely desperate and exhausted.
Just three months ago I was traveling around Japan feeling perfectly healthy. Now I’ve spent over a month feeling like a bedridden, broken man who cannot understand why his heart rate keeps skyrocketing when every doctor tells him his heart is healthy.
P.S. Psychiatrists seem eager to prescribe antidepressants. I am reluctant because I have had bad experiences with them in the past. More importantly, I want to find the cause of my symptoms rather than simply taking medication that masks them.
I also don’t believe an antidepressant would solve what I am experiencing, and I am afraid of potential side effects.
Since my syncope in Japan, I have been wearing compression stockings. I drink electrolyte solutions almost daily and even increased my salt intake for two days before this latest episode in an attempt to increase my blood volume if low blood volume was the issue.
None of it helped.
I never know whether the problem is too much fluid, too little fluid, too many electrolytes, too few electrolytes, the amount of stool I am losing, or even burnout.
I genuinely don’t know what to do anymore.
All I know is that I can barely sit upright now without my heart immediately starting to race.
And I’m only 29 years old.
TL;DR: I’m 29 years old. Every medical test says I’m healthy, yet I suffer from chronic diarrhea, severe physical deconditioning, and most importantly a dramatically elevated heart rate whenever I sit or stand. The symptoms make me feel dizzy, cognitively impaired, and as if I’m about to faint at any moment. Lying flat is the only position in which I feel relatively stable, but that has essentially left me bedridden.