So I have vasovagal syncope. If I get REALLY hungry and finally eat something, I get FREEZING cold after eating, no matter how warm it is where I am. I just looked up that it has to do with blood circulating to the gut area?? So it's blood leaving the extremities to go somewhere else and I know we all have some circulation issues in here. So I'm wondering if dysautonomia is maybe why it happens so often and intensely?
I've had VVS since 2020 but only got it on the first day of my period due to prostaglandins. Since 2023 I've had a sensitivity to mint and can't have it anymore. It took me a while to deduce this. I experienced VVS from drinking mint tea at the end of 2025.
Recently, I've started intermittent fasting to lose weight and moved to another part of my state. I'm experiencing VVS pretty often. It's taking over my life and I keep getting nauseous and faint just while doing normal stuff like driving. I know that my stomach isn't agreeing with me. But I don't know why. I don't know what my triggers are besides mint. I feel like I'm staving off an episode by taking pepto bismol. This has been going on for the past 2 months and just keeps coming back.
I'm not sure what else to try. Not everyone with stomach problems has VVS so why is it becoming this bad?
It started about a little more than 2 years ago. I noticed this heavy drowsy feeling when I was around 16. I thought I was just overworking myself or experiencing hypoglycemia. But drowsy moments progressively got worse and seem to have no correlation to anything. Then I gave birth after a year and they reached their peak. About 3 months postpartum they started getting so bad that I would fall to my knees and would barely be able to get up. Just like how when you're zoning out you try to break through it but you get pulled back in. My knees give out almost every time now. But I don't usually fall, I just look like I'm off fent or something. It's like involuntary total muscle relaxation. This happens probably 4 times a day and only lasts a minute. And again I'm perfectly conscious! Just slumped 😅 it's kinda worrying. The only thing that seemed to help me was taking iron but I feel like I'm always taking iron and it's still happening so idk... Help!!
I feel faint but I’ve actually only ever fainted once in my life. Instead I get panic attack and end up vomiting which is so tough because I have emetophobia 🥲
hi all!
i’m like 99% certain i have this but just wanted to check and see if my symptoms match with you guys.
i have fainted many times in my life, to the point where i understand my triggers well and always take precautions to prevent it. because of this, i have developed pretty bad anxiety because of my dizzy spells being so common.
i was 8 when i fainted for the first time. i was in the hospital visiting my grandfather, and watched him get his blood sugars tested with a prick in his thumb. after seeing a small drop of blood, i fainted about a minute later, hitting my head on the bedside table.
other times were for various reasons (though all similar):
- i was around 13 on a school excursion in 32°C (humid australian heat). no hat, no water. standing in direct heat for a long period of time. passed out on the concrete and threw up. taken to the medical booth and was told it wasn’t heatstroke.
- young teenager, my dad was confronting me about something i was in trouble for and made me stand still as he lectured me. i was under a lot of stress, and was standing for about 10-20 mins without moving. had to immediately lay down as my vision started to go.
- young teenager again, baking cookies with my grandma and standing for an hour or so. the heat from baking got to me and had to lay down or i’d pass out.
- teenager, out walking to the beach with my friends. hot day as usual. started feeling ridiculously dizzy and had to lay down. passed out.
- teenager, walking to breakfast with my dad. it was a hot morning and i was on my period. had to lay down in the middle of the pathway, passed out, threw up.
- teenager, ran a track race and accidentally fell at the finish line and ripped open the skin on my knee. the sight of the blood made me pass out multiple times and continuously throw up.
- there are countless others, but my most recent one was about a year ago: 32°C humid morning as usual. walked about 1km to my local post office and had to wait about 10 mins in line. started feeling extremely dizzy, prickly, vision blurring, the basics. quickly went to try to buy a gatorade next door before i’d pass out, but didn’t make it in time. ended up fainting at the cash register and nearly throwing up.
there’s a very common pattern: heat and humidity, physical exertion/exhaustion, blood, and stress. it’s very mentally taxing as because of the commonness of my fainting, i’ve developed anxiety doing very common things. this makes me stressed way more often, leading to dizziness, making me more stressed, and well… you see the cycle.
i’d love to know what you guys think. i know this is a super long post but it’d really help me out.
thanks!
edit for clarification: i don’t have low iron, and my natural blood pressure is fine. i don’t pass out as often as i used to as i’m very particular with my water, salt, sugar, and electrolyte intake due to my anxiety surrounding the condition.
I only have 3 triggers for this. 1, peeing in the middle of the night. It's rare but it's happened. 2, vomiting. Again sometime, not always. And 3, the main one, needles like blood draws or shots. The first two I can live with. But #3 has kept me from getting blood drawn and stuff for years. Will exposure therapy help? I will say, I haven't ever fully passed out. I just get very close and feel like I'm on the verge of losing consciousness and I can hardly talk or move but I just lay flat for a few mins and I'm okay. But I can't stand it happening, especially at the docs.
I was in the gym, warming up and getting ready to workout, and just doing some light “good mornings” (hinging at the hip) when suddenly, I felt a strong pull in my right psoas. I’ve had tight psoas’s for a long time and they’ve often given me trouble and I’ve tweaked them before, so I was familiar with the feeling although this one was definitely more painful than other times I’ve tweaked it. I immediately sat down on a bench, and next thing I know I’m waking up on the floor in a puddle of blood from my nose were I passed out and face planted. Proceeded to pass out 2 more times in the next 10 min, each time I got up and sat down on the bench. Luckily for the 3rd time, paramedics had arrived and were there to catch me. They ended up bringing me to the emergency room, and after a while there and getting a brain scan, the doctor told me it was “vasovagal syncope” from hurting my back. Anyone else experience this?
Hi everyone. I just thought I’d share my experience with you all in hopes I can find more people like me.
In February of last year, I had my first episode. I had just recovered from a horrible illness. I had never fainted, or gotten close to it before. I couldn’t sit still my head was spinning and I was on the verge of passing out. I was terrified, I had no idea what it was. I went to the doctors and they told me anxiety so clearly something was wrong with me if it was just anxiety.
March last year, episodes daily, fear daily, poor quality of life. I was living in constant fear of me dying or passing out, it was exhausting. I ended up in derealisation for the entire month. This is where the grief mainly starts.
After having that month of derealisation, I have never felt fully normal again. I feel as though I will never feel normal again. Constantly I am realising that I do not feel real and feel like I am floating through life. I don’t know if this is worse than the episodes themselves.
Essentially I miss being able to do everything I used to. I miss not having to take any precautions before I go places, or ensure that I’m hydrated, or that I’ve slept, or that I’m not too hot or too cold. It is exhausting. I just wish I was the person I was before all of this happened.