So I’ve written before about the fact that I have vasovagal syncope (although I’m not sure I’ve ever used the technical term for it) but it’s basically where I pass out if my anxiety gets too bad. It only happens a few tines a year and it even happens when I’m not aware that I’m having anxiety…like if I see needles or blood at a doctors office, in spite of the fact that I’m not afraid of needles or blood at all (wtf, brain?).
Yesterday we took Hailey and their partner out for barbecue and I started to feel the panicky warning signs of abdominal pain and dizziness and sweating and so I took a xanax and laid my head down on the table to try to stop it all and Victor was like, “Your hair is in the beans. Your hair is in the beans” but I was too dizzy to respond and then I felt even worse and so I was like, “I NEED TO LEAVE IMMEDIATELY” because I knew I was about to pass out and didn’t want to do it in a crowded brisket joint and so I jumped up and bolted to the door so that I could pass out inside the car, but I apparently misjudged how quickly it was coming on because I heard Victor behind me going, “WHAT IS HAPPENING” and then the next minute I was waking up on the asphalt, entirely blocking the only door of the barbecue place. Apparently trying to outrun unconsciousness had not worked (this seems logical in retrospect but panicky Jenny is an idiot) and so instead I busted through the door like the Kool-Aid man, passed out while running and flew out onto the asphalt where I blocked the door from everyone entering and exiting, and starting making moaning noises (“Like a Frankenstein” apparently) in front of the world. Also, my skirt was apparently up to my bellybutton and I was shaking like I was having a seizure because I guess I can’t even do fainting right. I woke up with gravel in my knees and beans in my hair and a very nice lady who worked there put a bag of cold water on me because I was sweating like I’d just come out of a lake and so it looked like I’d won an invisible goldfish at the fair.
Then I apologized a million times because I was mortified and fell asleep for 5 hours and today I’m weak as a dishrag. So my question is…does anyone else get this? Is it just me?
I haven’t passed out yet but sweating? Yes. Shaking? Yes. Racing heart? Yes. Dizziness? Yes. Nausea? Yes again. You aren’t alone even though I’m sure if feels like it when you’re ass up in front of a BBQ joint. 🙂
I’m so sorry you had such an awful experience. I hope you’re better, but it sounds like you need rest and recuperation. Take care of yourself. It’s not your fault it happened and you shouldn’t have to apologize for it. I don’t have the fainting, but I fully understand and commiserate with you about having a sudden panic attack in an eatery and having to leave NOW. Been there, done that and it’s not fun.
It’s not just you. I promise.
My dad, my brother, and my son all do this. The first time my son did it he was three. I was like how does a three-year-old know to pass out? They were taking a little skinny glass, vial of blood from his finger.
When my dead husband left me when I was six months pregnant, I decided to become a nurse and then I thought well that’s pretty stupid because what if I pass out at the site of blood?
I’m OK with strangers. But when my kids are sick, my stomach is rolling.
I can’t say that I have fainted that awesomely but I do have epilepsy. I have had a grand mal seizure many years ago, after a very long time of undiagnosed petit mal seizures. Main symptom there was deja vu, and they happened when I was a teenager, and I asked if people had deja vu and someone said that everyone gets that. Well, NOT LIKE MINE. But I didn’t know that and didn’t think to ask, so here we are. What you describe feeling afterwards is very similar to how I would feel even after the petit mal seizures. They wiped me out, I was very weak after the fact and needed to sleep a lot, very dizzy, sometimes headachey, sometimes nauseous, overall lousy. Seizures are your brain short-circuiting, I guess … an electrical overload. I tell my kids that I have a faulty surge protector. Stands to reason that you’d need to chill a while and recover from that.
I’ve had similar symptoms because my hemoglobin and iron levels are low. But I have anxiety as well so maybe that’s why I passed out and not those other reasons. Seeing Dr next week. Will ask.
I have a Vasovagle response to pain. The worst episode happened when I was scrubbed on an Open Heart procedure. I passed out & hit the floor. Fortunately, I didn’t contaminate the sterile field.
You most certainly are not the only one. I have fainted and have had the seizure (along with throwing up immediately afterwards) in the best of places. The best is telling people don’t worry if this ever happens in your presence, I’m a fainter.
It is not you. I get the sweating, heart-racing, dizzy thing in crowds and when it is hot. I am so sorry you had to go through that!
I love the way you tell a story 😂. I have it as well and it usually happens when I move too fast, like getting up from picking something up. It has however happened a few times like on an airplane and giving blood. Best way to totally not pass out is to immediately get your head below your knees. Ie: laying on your back with your knees up. It is embarrassing and frustrating and exhausting but at least you can add the story to your next book. You are an amazing being who helps so many deal with their own difficulties and helps them not feel so alone so, yeah it sucks but because you communicate it the way you do, the good you do far outweighs the crap you deal with.
Sorry no but hey because I chronic LYMPHOMATIC Leukemia I had pneumonia 5 times that included once earlier February and once Early March COVID 4 times the flu once and because I have no immune system to speak of I could get all kinds of big including Tuberculosis or the Plague!!!! So at least you will not get the plague out 🤣😃🌞💖😄
Wow Jenny what a nightmare for you. I am glad you had your family with you and a nice lady to get a bag of ice. I used to get panic attacks and also had that urgency to get away from people. Mine was linked to childhood abuse. The things that have helped over the years have been aqua exercise, yoga and controlling my breath in meditation. I’m just saying this worked for me but might not help you. The breathing technique was really what worked the best. I love your writing and it brings a lot of joy in my life. I hope things get better.
I used to pass out when I had a panic attack. Then I got on the right meds, and I can recognize the panic attack as a panic attack and can call someone to help me calm down.
Anxiety, like depression lies to you. You have to be aware enough to call your brain out on its bullshit. Takes practice.
I have fainted twice in my life (so far): 1) I was having blood drawn (I wasn’t looking at the procedure but then she handed me a warm vial to hold – you know to help her out – and that was it) and 2) while talking to a very, very old lady about her rescued tortoises, I fell to the ground in slow motion. Scared the beejesus out of her and my husband – came to really sweaty, dirty and embarrassed – and grateful I didn’t give her a heart attack. The tortoises were indifferent. Since I never wish to repeat these events, I can imagine how stressful your situation is. Wish I could wave a magic wand and make it go away. Big hug.
I have vasovagal! A few months ago I passed out in the bathroom and broke my nose, fractured my jaw and knocked some teeth loose! I’m still recovering. This episode was traumatic. My daughter found me naked and covered in blood.
You are not alone and our bodies are assholes.
Jenny!
No. And given that it has a name, I am guessing no. In my experience, BBQ people are some of the kindest among us, so I am really happy you had a very nice lady help you out.
I’ve been contemplating the whole topic of help pretty intensely the last couple of years–navigating the best ways to ask and offer help with only creating good comforting feelings and less unnecessary suffering feelings. That can be both easy and hard to do well, depending on the situation.
Anyway, this is a driveby to say YES, toting your soul in the human body is both weird and a miracle. I’ve been trying to learn more about living well from my daughter’s cat.
Also, my name isn’t anonymous, It is Leia. Not sure why it put me as anonymous. Oh wait, in trying to post this correct I realized I missed the place where it said name.
My boyfriend had an attack like that with his first PT session after knee replacement ….scared the crap outta me !
You have described what happens to me exactly. I almost never make it to my goal location and pass out a few feet from where I was. I’ve done this so many time I know the drill – I just need to sleep it off, preferably with a cold rag on my neck and a warm blanket (how can someone be freezing and pouring sweat at the same time). Unfortunately the kind souls around me always call paramedics who want to move me, which then makes me throw up. It’s just never pretty. I’m excited in a weird way because you’re the first person I’ve “met” who shares this with me.
I’m sorry that’s happening to you
It’s not just you. I tried to jump up and outrun my vesovagal syncope once and I ended up breaking my tailbone. Such a painful and humiliating experience! I feel for you; I really do! I think I also have POTS, as part of my disautonommia surprise box. Ugh.
Oh man this has been the story of my life for 40+ years now. I have fainted numerous times, am a connoisseur of emergency departments (best ones: UW Madison and Mt. Auburn), and my most recent faint/ER trip was just last week! My favorite time was when I whacked my funny bone so very hard and I immediately knew just from my, I don’t know, my aura? that I would faint. A few minutes later, sure enough. The sweat–isn’t it epic? It has a special name, diaphoresis, to emphasize how different it is from regular sweating. It literally pops off me! Good times!
Well, I do get it. However, you are spectacular at it! I tell everyone “I’m leaving now” and pass out. I’ve never tried to outrun it! I never know when it’s going to happen, although I do get a bit of a Twilight Zone feeling about 5 minutes prior.
Oh you poor dearie. Far more embarrassing for you than any disruption you might have caused. If hugs and lots of atta girls coming to you. I hope you weren’t hurt when you fell.
Oh, hey, I do that. It’s how I originally got diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. I just sit or lie on the nearest flat surface until it passes, even if it’s the floor of Target, though, because I have no fucks to give about that
My husband has this and passed it to our daughters. Super fun to watch your child pass out .. not.
We find laying down and some sugar can help. I keep Sunny D in my car.
You are amazing and loved
If it makes you feel any better, I got my ears pierced as a child in the very posh department store in my hometown. Afterwards I said I felt great, staggered woozily to the door of the store like a tiny drunk, and passed out in the doorway for everyone passing by to see.
That sounds terrifying!! Please take care of yourself!
So very sorry but glad there are so many supporters in the world. An invisible goldfish actually sounds kindof cool. I also have this sometimes terrifying “syndrome”, as my doc calls it, but up until a couple of months ago I thought I was beyond it. It started shortly after I had a hysterectomy and came along with my hot flashes, palpitations and all of that fun stuff. Now, finally, over 20 years of that crap (yes, I’m one of those with extended menopause), I thought I was about over the worst. Then in Feb I was getting into the shower and passed out on the bathroom floor, came to enough to drag myself onto the bedroom floor then was out for 45 minutes. I live alone and was lucky enough to only have scraped the skin off my face and a bump on my forehead. No baked beans.
I am oddly relieved to read this. Sad for you, but I did not know this was a thing that could have a name. My family went through some really tough stuff last year and I started fainting for no apparent reason. Every time I got a shot, for example, even though I too am not afraid of needles. Once in a Mexican restaurant with a friend. Another time at an outdoor festival (with the same friend, come to think of it—I am glad she has kept me as her friend…) As the shitty situation resolved, the fainting lessened, but the doctors in charge of my injections are understandably wary. The upside is I get treated very nicely with lots of TLC now
What a terrible adventure! My partner says, “You can’t outrun it. Best thing to do is to immediately lie down on the floor and put your feet up. It’s less embarrassing to then explain why you had to do that than to fall, and less dangerous.” He said a bunch more stuff, but that’s all that was pertinent. I get symptoms like POTS and get pre-syncopal and haven’t passed out for decades, but did once. I think that, if I didn’t sit or lie down when it happens, I would for sure pass out. I even get the black at the edges of my vision. I have to have adequate hydration and salt due to another condition. MMMM SALTY!!!
Hope you feel better.
I tend to fall asleep under high stress, so several receptionists have had to wake me up out of what looks like a weirdly deep slumber when it’s my turn. It’s like my body just nopes out altogether and says “let’s nap”.
No apology needed…it’s not uncommon.
Yes, I get exactly that–including the appearance of a seizure and extreme weakness after. Fun for everyone! Fortunately it hasn’t happened in years, but I don’t feel any kind of a guarantee that it will never happen again. It was so scary that I also developed panic attacks just from the fear of it; they have also passed. I sure hope it stays that way.
I haven’t passed out in quite so grand a fashion, but anytime I see blood, mine or anyone else’s, feel a lot of pain, or, recently get out of the bathtub, I pass out. I have learned not to try to out run it after faceplanting and chipping a tooth and getting a bloody nose. 🙂
It happens to me. Once when I was having an anxiety attack and could feel my blood pressure drop and on my way to lay down on the couch I passed out hitting the corner of our coffee table breaking 2 ribs.
I sure hope it stays that way…..I wish you well.
I get that! Places where I have fainted: theme park ride lines, church, Applebees, a college football game, my own home, a softball field. And it’s definitely not pretty. I’m so sorry you had such a bad day.
This hit me hard – some similar situations as well in my life and the same sick feelings that come over you like a wave, but never diagnosed as this. However I have been able to reduce these incidents to almost none a year due to an old wives tale/remedy I came across researching my ailments which would also hit me while driving which is scarier than anything else I’ve experienced…it seems based possibly on the idea of an “inner ear imbalance” or rather calcium crystals floating around the inner ear. I do a near daily drop or two of hydrogen peroxide in my ears and let it sit 5-15 minutes in each ear…it was a very strange miracle cure for me and I can always tell when I haven’t done the drops. It certainly can’t hurt trying! And an excuse that lets me catch up on email or reading etc everyday while also keeping my ears clean and seems to help me feel not so sickly. Lots of feels and connection on this one today.
I had this happen once at a restaurant where I was eating gluten free pasta. The wave of panic came from the stomach cramps that alert me I have ingested gluten. I was heading to the restroom thinking if I sat on the toilet I’d be ok but only made it to the bar and passed out. When I came to, confused and people all
Looking at me, I tried to get it together but the paramedics showed up and insisted on a trip to the ER. Ruined the evening for the party of ten I was with.
I faint at the sight of blood and broken people. I also faint every time I have blood drawn. It’s not fun. I lay down now which helps. Bodies are dumb.
I have this!
The first time it happened was at Disney Worlld while I was with my 17 year old daughter (I’ll take future counseling for $1,000 Alex). I didn’t know what had happened until it happened again… at the top of a flight of stairs while on vacation.
Also… travel anxiety much?
Long story short… life is scary and sometimes we have too much life at one time.
Life responsibly.
I get it and I’m terrible at dealing with it. Mine happens mostly around medical stuff-my own. I’m fine with other people’s medical issues. But if I have to see my own blood or I think something might hurt a lot, or I am anxious about a procedure, I pass out. And I can feel it coming but I’m not usually able to tell anyone what’s happening. So I’ll say something like, is it hot? Or I feel funny, but before I can finish my sentence I’m on the floor.
Also one would think medical people would be used to it but it freaks them out every time. I’ve had 911 called from a doctors office multiple times. Once they made me go to the ER even though I told them I was fine. Then the ER doc asked my husband if I might be pregnant- not me- my husband- as if he would no before me.
Beans in your hair. That pretty much says it all. I’m so sorry you had to endure that kind of a ‘dining out’ adventure… But, on a positive note, I can say that I adore your art! You have a real gift — so please make more! XXOO Feel better.
My mother used to faint at the site of needles or drawing blood. I figured out how to keep her conscious. Basically I distracted her by singing something she knew, so she would sing along (she was an actress, so think: Show Tunes.) Not sure if this would help you, but it might end up being a good code word for your family. If you say “I need someone to sing” they’ll know to get you a cold washcloth or have you elevate your legs. Hugs to you. #AlwaysReadyForASingAlong
It’s so strange, my supervisor said his father had vagal nerve faint episodes yesterday, but he only has them at night and he knows it’s coming on by feeling like all the liquid in his body will leave in one big “flush”. I had not heard of this and it was the first time he mentioned it. He also tried to out run it and hit his head on the bathroom tub! The human body is something else, especially as we age!! I hope you are OK!
If it makes you feel any better my daughter did that one time in high school IB English class. They were reading a story where a victim gets disemboweled and the description made her keel over. I had to come pick her up from school. She was fine and the doctor explained what she had. She never lived that down with her teacher, and to this day they are still friends (at least on Facebook). But she has to turn away when giving blood or getting vaccinations cause yup no needles for her.
Bodies are weird. I haven’t had this, but I’ve had other things (with the promise of more things to come!) and it never stops being frustrating. I’m sorry that happened to you.
Oh friend! I’m so sorry this happened. I haven’t had that happen but I have plenty of other freaky anxiety issues. It’s okay. It sounds like everyone was just worried for you. 💚
The seizures could be psychogenic episodes which are kinda like the next most intense panic attack. Nothing to do but wait them out.
I get dizzy at the sight of internal organs. The first time it happened, I was 10 and my teacher was showing the class a plastic model of the human body. It was completely involuntary and extremely embarrassing! So I feel you. I hope you didn’t injure yourself too badly. 💜
I have (as of yet) not officially diagnosed tachycardia postural vasovagal presyncope. The sweating and shakiness and rapid heartbeat is first sign I have to eat something salty and drink water or other fluids, and put my feet up to the level of my heart.
It happens when I stand up too long, walk slowly for too long, or sit with my feet not elevated up to at least hip height for too long. It doesn’t happen if I exercise or walk quickly.
When my doctors performed a tilt table test on me, within 15 minutes my vision totally blacked out and my arms and legs went into spasm and I couldn’t move them. But I haven’t passed out yet.
It was as scary as shit!!!!
I thought it was just my severe anxiety, but apparently that’s just something women get dismissed by their doctors labeling it as anxiety (hysteria) or a panic attack, when it’s actually a condition that can happen for a whole host of physical reasons, not necessarily psychological reasons.
And post covid infection it can be a part of long covid, or it can come on after any other infection, immune condition, or other major physical events.
It is also can be part of perimenopause or menopause.
It totally sucks, and many people including doctors, dismiss it as panic attacks, and don’t understand it’s a physical ailment.
Looking back onto how long I’ve had these symptoms it’s been around 30 years for me, and it has gotten worse over time.
But if you catch it early on in an attack with salty snacks and keep well hydrated and put your feet up to chest height or higher, and don’t let yourself get too hot, you can stop it from happening.
You have my complete understanding and sympathies.
Oh I am so sorry. If it makes you feel better, a panic attack had my partner pull over our car so I could at least hyperventilate in the open. Roadwork with the men holding Stop signs parted traffic for me to wretch.
My shirt read ‘Dope Ass Female’, visible by all as I walked back to the car.
I hope you’re feeling better soon and that you had a good visit otherwise!
Im so glad to read you’re okay! What a story. I think this is what my husband has. He’s had a pacemaker for 10 years now because of it. He used to talk about feeling faint and needing to put his head down and didn’t think there was anything unusual with that. I shake my head just wondering how passing out seems normal to a man.
I’m so sorry. I know of this diagnosis but I have only had it happen while I was already in the hospital. I hope you feel better.
I’m so sorry this happened to you! My whole family gets vasovagal fainty with medical talk. My poor son was getting sick and passed out in my car and looked like he was having a seizure so I think that’s normal even though it doesn’t feel like it. Fun story to make you feel better- I passed out at work when my coworker was telling a gross medical story- standing up in a shorter dress. So embarrassing. Then all of the good looking EMTs showed up and I passed out again in my chair right in front of them. Hang in there. Keep hydrated and turn the channel in your brain to a different thought when you start feeling that way- it’s my only advice.
Yes my son who is now middle aged has had episodes similar….not frequently but enough to scare the hell out of those there to witness. I agree, it sometimes sucks dealing with our complex human bodies…and getting OLD REALLY sucks. Love and light to you Jenny…so glad to share this journey around the Sun with you. <3
I’m so sorry this happened to you. I get Alice in Wonderland syndrome (not at all as fun as it sounds) with my migraines which makes me pass out sometimes. I try to tell myself that the gigantic sunglasses I wear during attacks make me look cool as hell, but they probably just make it harder to see if I’m still alive. Sending hugs!
I sooooo have this. Every time I go in for a blood draw, I tell the nurses I’m not afraid but my body will absolutely overreact. I bring my own ice packs and “pass out kit” because I want them to know that it’s 100% normal for my body to be ridiculous.
And I am so relieved to read your account of this happening to you. Not that I want you to be passed out in a pile of gravel and beans. But….I would have laid down beside you because…I get it. And sometimes it feels better to be in the gravel and beans with someone else who gets it. Sending hugs to another broken-in-the-best-possible-way body.
Dearest Jenny,
It’s not just you. I remember when I found out that that thing that happens – suddenly feeling sick to my stomach, dizzy, nauseated, and needing to lie down and get away from all the people- was called by my dr “a vasovagal reaction.” I call it a really fast panic attack that seemingly comes out of nowhere. Sending you all the love.
I had vasovagal syncopes when i had my period. After many many years of being told period pain was “normal”, i discovered i had endometriosis (so, not normal at all). The pain level was so intense that my body was kinda shutting down and rushing my blood to basic organs, leaving my brain with reduced blood flow. I’m guessing your anxiety is so intense, that your body thinks there’s an emergency… I love the title of this text, it really speaks to me! My guess is that vasovagal syncopes must be happening more and more these days, with these high-anxiety circumstances… Sending you a big virtual hug!
Yep that’s a panic attack all right. My anxiety is so bad that I rarely leave the house. My husband runs all of the errands. It makes me sad for him.
My daughter has it. It’s awful and I’m sorry that happened. But you actually make it funny!
YES!! It happens to me. I don’t even know if it’s anxiety related but I have low blood pressure and sometimes I just pass out.
I had a very similar story. I was attending birthday party at a bar. I’d had only a half a glass of prosecco. I started to feel faint and I, too, tried to outrun unconsciousness. This does not work. Woke up on the floor of the bar. Awesome. Got carried out of said bar on a gurney. Excellent memory. Anytime I want to feel completely mortified, all I need to do is remember that moment.
Also! It happened to me once when I was having an IUD put in. Fun times.
0 stars. Do not recommend.
My family was at a steak restaurant for dinner. My mom had not eaten all day, and only had a small coffee with 7 packets of sugar. She excused herself, after appetizers, to go to the restroom. Apparently, she started having a stomach ache (because well she only had a small coffee all day WITH 7 PACKETS OF SUGAR), and while in there she started getting dizzy and sweaty and passed out in the bathroom stall. All of us at the table had no idea she wasn’t feeling well, and started to worry. My sister decided she would go to see if she was okay. My sister called out for our mom with no answer. My sister saw her shoes, called out again, but got no reply 🦗. My sister started to panic, slammed her body into the door of the stall which knocked into my mom’s head, waking her out of her fainting spell. They came back to the table snickering and, we all ate our dinner like nothing happened. Just a normal family dinner. She was later diagnosed with vasovagal syncope, warned about the dangers of only having a small coffee with 7 packets of sugar before eating a big meal.
Disney World lady from previous comment…
I pronounce “syncope” to rhyme with “San Tropez”. I’m fun.
Oh and i agree with others: what worked best for me was sitting down and putting my head between my knees (or laying down, but that’s not always possible, and i guess maybe sitting down wasn’t possible for you this time?). The idea is to get the blood flowing back to the brain
I can’t tell you how heartened I am to read all these stories. I’m sorry for everyone this happens to but I am so glad to know I’m not the only one!
I woke up in a restaurant bathroom with some cuts on my face. Couldn’t figure out how they got there until our next visit and my said “you know, the wainscotting in their bathrooms is a perfect match for the sabs on your head”. So, yea.
I know of two people who have seizures related to anxiety. Unfortunately its a real thing, and yes the human body sucks!!
Oh Miss Jenny, I am mortified that you were mortified. I hope they had carry out. The more you right about struggles, the more people will realize you have medical struggles, and not MENTAL struggles. You make the world a much better place.
Yes, but not with such flare! You almost make it cool.
Ugh, that is way too much to deal with. I am glad that you are alright. That is so scary though. I’ve passed out a couple of times with the flu and it is so horrible waking up from.
Yes, kinda. It happened recently while at a dr appt, a specialist, not my real dr. First, I was dragging myself in there wondering if my legs were going to give out in the parking lot. Then they did this lay down, stand up blood pressure reading I’ve never had before. So of course I couldn’t do it. I had to lay down before I passed out, but I hung on till the last second. After fussing and getting me juice, they informed me my blood pressure plummeted (wasn’t I lucky to be wearing a blood pressure cuff through all this?) And they are like, don’t do that again. Make sure you stay hydrated! Extra hydrated! However, I am on some new meds and standing up is like going to the edge every time of late. So of course, I just try not to stand up much. 🤪
Hitting the asphalt, ouch!! This is decidedly not good. I could feel the gravel in your knees. 😢
This sounds very similar to something that happened to me last month. Did you heart rate go berserk? and did you have trouble controlling your breath when you woke up? My husband and son could not find a pulse and had to call an ambulance. I spent 2 days in the hospital while doctors ran tests, and every single test was normal. Apparently the only lasting effect of a vasovagal event is the trauma. And I guess maybe hospital bills? I had been under a lot of stress, and had received some upsetting news a couple days prior to this event, thought I was handling everything fine, but I was literally in bed reading when this episode started up. I got up out of bed immediately, because that is the best way to investigate these things, and after that things spiraled out of control pretty quickly. Doctors later told me the most important thing to remember, if it happens again, is to not fall, to lay down and try to elevate my feet, and wait for it to pass. Hope you feel better!
I’ve got this too and have found it to be totally embarrassing although it’s completely out of my control. Passed out on the floor of the Opthalmologist ‘s office last week after he poked around in my eye to deal with a stye. He said I was the second person with it to pass out in his office in one week and I said, “ maybe it’s not us, maybe it’s you,” which did not exactly endear me to him but whatcha gonna do?
With vasovagal, you have to stand up very slowly. Try not to do motions that are like getting a turkey out of the oven, or jumping up from a sitting position. I’m so sorry this is happening!
So sorry this happened to you! I occasionally faint, usually in public places with little or no warning and I don’t know why. It hadn’t happened in a few years so I assured my husband repeatedly that it was safe to let me go out and navigate the world by myself. Then I fainted at the grocery store while trying to reach a bench by the automatic doors. I fell into the door, which very considerately opened so I could block all exiting customers. Yeah, it was embarrassing to wake up with all these faces looming over me. I feel you, Jenny.
I have had a couple panic attacks where I become unresponsive and almost like I’m having a seizure. The last one was at work. (I work in an elementary school.) I at least made it to the nurse’s office before I lost it. I have vague memories of people talking to me, but I couldn’t get my brain and mouth to work together to respond to anything. My heart was going wonky, too, according to the paramedics that the school called.
So, yeah, human bodies are total bs sometimes.
Yes, I have this too! I have never tried to outrun it though; I just black out embarrassingly in whatever chair I’m closest to, usually in a doctor’s office. It is miserable every time.
I used to have times when out of the blue I would get ice cold sweats, hear a crescendo of fizzing in my whole head, get queasy, and my vision would start to tunnel and I started tingling all over. If I didn’t sit down or lie down and stay put until it passed I would black out briefly (only for a few seconds). For me, this preceded a migraine, and it left me exhausted, lethargic, and brainfogged for a day after. I think it’s possibly that my blood pressure tanked as part of my migraine pattern and caused a lot of this. I haven’t had such an attack in a long while, but I used to get one to three a year.
Yes! My husband and daughter and I all do. They both can pass out with injections but pass out quietly and daintily. I, however, pass out like you. I stiffen up so people think I’m having a seizure. I finally once did it in front of a doctor who was able to monitor me through the whole thing and confirm that I am just passing out. Just VERY DRAMATICALLY.
As I’m reading this, I’m recalling all the times I’ve “randomly” fainted. My heart goes out to you. I call mine Opossum Syndrome; it sounds less embarrassing, especially since opossums are cute. It comes when I’m in sudden pain and extreme stress/anxiety. I’ve even passed out when someone else has experienced extreme pain, like a sympathy response. I work in the veterinary field and every time I’ve been bitten or hurt, everyone rushes to get me to lie down so I don’t crack my head when I faint.
Of course, my inner opossum doesn’t show when I want it to, only at the most inconvenient and embarrassing moments. Smile knowing you’re not alone, both with passing out and making moments as humiliating as opossumable. Consider it a super power. 🩵
None epileptic seizures is something you might want to look into and see a neurologist for. What you go through (which is beyond horrible I’m sorry) reminds me of episodes I’ve had. Also if you’re on Benadryl at all you might want to talk to your GP or a neurologist about switching to a different allergy med. I take Allegra if I have allergy issues.
I was diagnosed with non epileptic seizures a few years ago. It’s epileptic type episodes but with no electrical causation in the brain (when there is an electrical issue in the brain it’s standard epilepsy). I was diagnosed with it along with a neurological random reaction to something medically given to me. Also taking Benadryl landed me in the ER once with frightening rolling neurological episodes. I was taking copious amounts to control an allergic reaction I was having at the time. My blood work was hella messed up.
My episodes include feeling “weird” like something bad is going to happen, whole body convulsions, feeling very faint, nausea, feeling the need to defecate immediately and pee immediately (have to rush with help to the bathroom), and my tongue moves on its own-speech is also incredibly difficult to do during the episodes. There is also uncontrolled crying out and staring off into space.
Btw according to my neurologist Benadryl crosses the blood brain barrier, which could possibly cause problems. My neurologist recommended (for me anyway) to take Allegra instead. Hope this info helps!
I have been passing out since I was a kid and was given the same diagnosis. It started with passing out when I was sick (chicken pox), went to passing out when I had a sharp unexpected pain (muscle spasm in neck), then passing out when something visually shocked me (violent scene in a movie), passing out while getting blood drawn once, even though I’ve had blood drawn hundreds of times with no issue, passing out while getting botox for migraines, even though I was fine getting them for years, passing out in church during a memorial, etc. I once had a tilt table test and they said when my adrenaline went up, my blood pressure plummeted and thus I passed out. I was a teen so they told me I could take anti-adrenaline meds (no thanks) or eat more salt….I chose salt. Now I’m 52 with a twin birth induced heart problem so salt is no longer a constant go to. It comes and goes but I also once tried to “outrun” it and ended up passing out in the parking lot of a dr., then the waiting room and then barfed in the exam room. And menopause made it worse 🙁 Just have to make sure you are seated when you feel it coming…don’t try to outrun it ever again because it never works out.
It totally happens to me, too! It’s the absolute worst because when I come back to consciousness, everyone around me thinks there’s a major medical issue. My anxiety brain is also an idiot! Thanks for posting this! Drs have made me feel like I’m the only one this happens to on the whole planet!!
My husband has this but his trigger is trauma. He can’t get a shot, poked by a thorn, or (apparently) choke on some mac n cheese without passing out. He what’s been able to avoid passing out by putting his head below his heart. So either hang upside down (not at all weird) or lay back when you start feeling dizzy. Smelling salts bring him back quickly when he starts to go all fuzzy.
Yes, I get this frequently from a number of causes. Including sparkling wine and adhd meds. Mine landed me in the ER and a full cardiac workup.
My husband got it from seeing blood, and was unable to go in medicine because of it. I found a technique that was new then, and is now commonly used to get your blood pressure up enough that you don’t pass out.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/-/scassets/files/org/heart/disease-conditions/syncope/counter-pressure-techniques-1014.ashx?la=en
Practice these so when you need them you can do them even when woozy. My husband was able to help my mom when she was getting chemo, and was so happy he cried.
It should keep your hair out of the beans! And no drug side effects.
I’ve never actually passed out, but everything else, including all the physical signs of uncontrollable panic seemingly out of the blue followed by the hopeful Xanax. For my big finish, instead of passing out I projectile vomit – fun for everyone! Then the exhausted hours of sleep. Anxiety sux.
I’ve not hot the floor by the door of a BBQ joint but when my anxiety is bonkers, i shake (like all movements get herky jerky), i sweat like i’m wearing furs in a sauna, my throat dries out, i get a ripping headache and dizzy. So stairs, and other normal things, become terrifying. Have i mentioned the puking? Ooof…
I have vasovagal syncope too, and I’m not anxious about needles or blood either. I just pass out when they stick the needle in my arm. My brain pumps all the blood into my feet so I can run away, but I just stand there. I figure my brain is smarter than I am and perceives a threat to which I’m oblivious. Although I’ve never fainted at the proctologist’s office, and that seems like a miss on my brain’s part. If I lay down while they take blood, I don’t faint. Once I bullied myself into thinking I just needed to toughen up. Next thing I knew, I woke up in a dark room with a large nurse standing over me. The melody of her southern accent flowed through the fog, “Child, I have never seen anyone turn that shade of green before.” –Always nice to be special.
Ok. Only once, in my early 20’s I think, maybe my late teens. With some friends and we’re all getting out of the car, I felt a little lightheaded so I leaned against the car. The next thing I became aware of was making some kind of weird noise, my tongue seemed to be vibrating, and as I became aware of my surroundings I saw that I was on the ground next to a car with my girlfriend and two guys looking at me, and my elbow throbbing. I was convinced I got hit by a car crossing a street we routinely crossed while carousing the town. They wanted to take me to the hospital, apparently it was much scarier for them than me!
While working at a team building activity on a climbing tower, I watched a nimble college student easily climb up 95% of the tower. She then took a seat on a swing and looked down. Big mistake. She said she didn’t feel well and passed out 2 seconds later. Luckily, she was well harnessed in and so she flipped upside down but was held there in place.
We train for this, so we jumped into emergency gear and another staff member climbed up quickly to check her out. As he got under her and was asking if she was ok, she came to long enough to throw up all over him. Being the champ he was, he kept climbing and flipped her back rightside up so we could lower her down safely.
When we talked to her about it after and asked why there was nothing on her med form, she said, “huh, the last time this happened was when I was having a panic attack at the dentist. I guess I’m afraid of heights too”. So, 1) I’m so sorry this happened to you 2) pls for the love of god if anyone has had this happen and decides to try something that may make you pass out, tell the staff members.
Oh Jenny! I am so sorry, but laughing…sorry again. I don’t pass out (yet) but get the sweats, nausea etc.
100% It’s like waking up into a nightmare. Ask me sometime about the attempted vasectomy.
I do! I do! One time I felt it coming on in a bar in Miami. I first laid m head on tje table, then I had to go to the disgusting floor( didn’t care). Then 2 big bouncers picked me up and shuffled me out the door. I was kinda with it but not really and all I kept thinking was – Christ. These people in this bar think I am THAT girl and my shirt was hiking up in the back. Anyway, I had one drink and was def not intoxicated. Also, stomach ache and covered in sweat. Super fun!!
I have yet to pass out, but only because I have made it to my bed and collapsed there.
I thought mine was because of my IBS-D and Celiacs. And that I was an attack from having eaten something that sneakily had a high FODMAP item. But from reading what Jenny and some others have said, maybe not?!
I get a sick feeling and go to the bathroom. Nausea, poops, vomiting, I feel like I can’t control my body temperature and I’m sweating uncontrollably, my heart rate is crazy, tunnel vision, trembling, and shallow breathing. Once the ‘out flow’ has stopped, it’s kind of a race to clean myself up and get to bed before I pass out.
So, I don’t know?? Maybe I have the same thing? Maybe My body is just an a*shole??
Lisa
This sounds like you might have Dysautonomia. Please look into it and POTS it’s a lot of the physical symptoms of anxiety without the mental panicky part, which is why it takes forever to diagnose bc all the doctors are like you have anxiety when it turns out your nervous system is just screwing up all the very basic human stuff all over the place. And thanks to covid running rampant through the population it’s becoming a very common problem, instead of a “rare” one. (It was never actually that rare, again, just dismissed bc it mostly affects women, and who cares about us?) I grew up with the vasovagal thing – weirdest thing that set it off was a doctor poking around in my EAR! It’s utterly ridiculous, and now so very much the least of my problems as I have POTS, MCAS, etc. It’s good to know what’s going on, and there are some meds and non med things that can help. Good luck!
I’m not sure if mine is anxiety or something else but I have gotten that several times now. I get hot, then sweaty, then I feel like I’m going to pass out and throw up. Talk about panic…especially when I’m driving. I don’t know who do describe it to or if they will say it’s all the meds I’m on but at times it gets a little scary.
Well, fuck! Beans AND asphalt? I’ve not passed out. However, I once gave a report to 10 incredibly important humans and have no memory of what I said. When I came out of the tunnel vision, they were just looking at me.
I am who I am. And now I’m 55 I can admit, ‘hey- I’m having a fucking panic attack’ I hate it. But I’m still here and I have tools and drugs and when I’m spinning, I’m so angry at my brain. If I pass out, may I do it as cool as you do. With jeans and asphalt and sweat and drama. And with kick ass people around me who don’t care – they just bring ice and love and brisket
My doctor called it vasodepressor syncope, but looking it up, it’s the same thing as vasovagal syncope. I’ve passed out several different times over the years and for various different reasons, but thankfully it’s been years since that last time. I have passed out in public and once woke up to strangers leaning over me and asking if I’d ever had seizures before. I told her that I didn’t have a seizure, I’d just passed out. Lol My sister also witnessed one event and she said I was making weird groaning noises, so I guess it was at least similar to yours.
The last time I passed out I was driving. I felt it coming on and tried to pull into a parking lot, but didn’t quite make it. Thankfully my then I was going very slow. I was in a neighborhood with a 30 mph speed limit so traffic wasn’t fast anyway. An ambulance was called by the man driving behind me. My blood pressure when they got there was 60/40.
The doctor told me that with this you could pass an accident on the road and see blood, then get several miles down the road, then pass out. Great! So a few years ago I did pass an accident and saw blood on the road. I was going pick up my groceries with curbside pickup and that was less than a mile away. I kept thinking don’t pass out, don’t pass out. Then in the way back home I kept thinking, don’t look at it.
One niece and one nephew also have vasovagal syncope, so it’s a fun family body malfunction.
I hate that for you as that has to suck and sounds terrifying. If anyone asks what happened just tell them you were walking your goldfish and it saw a cat.
I so hope you are feeling better! You have such an engaging way of writing about your painful experiences that I come away feeling a bit guilty for enjoying the read. Is that normal?
Yes! After being a vet tech for many years, I’ve started to have vasovagal syncope episodes when having minor things done at the doctor. Things I find interesting and not at all gross or upsetting. I have to take 1/2mg of Klonopin ahead of time or I pass out. Terribly embarrassing when it happens, especially when I was just expressing how cool it was to watch them do a ultrasound guided insert into my knee to drain off fluid.
My kid has POTS (basically blood pressure is too low so his heart has to work overtime to pump enough blood to his brain), and he was diagnosed because he passed out and I thought he was having a seizure. Turns out it’s fairly common for syncope (fancy medical name for fainting) to be mistaken for a seizure. So you’re not alone there, at least.
What are you going to name your invisible goldfish?
Not just you! Big love, Miss Jenny.
I’m a fainter if it involves hypodermic needles.
Get light headed, if I even see them on television.
ALLLLLLL my medical charts have “she’s a fainter” on them.
Scared the living daylights out of my physician & her PA, when they gave me my booster & flu shots one year.
Took an hour of laying with my feet in the air, for my blood pressure to stabilize enough for me to sit up.
If that isn’t mortifying enough, they made me be wheeled out to the car, like an invalid granny.
Yep, human bodies are bullshit.
Mine tends to happen when I take too hot of a shower, which usually results in me racing unconsciousness out the door of the bathroom—with the added benefit of being wet and naked. It makes for a concerned husband, confused kid, and dinner guests who are definitely not coming over a second time.
I don’t pass out, but I do feel in the evening like someone has hooked me up to a low voltage electrical source.
Yes. I get this. Usually from eating the wrong thing. Sweating, shakes…all of it.
Mine usually happens in conjunction with using a bathroom and I wind up on the floor of the bathroom trying not to pass out or, you know, use the bathroom while on said floor. (Trying to be delicate here, but you get the picture)
It usually has only happened at home but once at work and one hideous time at the chiropractor’s office.
Bodies suck.
I have this, too. I have to be very careful not to get dehydrated as well as not too worked up. Since I’m also claustrophobic, I figured I just wouldn’t drink a lot to get on a two hour flight so I could avoid the tiny restroom. When I suddenly got that shaky, hot, gonna vomit feeling, I went into the restroom and next thing I knew all I could see was white. My first thought was, “ Did I die?” You know, like when Harry Potter went into the white space and talked to Dumbledore. Turned out I was sitting on the floor facing the white wall and cradling the toilet. Lesson learned!
I get the stomach pain too and a sensation that something is pulling the blood away from my head. then I vomit and pass out. its so sexy.
I am sorry you have it. it’s a scary to pass out and be vulnerable. I’m sorry you got beans in your hair.
Cheesey, but I do find stress-relief techniques and yoga to help a lot. I do Rodney Yee yoga for beginners at home and I can feel myself relax as soon as he says “stand at the front of your mat” i hope you find relief 💙💙💙
Yup I have it too. I pass out when I laugh too hard and then I piss myself. Good times.
Yes I used to do the same thing—had the warning signs, retired to a more or less safe and unpopulated place and got on the floor so as not to bang my head on anything other than the floor. First time it happened I was 7. That was 70 years ago. So nobody knew what was happening. Actually had a doctor tell my mom that getting married was sure to fix me. Which it didn’t.
Last time it happened was more than 20 years ago. I’m thinking meds for my bipolar disorder shifted my body/brain chemistry. Who knows?
I wish you success dealing with it. It’s a bitch.
My husband gets that. He usually has just enough warning to sit down before he passes out but not always. Which was exciting when the kitchen shelves fell off the wall with An Extremely Loud clatter and once he determined I hadn’t been hit by anything he immediately passed the f*** out on the floor
Yep, I can definitely relate. First time was in high school when we visited the blood mobile. The next time I passed out was during some really creative verbal abuse by one of my shadier stepfathers. Now I just have to be careful during blood draws at my doctors offices. This anxiety issue ensures I don’t go out much, and to use delivery services or drive up windows when I am out…
Not alone at all. My spouse has had vasovagal syncope/fainted 1) from coughing too hard, 2) on the toilet while having diarrhea, 3) from sneezing unexpectedly, 4) because the water he splashed on his face was extra cold. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. You are not alone.
My husband has this, but it’s only hit him three times that I know of ever, and only once since I’ve known him (we got married in 2002, so it’s been a minute). His is brought on by dehydration, and the one and only time I witnessed it, a couple of years ago, he’d been doing yardwork that afternoon, then we had just finished dinner on the patio at a Mexican restaurant, where his beverage choice was a jumbo margarita. We were waiting for friends to come back from the restroom, and I noticed he looked weird, and I asked if he was OK, and he said he was fine, but then he started to tip over, by which time I was running around the table to get to him. I didn’t get there in time, and I had to listen to his head BOUNCE on the concrete like a watermelon. At least that’s what it sounded like. He also made Frankenstein noises, and I thought he was choking, so I turned him on his side as best I could, and was relieved beyond belief when an angel appeared behind me and said she was a nurse and asked if we needed help. By that point, he was waking up, and I again asked how he felt, and he said very snarkily, “I said, I’m FINE!” to which I responded, “Well, you’re on the ground, and I think you just peed your pants, so probably not.” We have now had discussions about proper hydration, and the importance of remaining seated when you feel lightheaded…
Hey, you passed out! Rather tidily, too ….. it’s not like you, sayyy, ate a hamburger for the first time since emergency gallbladder surgery and fifteen minutes later had explosive diarrhea *all over the inside* of the porta-potty …..*offers soothing tea and tasty biscuits*
I’ve passed out a few times but not from my anxiety, from being anemic. But I’ve tried the same stunt as you and it also did not work out for me. After passing out from this in public before I started to recognize the signs, like you, of when it was coming on and I could faint so I would try to get somewhere private where it would be less humiliating but yeah…apparently you can’t outrun unconsciousness. Now, it doesn’t matter where I am, once I start to feel it coming on, I have to just sit on the floor with my head between my legs for awhile until it passes and then slowly work my way up to sitting somewhere. I’ve had to just drop and sit on the subway floor, in stores, wherever. It’s still humiliating, but less so than pulling a damsel in distress act and trying to gently faint with the back of my hand on my brow.
While I don’t have your exact problem, I can be taken unawares by an episode of cyclic vomiting and projectile vomit in front of and/or on them. I also have some weird balance issues, so when I do something complicated, like walking, I fall down in public and strangers come running over to help me.
I’m proud of you for not throwing up on anyone.
Yes. It started when I was pregnant with baby 1. Now it just likes to embarrass me.
yup. All my life. Nothing worse that working in a doctor’s office and passing out while helping with a patient who was just getting an injection…
I’m in the process of figuring out why my body immediately goes into flight or fight mode when I stand. My heart rate goes up and I feel nauseous, light headed, and shakey. A tilt table test was able to reproduce the feeling and heart rate. I track my heart rate with my Apple Watch and an app called istressmonitor. It allows me to get my heart rate info from my watch at any time instead of just an average. You can use one of those finger things to see your o2 and heart rate as well. I’m experimenting with using ice packs to get my heart rate to normal. Although if your heart rate is low ice can actually trigger fainting. I hope you figure it out soon. You aren’t alone and having a human body is bullshit.
I have this too! Did not know what it was until recently, just knew something was really wrong with me. It’s horrible.
Dear Jenny- You did your best! Outrunning your symptoms makes perfect sense to me. It’s 1:45am and I just sent an email to my two dead sisters who died too young 4 weeks apart in January and February. Outrunning my heartbreak has made sense until now right now. I am sprawled, but minus the beans🫤
You are my big lift right now. You have no idea what your story brought me in the lonely hour. Thank you for being brave and funny and — you.
I’m so sorry that happened to you! I also have that problem, but I didn’t know that until my first day as a candy striper when I was 12. Apparently seeing people in pain makes me hyperventilate, so I passed out, hit my head on the floor, and got a concussion. Now I am more aware of what it feels like coming on so I don’t usually faint, but I do look ridiculous lying down on the floor of wherever I am whenever it happens. Once I did completely pass out on the floor of a Jack in the Box bathroom (ick) but that time I was anemic.
I also can’t have epinephrine because getting the cold sweats and feeling like you’re dying in a dentist chair is really horrible, but the other stuff doesn’t work as well, so that’s fun. You’re right – human bodies suck.
This uproariously relatable takedown of human biology’s greatest flaws is vintage Bloggess gold—equal parts cathartic scream and healing laughter. Your description of knees as ‘badly designed origami held together by spite and wishful thinking’ perfectly captures why we all feel like sentient meat puppets some days.
Three Moments That Made Me Snort Coffee:
The evolutionary rant about why tailbones still exist (‘proof God shops at IKEA and lost the return receipt’)
Sleep paralysis demon redesign suggestions (‘at least bring us tacos’)
The callback to your 2018 ‘uteruses are haunted’ theory with new menstrual cycle horrors
Solidarity Note:
After reading this, my chronic illness support group adopted ‘Having A Human Body Is Bullshit’ as our official motto. We’re having it embroidered on hospital gowns.
Question For Comments:
What’s your body’s most ridiculous betrayal this week? Mine was developing an allergy to… water. Actual water. The betrayal is palpable.
I get it, but only twice and it was in extreme conditions, super weird though, body on auto pilot; permission denied by brain
Mary @126: I am so very sorry for your heartbreaking losses, so soon together. I don’t know you, but I send you love and strength.
Despite being so pale that you can see my veins like a road map, it’s REALLY hard to find a vein on me for an IV and kinda hard to find a vein for a blood draw. It’s not quite as bad now that phlebotomists seem to be trained better than when I was a kid, but I still get an anxious dread that they’ll have to poke me like 2 or 3 times (it’s happened). So, I tell my anxiety to STFU by gritting my teeth, taking a deep breath, and repeating “I AM A KLINGON! I AM AN AMAZON! I AM A DAUGHTER OF CELTS!” and then it’s over and I’m left feeling kinda sheepish with a bemused blood tech.
Also, as an aside, I HATE TODAY. My first name as a kid was April (because no one could pronounce my actual name), and every April 1st, kids would call me “April Fool! APRIL FOOL!” ALL DAY LONG. I came home in the third grade and announced to my mother that I was never EVER going to school on that day again! Once I explained why, she agreed, because she was picked on in school, too. And the next April 1st, she was as good as her word, but I couldn’t watch TV and had to read which is what I would’ve done anyway. It was SOP until my first name changed.
Your Pal,
Storm the Klingon
Oh my god, I have experienced this! I didn’t know it had a name! I fainted on new year’s eve last year, smacking my head on the tile in our apartment building’s elevator lobby, while we were throwing a party. Then, I did it again this year, on new year’s day. This time it was in a bar with heaters on too high, and I tried to get up and go outside to cool off. Needless to say, I didn’t make it far. Thank you for giving this scary phenomenon a name, and letting me know I’m not alone. I’m sorry you had to go through this too!
I can always tell when I’m about to faint and it makes me super panicky. I generally don’t try to outrun it though lol. I just get on the ground if I am not already in a place I will not fall from. If my husband or a friend is with me I’ll have them to hold onto me as the pressure of being held makes me feel safe enough to stop fighting it and just let it happen.
Luckily, my mom was sitting, and being in the a bathroom stall, there wasn’t quite enough room for her to fall anywhere. The only lasting effect was the story, and maybe a sore head from the stall door hitting her. She was lucky, because it could have been so much worse and much traumatic if it hadn’t happened the way it did. No one in the restaurant knew, no ambulance or hospital visits. She worked doctors and was able to discuss the incident with them freely. All her blood work was normal. She keeps things close to her chest, so if she was feeling stressed, she wouldn’t have told us.
That’s what got George Bush with the pretzel wasn’t it? Yours sounds more traumatic, except for the whole “national crisis” element his added.
I was in a Morton’s Steakhouse, fancy dinner with the grandparents, and I went from feeling like I might throw up to I’m gonna throw up in like 2 seconds. Almost passed out on the way to the bathroom. Almost made it to the toilet before starting to throw up. I kept me eyes closed because I did not want to see the mess I made. A lovely woman came in and started to take care of me, cleaned up a bit, wiped my face, told me she was the last living descendent of the last king of Poland. So weird. And then I was fine. Embarrassed but fine.
I passed out at a very fancy restaurant downtown after dinner with three of my girlfriends this past fall. I had already maxed out my out of pocket and deductible so I enjoyed my first ambulance ride and first ER visit and then months of follow-up visits where the doctors told me it must have been vasovagal syncope and nothing more serious. Now I have anxiety every time I do something in a social setting for fear of it happening again. Cool!
Thank you, Jenny and Heather Feather. My wife and I both have vasovagal responses and neither of us feel anxious before it happens. It’s neither a panic attack, nor is it a response to an emotion. It’s a physical response for both of us. It happens in medical settings, restaurants, nail salons, and public restrooms–all places that have a responsibility for cleanliness. I’ve always wondered if a trigger (not the cause, but the trigger) is a certain cleaning agent. Either way, YES–put your head between your knees for as long as you need and, if you can’t do that, just get to the ground. And, although we all know it, MORE RESEARCH ON WOMEN’S HEALTH is necessary, especially with post-COVID POTS and whatever this really is. I’ve had medical researchers tell me that vasovagal responses are so hard to replicate so difficult to study. (The relationship to inner ear could be an increased histamine response! So fascinating!) We now know COVID is neurological, not respiratory–so many things could be happening to our bodies.
I want you to know that you have helped countless numbers of my students (and me!) with your willingness to discuss all of the frustrations that your body likes to exert on you. You give us hope, and you make us feel seen. Thank you!
Yes, I started getting it about 2 years ago, out of nowhere. Luckily mine is only at dr offices, so far, and is pain related, not by blood or needles. I had to get a new knee procedure done last week, that required taking blood and they poked me 7 (SEVEN) times before they finally got a good spot. That spot happened to be on my knuckle which I knew was a bad spot for me and yep, here come the sweats and dizziness. Then when they did the injections in my knees, I did pass out. Fun times.
I am so sorry you got beans in your hair and passed out in the doorway blocking everyone!
The body is definitely beyond control. Sorry overcame you.
My parents had a dog who would pass out when he got too excited.
He would be bouncing around waiting for my Dad to kick his favourite squeaky boxing glove and then suddenly pass out. It bothered my Mum most – the dog would come round and go straight back to his squeaky toys.
Have you wondered whether you need more squeaky toys?
Probably not but I hope your rest helps.
Yes! I laughed so hard I cried at this because I also have vasovagal syncope and can relate! I faint getting blood drawn or pretty much in ANY medical situation. Happened once when I was just with my mom in pre op and once when my son was getting an IV. Not even me! I was just with him listening to the nice nurse describe what she was going to do (before she did it) and yup I’m on the floor.
Anonymous #128- I have multiple chemical sensitivities and multiple allergies and my allergist warned me that some people can develop an allergy to water. But I haven’t had that one yet. I would guess it’s to some chemical or mineral in the water. In the summer when lots of chlorine is added to public water to reduce bacteria it makes it hard for me to breathe. My allergist says since our bodies renew various cells over 7-10 years, we can grow out of old allergies and develop new ones over time. So there’s hope that your water allergy might go away eventually.
Stacia #137 see above, and I have had that reaction to certain cleaning materials in restaurants and in the cleaning aisle in stores, and to laundry detergents, perfumes, lotions, deodorants, hair products, etc.
I also am pretty sure I have Mast Cell Disorder, and POTS and hypermobility spectrum disorder and other autoimmune and Dysautonomia disorders, along with PCOS, and menopause, and other not so fun issues.
I found that the multiple chemical sensitivity issue was reduced by eating only foods that don’t contain added hormones, pesticides, ingredients I can’t pronounce or don’t know what they are, by avoiding processed sugars or any sugar substitutes, processed grains, and avoiding chemicals and scented items and dyes, etc. in cleaning items for anything, including laundry and bath and body products. My sensitivity eventually got better (but not completely) by sticking to a strict avoidance of things not found in nature going into, on or around my body.
Our bodies are warning us that something is wrong.
My doctor calls me a canary in a coal mine, telling me that all these manmade chemicals and additives put into everything in our lives are not good for us.
You are fainting correctly. I’ve had quite a few folks pass out mid-tattoo (I’m a tattoo artist), and they all shake and sweat. So have no fear, you’re doing it right. 😉
Yup-exactly as you described it. First time it happened it’s because I ran out onto the driveway to my car in like half a foot of snow. Barefoot. Running back in through the garage I blacked out. Once it happened while I was sitting on the toilet (that awful cramp made me feel like I had to go) and I passed out into the tub. Once I was brushing my teeth. Nothing to be anxious about, just doing regular things….
But now I know to lie down and elevate my feet. A cold cloth on the back of my neck, too, if someone can get me one.
You are not alone. I suppose the only silver lining, maybe, is that you don’t have to experience whatever goes on while you’re out, and when you wake up people have taken care of you. Still doesn’t make up for living with vasovagal syncope. Hugs and spoons. I think of you every day when I see your calendar by my computer. Love it.
Oh you poor sweetheart! I’ve fainted a few times from low blood sugar and know that the warning signs come too late to do anything about it. With all the other stuff you’re dealing with, it really sucks! I’m glad knowing that your family’s got you always. Be well! 😘
I don’t faint but my anxiety can make me freeze and dissociate and I’m always afraid people think I’m bored and rude, because I’m just staring into space, when I actually have no idea what’s going on around me. 😶
Yes! The worst part is the thought “uh oh, this is going to happen” which then triggers NEW anxiety about where I am, who I’m with, where I’m going to flop or if it will be spectacularly dramatic. I have a handful of friends/family who know this might happen and how to handle. I also always have about 2-3 minutes to quietly grab the closest one of these people to tell them it’s about to happen imminently and remind them not to freak out. I learned the hard way that trying to get up and move before I crash does not ever work; I struggle to stay where I am despite my brain screaming at me to move. I remain mortified thinking about the various friends and strangers who’ve had to see this happen, which is ridiculous as this is mostly not under my control. Why body, why??
I once fainted outside a Walmart with my 2yr old in the cart and we both went down. That was how I got diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. Luckily no other fainting episodes since. But that one time was scary. Everything went white and I was out. When I came to see were in the ground and my toddler was just sitting there with no idea of what was happening. I say up, opened my arms and he instantly crawled into my lap. Never cried once. I forget what my point was.
Yes to the vasovagal syncope. No to the hair beans!
Jenny, yep, I have vasovagal syncope, too. It generally happens if I’m standing still for too long. But one summer I just kept randomly passing out. On the subway (and I had a seat). Standing up from the table at a restaurant. Sitting at my desk. It was madness. So I had many tests of many sorts, finally ending with a tilt test, where I essentially passed out immediately. The nurse asked me if I had my driver’s license with me. I replied that I never learned how to drive. Evidently they were going to physically take my driver’s license away. And then it was October and it just stopped. Fun summer, lemme tell ya.
I don’t have vasovagal syncope, but severe anxiety will give me the kind of diarrhea where I have to sprint to the bathroom to avoid catastrophe. Not as scary, but definitely part of the struggle with having a human body. Sorry that happened to you (again).
I’ve experienced vasovagal syncope over the years, typically brought on by dehydration from either being sick resulting in a drop in BP, or several hours after I’ve had a few drinks (same dehydration, it just catches up to me later). Once every couple of years is my track record since i was a teenager. Most have been in the privacy of home (usually on the toilet like someone described above) but I’ve had one in a very public place, a restaurant like you described. Full on passed out at the table at an ice cream parlor. I was fighting off a bad cold, on a hot summer day. I thought I was just overheated, but when the sweats came on and I felt my vision tunneling, everything in my head sped up a million miles per hour and I passed out on the table. Moaning, seizing type behavior…i was out. Wife said it looked like a seizure. I came too completely exhausted and then did it again 2 minutes later. Ended up in the ER getting rehydrated and released same day. She’s said that other times, I’ve literally stopped breathing for up to 30-45 seconds if it’s been a bad one. Horrifyingly scary for her and our daughter, though they’ve seen them now on the rare occasions they happen and know how to help me ease out of them. Same/next day exhaustion has happened as well, maybe because the body has seized up..not sure. Saw the doctor, a cardiologist, neurologist…testing and such have all come up normal, and their diagnosis was just what so many people here have described. The doctors have said they’re pretty common, but I didn’t know a single other person whose experienced them until I read the responses you got here on your blog.
I have panic disorder and honestly I *wish* I could pass the fuck out! Let ’em see my drawers! I don’t even care! 😅 It is definitely not just you. When I feel a panic attack coming and I’m not alone, I have about 30 seconds to give whoever is around a brief overview of what’s about to happen in the order in which it will happen, and what I will need at each stage, and then, by some accounts, I have the audacity to get mad if someone screws up the process and I’ve been known to yell “WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT? THAT’S NOT GOING TO HELP” to total strangers because in addition to being mentally ill I am also apparently a panic attack perfectionist?
Kudos to ANYONE reading this who is an EMT; most of ya’ll have been the absolute best at taking my attacks in stride as if it’s totally normal to be screamed at by an excessively sweaty middle-aged woman who is taking turns vomiting into one bag and hyperventilating into another, while also taking turns screaming in anger and sobbing apologetically. Good times.
I like to tell myself that if nothing else, at least I’m probably more than one person’s “OMG Remember that one time when….?” story and I feel like that kind of legacy is absolutely on brand for me.
Reading all these comments makes me feel better that so many people understand and know how to help or at the very least, sympathize.
My family resents anyone in their lives getting sick or trying to avoid allergies or syncope attacks or activities that can bring on these terrifying symptoms, and my ex-husband divorced me because my disabilities “didn’t suit the kind of lifestyle he wanted” and he hated how my conditions interfered with what he wanted to do, and what I was able to do, and my trying to prevent these episodes by restricting exposure to triggers.
You all have made me feel much better, and not so alone.
Thank you Jenny, for giving us this forum to share our brokenness and our bodies betraying us and our minds trying to destroy us.
We are all in this big blue marble together, and us strangelings are not alone.
Yes. Vasovagal syncope is a pain. I’m so sorry you experienced this. I hope it’s something that happens rarely…or never again would be nice. Many hugs. Rest as you can. It just takes everything out of you.
Holy smokes! I just started having these! I will bet you $10 you’ve got Erhlers Danlos Syndrome.
My husband now requires I carry my phone to the toilet since he found me on the floor Sunday.
We don’t deserve the humor and wit with which you tell us about the trouble you’re going through.
Get well soon, and always thank you for posting!
Yes. It happened to me many times – when I was young, older and now (menopause). And mine happens without panic attacks. You aren’t weird (well…who isn’t?). I passed out on the toilet at a McDonalds 35 years ago and woke up to the manager coming under the door to unlock it. Good times. Rest relax and recover. You are loved.
I haven’t experienced that. Yikes! Like the science geek that I am, I had to go look it up. Hopefully your doctor has discussed ways to avoid these episodes. If not, here’s advice from the Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23325-vasovagal-syncope
Yep. It’s a weird thing. Last time was when I rolled my ankle the road dropping a package off at a person’s house. I was in excruciating pain. Next thing I know is I’m unconscious in the middle of the road. I came to, stood, took a few steps only to pass out again. It continued like that until I finally came to in my car not knowing how I got there or how long it took.
I too was concerned that my accident and subsequent fainting was going to inconvenience others. At some point in the middle of all that fainting and limping I delivered the package.
My pass outs are more random, they happen when my blood pressure falls too low.
I’ve had this all my life. I usually have enough warning to lie down before I’m out. But the bigger problem is that I’m not waking up as well. Particularly when I have to give blood. I didn’t used to be afraid of needles either, but now I dread going in. The last two times I woke up as they were loading me into an ambulance to go to the ER.
Oh, Sweetheart! I have fallen on the ice in front of the cafe at Whole Foods with no underwear on & skirt over my head, I have woken up hungover with unexplained dirt packed up my nose & I have fallen down a flight of stairs in a formal gown, cocktail in hand, taking paintings down with me, but you are in a different league. Sounds funny but it must have also been scary. ❤️❤️❤️ Glad you’re okay.
I’m so sorry this happens at all, but in extraordinary fashion in front of a likely unsympathetic crowd. Look at the replies here, though! You spread awareness to not just the brisket joint, but a million people, well at least 165, but probably closer to a million. Your unique contribution to humanity by laying your life out for everyone is a priceless gift. Thank you. Your symptoms are so much more spectacular and noteworthy than the patients I have who keep their vasovagal responses limited to pooping. Thank you for this gift.
I’ve never had that happen although I did pass out after giving blood once. But I was thinking, would a service dog trained to help with episodes like that be helpful? I know I’ve seen videos of dogs sensing an epileptic seizure coming on. And everyone knows you love animals!
Lordy, that sounds awful, but I do feel you. I had a couple of similar incidents when I was a teenager. Once I was shopping in Dorothy Perkins and took a whole rack of dresses down with me, and was put on a chair outside the shop doorway to recover, like some kind of lost toy. The other I was pushing a shopping trolley around a supermarket and just kept on going, hung over the handle like a sack of potatoes, until I hit the meat counter.
By the way, ‘Gravel in my Knees, and Beans in my Hair’ would be a sublime title for your next book.
Jenny Lawson’s hilarious yet painfully accurate take on the human body experience resonates deeply—especially her bit about ‘spine betrayal’ after minor physical exertion. As someone with both a connective tissue disorder and an irrational love of gardening, I’ve learned the hard way that my ambition-to-physical-capability ratio is roughly that of a Labrador puppy. That’s why my thermos(https://holohololife.com/) has become my mobility aid by proxy: its ergonomic grip means I can hydrate without wrist strain when my joints decide to mutiny, and the 24-hour heat retention is perfect for those days when bending to microwave tea feels like an Olympic event.
Three survival strategies for fellow defective meat-sacks:
The ‘Two Minute Rule’ – If a task seems painful, set a timer for 120 seconds and quit guilt-free when it dings (60% of chores get done anyway)
Strategic Pillow Forts – Bed nests with orthopedic wedges turn Netflix binges into physical therapy
Medical Gaslighting Bingo – Custom cards for when doctors say “just lose weight” about clearly unrelated symptoms
Question for the chronically fabulous: What’s your favorite ‘f*ck you’ adaptation to bodily betrayal? Mine is using fancy cocktail stirrers as backscratchers because reaching overhead is for overachievers.
You’re not alone, I also get this. One time at school i passed out in the bathroom and woke up with a group of girls standing over me so, that was fun!
My first vasovagel pass out was 9 months ago, and it was from pain (broken heel in 4 places). I was on the toilet with my knee scooter in front of me, and fell out with the trash can catching my head!! My husband happened to have stayed home from work to take me to the doctor that morning and heard the “THUNK” of my head hitting the can 😂🤦🏻♀️, thankfully and came running to scoop me up! Next time it was also in our bathroom 🤷🏻♀️ and I was on the floor….thankful it’s been in the privacy of my own bathroom!! (I don’t know they’re coming, though…maybe that’s better?? Nonetheless, they suck and it’s terrifying that our brains just shut down like that!!)
Jenny, the lens of your humor, the way you share your observations with the world… it’s so touching and funny by turns. I’m so sorry that you endure these episodes. I’ve only just learned about a condition called convulsive syncope (which appears with symptoms much like a seizure), because my husband may actually have the condition … rather than one episode of a gran mal seizure. Recent testing is negative for seizure activity (awesome!), while a test they’re not repeating for unknown reasons (sleep-deprived EEG) did show seizure activity, 15 years ago. He has possibly been medicated unnecessarily, for all these years. It’s not clear which? He’s tapering off phenytoin now. My heart and hugs to you. Thank you for your transparency and your gifts to the world.
You’re definitely not alone, and omg, our bodies are SUCH assholes. I was having a rough time at PT yesterday—lots of pain and frustration—and got a bit teary. Understandable, but then I started sweating and shaking and feeling nauseated. The PT guy made me lie down and put an ice pack on the back of my neck, which helped immensely, but he was being so nice that I started crying harder. So I wound up lying there with tears running into my ears. 😐
Similar experiences with fainting or tachycardia issues (I have POTS). I went to the ER once because my HR was 133 for an hour and I was shaking like I was having a seizure the. entire. time. Also, POTS means I don’t regulate my body temperature well so I am often sweating and shivering at the same time (add perimenopause to that and it’s an entire female physique of fuckery).
You’re not alone!
I’m sorry this is happening to you. Running to your car while fainting doesn’t appear to work. Sending extra love for those special occasions.
I have vasovagal syncope too!!! I’m not longer allowed to to give blood at lifeshare and I pass out every time I have an iv or blood draw. It’s been like this my entire life. It was fun while pregnant explaining at every blood draw that I was likely to pass out or vomit. I had to have blood transfusions after I had my son so I always feel obligated to give blood but I’m now blacklisted. They hand me a free shirt and tell me to keep on going. 😭 It’s a struggle but you’re not alone! Luckily mine usually comes after an immediate sweat and inability to hear things around me so I have a slight precursor to warn me.
I was once in the hospital with a migraine that could also have been a stroke (wasn’t but who knew). The dr wanted me to get a CT scan but I panicked so badly about “taking someone’s spot away(?)” and I ended up kicking him when he tried to take my vitals so they just let me leave. Me in pain, not super logical.
This started for my daughter when she was 18. She has Bipolar 2, depression, significant anxiety, …..We were in the middle of testing for syncope when she had a major seizure and was hospitalized. Syncope can definitely look like seizure behavior so we were confused for a while. Testing showed a “slowing” in her left temporal lobe so doctors decided it was a seizure disorder. Hers are generally controlled by Depakote but she has had seizures when changing meds or decreasing Xanax (she became addicted so had to stop taking it). So interesting that so many people suffer from this and it’s attached to anxiety….. she also gets hypoglycemia when she loses weight or is dehydrated which looks similar but she just basically falls to the ground and is agitated and dizzy for a while. Very hard to figure out the multiple reasons she can “pass out” ….. thanks for this discussion….. weirdly glad to know she is not the only one.
I just started having this really fun thing where my hands stop working. Like they just feel super weak and I cant even move a utensil to my face. It last happened at a company lunch but I was sitting at the end of the table and hopefully no one noticed 🙁
Damn, that’s rough. I feel for your pain, both physical and emotional.
It’s bad when you know your body may go south on you, and you don’t have a good way to predict or avoid it. That’s like living in earthquake country. No telling when the ground will start shaking or how bad it will get. I lived on a fault line for a while and went through a couple of big quakes, and it was unnerving.
Closest I’ve come to something like what happened to you was once when I was just walking down the hallway at home, and next thing I knew my wife and some paramedics were bending over me – I had somehow landed in a way that split the top of my head open, and I was in a serious pool of blood. I felt okay, but they said I definitely had a concussion, and they put me on a gurney and took me to the ER. This was in 2018. One of the paramedics started asking me questions to see whether I knew who, where, and when I was; I was doing well until he asked me who the president was, and I said, “Barack Obama.” They all got quiet and looked very sad; my wife was the one who finally had to tell me it was Donald Trump. That was worse than the stitches in my head.
I do pass out if I’ve been sitting or lying down for a while and get up too fast – orthostatic hypotension – and I fell down a flight of stairs once. But that concussion was the worst it’s ever gotten, and that was fairly tame.
It’s really good that you have Victor and Hailey in your life.
I’ll have you in my thoughts.
They wouldn’t have given it a fancy incomprehensible name if you were alone. It sucks just the same though. 🙁
I also have that but I’ve only passed out once. I decided to take the bull by the horns and do exposure therapy and fainted within the first 30 seconds. Now I’m more scared of it because now I know I can actually lose consciousness, which I didn’t know before I did exposure therapy. Sigh… human bodies are stupid.
Look, I don’t even have a good reason like vasovagal syncope. The other day while going into my dad’s house, I tripped, stumbled a few steps and went sprawling, with everything I was carrying going flying. Somehow my laptop is OK although the lid to my waterbottle is cracked. I only have bruised knees, skinned palms (but no blood. Does that make me a vampire?) and a bruised shoulder where I apparently slammed into one of the support posts for his patio’s awning. I have no memory of that, just pain. And you know what? I have fallen dramatically so many times in public that I have ceased to be embarrassed.
My daughter does this. She hates it. It terrifies her to wake up suddenly so disoriented. I have PTSD and passing out is the total opposite of my normal ‘involuntaryreactionary mental/emotional gymnastic routine.” I am so sorry this happens to BOTH of you. 🥺 And I love you both. Protect your heads!!!❤️❤️❤️
This does make me feel better about last week when I dropped my husband near a restaurant door, parked the car nicely (it took two tries), and came out to find him in the middle of the drive area on his hands and knees (he has an illness). Fortunately, people came out of the restaurant by then, because I don’t think I could have gotten him up alone. (Somebody driving past had called the restaurant upon seeing him!) So…different cause, similar result. You are not alone in public spectacle.
Rebecca L (I think this is going to post as anonymous)
I love you so much right now!
Yes this happens to me. I was in a pub listening to my brother in law tell a story about a gruesome injury he witnessed. I suddenly got sweaty, shaky, and said I’m going to faint. My sister helped me to sit on the floor (yuck!) where the episode soon passed. That was the first time just the thought of a gruesome wound set me off. Now I can’t listen to graphic injury stories?
I had this happen twice from a panic attack. Within two weeks. The first one, I was slightly more alert, and remember the shaking like I was shivering really bad, but not because I had chills. My doctor said I had pseudo seizures from the panic attacks after a lot of tests to make sure it wasn’t something else. I slept hard after each occurrence, and was dog tired for a couple days too. Before hand, I had a melty/weak feeling. I was at home in my bedroom, so I didn’t run anywhere, but I did try to call 911 before the shaking and limpness, then afterwards. My thinking wasn’t good enough to unlock my phone. So I waited until my parents came home. I’m not even sure why either one happened because I could never remember what triggered them.
I’m thinking well wishes for you.
I’ve had this happen periodically throughout my life, but never had a name for it! I’ve even been to the emergency room/seen doctors for it, and no one has ever diagnosed it!
I passed out on my first ski trip/trip far from home without parents. I’ve passed out on moving day several times in my life, depending on circumstances of those moves. I passed out on my first day of college, while in line waiting to buy my last book before class started. Got to leave the bookstore in an ambulance that day. I’ve had EEGs, EKGs, but no one ever knew what it was!! I get hot, sweaty, dizzy, and usually have time to sit down (if I’m smart) before I pass out. The time I didn’t, I also convulsed on the floor. I always feel like I can hear everything going on around me (give or take a few seconds), but my eyelids feel like they weigh a ton, and it always takes me a bit to get them open again. I’ve been told that having a drink with electrolytes immediately afterwards helps with the overly tired feeling, but I still definitely feel wrung through a wringer afterwards! You are definitely not alone, and thank you for naming this thing!!
Yup. I’ve been diagnosed with the same thing. I call it “Going Victorian”. Most recently, I felt it coming on during a live theater play of A Christmas Carol during the Ghost of Christmas Future. I got up from the THIRD ROW and only made it about two steps up the aisle before I, according to eyewitnesses, turned around, sat down and proceeded to pass out with my head against some stranger sitting along the aisle. Hey, at least most everyone there knew what happens to Scrooge in the end, because I stole a pivotal part of the old cumudgeon’s transformation. Sigh. Only me, or hey, NOT only me. You are not alone!
Jenny, I am sorry this happens to you, but I am grateful that you share it with us in your fabulously humorous way. The invisible goldfish was the frosting.
I’ve only passed out a couple of times in my life, once I was sick and the other time I was stoned. I have been witness to others passing out though. I have to fight the instinct to throw a blanket over them, because that’s what we always did for our epileptic dog. 🤷
Did this happen in Phoenix? Because I stepped over someone in just that state to get my latest brisket dinner. I would have stopped to help, but that brisket is good and they had fresh donuts too.
What kind of beans? Baked or green?
(Baked. ~ Jenny)
Honestly, Jenny, “Your hair is in the beans” made me feel seen and comforted. Love and ferrets, Pinkie
It happens to me randomly every few years or so, and as far as I know, for it has nothing to do with panic. The latest time was back in February, just as I was getting over covid. I get the serious sweats (water pooling on my skin–if I’m by myself, I strip when this starts to happen), nausea, abdominal pain, and other gastrointestinal excitement, but I haven’t quite gotten to the fainting part. I do occasionally have the fun “Which end will be less fun to leak out of?” debate when I’m trying to decide between lying down on the bathroom floor or throwing up while sitting on the toilet (which never actually happens either, but the nausea is no fun). It’s reassuring to have experienced it before and know it will come and go, but I’m lucky that it usually happens when I’m at home and don’t have to navigate the world at the same time. All the hugs!
Oh you poor dear, so sorry. Hope you feel better.
I also have this delightful condition, although I haven’t passed out from it (yet). When I took my 12 year old to the doctor a few months ago, they gave her 4 vaccines (including HPV, which I did not know makes some kids woozy) and THEN did her finger prick lipid panel. She started to feel really faint, which then made me get panicky. Cut to her laying on the bench sipping a juice box while I sat on the floor against the wall in a cold sweat trying desperately not to faint. GOOD TIMES. I’m making my husband take her for her booster.
OMG, yes to all of this! Right down to the appearance of having a seizure. Spouses definitely do NOT appreciate that kind of scare! But you already know that.
My weird vasovagal syncope trigger: having my eyeballs touched. Something touches my eye and next thing you know, I’m waking up on the floor. I got glasses with the world’s tiniest prescription just to reduce the chances of things reaching my eyes.
You are not at all alone. There are lots of us with the same! My neurologist told me, “oh, you’re just a swooner.”
Nope! I had a panic attack in the middle of the almond milk aisle at a grocery story. Spread eagle on the cool cement floor. EMTs had to come take me away because I couldn’t move. I held onto one EMT’s thigh at one point. So you are def not alone.
Yes! I have this too. The first time it happened was when I went into the recovery room after my 3-year-old son had open heart surgery. I saw all those tubes and machines and went down like a ton of bricks. When he was 8, he sliced his leg open, and I passed out in the ER after driving him there. 35 years later, he was in the hospital again for heart related issues and I was standing by his bed, and it happened again. This time I hit my head so hard on the floor I had a goose egg sized bump. They insisted I go to the ER to get checked out. That’s the first time I heard the term vasovagal syncope This also happened to me at a BBQ place. The BBQ lady was so nice, gave me a cold rag for my neck. I didn’t pass out that time, but my hair was perilously close to the beans. So sorry this happened to you.
I get severe cramping & PAIN in my colon. It will just happen out of the blue. I’ve passed out 3x from in so I hurry and lay down before it gets bad. The first time when I came too I was majorly sweating and I’m always extremely weak after.
I get severe cramping & PAIN in my colon. It will just happen out of the blue. I’ve passed out 3x from in so I hurry and lay down before it gets bad. The first time when I came too I was majorly sweating and I’m always extremely weak after.
I too have bouts of vasovagal syncope. The first one was when I was working at a vet and we were trying to get blood from a cat (actually harder than getting it from a stone) the cat was very angry about this and yelling at me so much that I passed out… and everyone thought it was the blood which makes you useless as a veterinary nurse/assistance. No. A cat yowled me into unconciousness! Other adventures in the land of purpley green vignettes around your vision include the time I vomited all over myself, went deaf and passed out on my first day as an optical assistant – and the staff decided to hide my unconcious body behind the counter so it wouldn’t upset the customers… the paramedics that revived me were not impressed.
The worst part about it was that I went back to that job the next day and worked there for 6 months. Know your worth, ladies. Accept no bullshit.
And my last bout… I tried traditional afghan tea without sugar. It was SO STRONG I nearly passed out. I had also been working for more than 10 hours straight but still… the tea?
Bodies suck – they aren’t logical in there response to anything because they are so complex that we are starting to think that our brains aren’t capable of understanding how our brains work. Cheers for the solidarity.
Hi Jenny, I’ve been a fan going back to the “knock, knock MF” days. I fell off the map for about 5 or 6 years and have recently come up for air. to this day, I will never understand why depression and anxiety don’t just kill me and get it over with. I do need to live until my elder lab passes. figure I’ve got 6 month left. I tell everyone we are going to be like the couple in the notebook.., that’s we will pass quietly together so neither has to endure any grief. about your passing out. I haven’t had an occasion Exactly like that but pretty close. i’m 65 now. (maybe I lost an entire decade), but I decided staying heavily medicated is my best option. I use klonopin (slow onset, long half-life). so I’m never zonked and no more flipping out. it’s nice. I also sleep better after adding trazadone (150 mg) to my crazy-pills cocktail. I am taking a trip soon and thought “who always makes me laugh.., no exceptions, and I thought of you. but I have to confess, I recently saw the big chicken in tractor supply company and thought of you. I wish you were getting royalties on every giant chicken sold around the world. summary, I have lost a lot, friends, family, etc. after you grieve you have less to stress about. my last loved one, my Lab Maddie will be gone soon. so I wait..,
HI Jenny! You’re not alone. I’ve not had such a dramatic pass-out at a BBQ joint; it first happened to me as a child when I was getting some routine medical care – I was terrified of needles. Then there was the time I was at the hospital to visit a friend who had a freak soccer accident and broke his kneecap in half, and later the time I was supposed to be supporting my boyfriend while he had a abcess cleaned out but instead found myself sliding down the wall, holding his hand all the way. The last time was at a blood draw in Urgent Care. I woke up with a nurse hovering in my face yelling “call 911! Call 911” down the hall and then I was treated to several firemen standing around the room watching me while I recuperated with water and a granola bar. I considered taking pics to say “look at all these handsome guys I just met!” but decided against it. Now I regret not taking the photo. I swear, I’m not normally terrified of doctors or medical care or hospitals, but apparently my body insists on holding onto all of its blood at all times or it will revolt. I hope you feel better!
I do the shaking and sweating but not passing out. Instead I vomit. What’s fantastic is that i got a phone call during therapy (I’ve got 3 kids who are neurospicy so it’s always at least on vibrate) and the information made me so anxious that I started dry heaving in her office while running to the bathroom. (Also very thankful I didn’t eat breakfast so it was simply that and not a huge mess)
Poor therapist is pregnant!! I’m impressed she didn’t react as I would have when I was. But now she has physical evidence that I’m not making it up. Don’t know if that’s good or bad but at least she knows I’m honest!
Have you ever been tested for POTS, MCAS, or any other form of Dysautonomia? Have your ferritin levels been checked? Your symptoms sound suspiciously like my daughter’s seemingly disparate symptomology before she got diagnosed with POTS, MCAS, and EDS.
The syncope, sweating, dizziness, nausea…all of it. There are more symptoms than that, obviously, but she had so many, it was hard to tell what was going on.
If I remember correctly, you have RA, which is an autoimmune disease. Once you get one, you get more. They’re like damn Pokémon: Gotta catch ’em all! 🤣😭🤣😭
Thank you so much for sharing this story! I’m so sorry this happened to you, but I am relieved to hear that I’m not alone. I learned I have vasovagal syncope about five years ago when I was serving on a jury. A doctor was testifying as an expert witness and was providing graphic details of an accident. I felt myself starting to feel faint and tried to quietly get the court clerk’s attention, but next thing I knew I was waking up on the floor of the jury booth with another juror holding my feet up. The doctor/expert witness was hovering over me asking me questions and then “diagnosed” me with vasovagal syncope. So glad I got to find that out in front of a courtroom full of people!
I learned a trick from a nurse that can help if your syncope is related to a rapid drop in blood pressure – if you feel yourself starting to get light-headed, cough a few times and it will bring your blood pressure back to normal. I tried this when I almost passed out in front of a church full of people at my best friend’s wedding and thank the Lord it worked!