← Return to Chronic fainting, sleep fainting, vasovagal syncope?

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@jjohn10

62 yr old male. Just sharing my experiences. I have had near fainting / passing out occurrences that started in 2022 April. A very sudden feeling that I was blacking out, no warning, a little scary. The first time was at work, people saw me and called EMT. I went to ER, they checked heart, all good, I went home 5 hours later. These episodes continued for 3 months, about 2-3 times a week some worse than others. I would have a feeling of vertigo that would last for up to 6 hours. I did a lot of walking when they would come, felt worse lying down. For me, the episodes seemed to be triggered with eating. I changed my diet to very bland foods (ate a lot of oatmeal, stopped drinking coffee), ate small bits throughout the day. I've always tried to eat very healthy, Mediterranean diet, no junk foods, low sugar, lots of water, etc. I lost about 10 lbs. Then one day 3 months later I just felt different and they stopped. A year later same happened again. Again seemed to be triggered after eating. I again became very cautious with what I ate and it seemed to fade away in about 2 months. Lost another 10 lbs. Had a couple really bad episodes in Aug 2023, once I almost fell down some stairs. Went to ER for this event too and they checked heart again, all good. I've been to neurologist and 4 different G/I docs, 3 different PCPs, cardiologist.; Seems too hard for anyone to want to dig into. I have had some suggest I have a problem with my vagus nerve. I never experienced any of this in my life until past couple years. Digestive issues began after I got my covid shots in 2021. I was really sick/nauseous after the shot (hadn't been sick for many many years before that) and felt nauseous, and generally weak for the next 3-4 weeks; eating made me feel nauseous. I started seeing G/I docs then and have been on acid blockers since then. Really, I'm just trying to control this by what and how I eat.

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Replies to "62 yr old male. Just sharing my experiences. I have had near fainting / passing out..."

@jjohn10 When you mentioned having vertigo and passing out, that got my attention as symptoms that may be related to a spine issue. I'm guessing that when you are eating, you might be moving the position of your head or neck differently, and maybe this would bring on vertigo. I am a cervical spine surgery patient, and I had vertigo episodes related to the vertebrae in my neck shifting and twisting due to muscle spasms. At the time, I had spinal cord compression and a bad disc.

There is also another condition called thoracic outlet syndrome that I also have, and some patients with this do pass out because of blood supply being partially cutoff to the brain or arms particularly when turning the head or raising the arms. TOS can be caused by injuries at the same time as a spine injury like a whiplash. Basically, it is compression of nerves and blood vessels that travel from the neck through the shoulder to the arm. When cervical vertebrae twist from a spasm, it stretches the vertebral artery inside them, and that is part of the blood supply to the brain. If spine alignment also kinks that artery, it causes vertigo by altering the blood supply.

This may be something to check out with either a spine specialist or a vascular surgeon if you think that it may be related to your experience.

Jennifer