fainting

Posted by TiredOfFainting @tiredoffainting, Jul 25, 2011

I am a 35 year old female. About 16 months ago I fainted for the first time while driving. I went to the ER and had lots of tests run. Nothing was found- normal EKG, EEG, ct of brain, holter monitor, stress test, echo, sugar level. Over the next 9 months I fainted 7 times. Six months went by and I was fine. Last week I fainted again. I've been seeing a cardiologist. I've done an EP study, 4 different tilt table tests, blood volume test. I have an implanted loop recorder. It recorded the last fainting episode. What I do know is that I have low blood pressure (I took it after I fainted: 67/38). I was usually in the 80s/50s. My bp drops for some unknown reason and then my heart skips several beats. Then I fainted. I was previously taking a beta blocker to stabilize my bp. I no longer take it. I am taking theophylline. It raises my bp and heart rate. I am normal weight, exercise 5-6 days week. I've done 2 half marathons and 1 whole marathon. This all started 3 weeks after my marathon. We've talked about putting in a pacemaker. I'm scared. I have 3 kids under 11 years old.

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I wanted to add that I've fainted while in different positions: standing, sitting, lying down, squatting on the floor. Some of the times I heard the same music in my head before I fainted (but not every time). I would appreciate any one's help or comments. Thanks!

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It's been 2 1/2 weeks since the last fainting. I feel good now that I stopped thinking about it so much. The first 2 weeks I had a lot of anxiety and depression. I think a little bit of knowledge was bad. It was enough to scare me but not enough to help me. I was constantly checking my blood pressure. Now I check it occasionally but rely on how I feel. Thanks for the interest. I am still happy to hear anyone's comments.

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I had fainted several times several years ago but since I got my pacemaker, I haven't fainted at all. That was about 6 years ago.

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you're into fitness, so you know the power of taking at least 7 deep breaths a day. also, food, you might need to graze frequently as opposed to having full meals in one sitting

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I have low blood pressure, dizziness and tiredness. My doc told me to eat more salt. Seriously worth a try.

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I would like to ask why you stopped taking the beta blockers? My 13 year old daughter had taken a tilt table test and it was determined by her Dr. that she needed to have a pacemaker. Her fainting still occurrs even after two years of the pacemaker being put in. We are now giving her pindolol? Did your beta blockers work for you up to this point? I am so worried about the effects that they will have just hearing somone's experience with the beta blockers would help me with my decision . Do not be afraid if that is your option about the pacemaker my daughter recovered quickly and was back at school in 4 days.

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I'm a 32 year old female. I had my first fainting episode almost 3 years ago. The first few months I was in the ER having blacked out at work almost once a week.
In time we learned that I had a combination of problems, and now 3 years later I'm still not ok, but many of my symptoms occur less often at least.

We found that my B-12 was so low it was non-existent because I have pernicious anemia. I now take weekly B-12 shots as my body can no longer absorb B-12 from food.

We also found my iron was crazy low, I was not only anemia but my body had no iron in storage (ferritin) either. Twice now I've been treated with IV iron protocols. My iron continues to drop for unknown reasons (we have run every test out there) so we check my blood counts monthly to monitor when I need more IV iron.

They started me 2 medications: Midodrine and Fludrocortisone. These both help alot with preventing me from actually blacking out all the way when I feel like I might.

In addition I transitioned to a high salt diet and increased my fluid intake to roughly 4 liters of water and juice a day.

With all of that in play things are managed to the point where I only fully black out maybe once ever other month or so and I've always had enough warning to sit or lay down first.
My continued problem is that after I black out, or almost black out, my heart rate drops to somewhere in the 32-45 range and stays there for hours or days on end. It is so low at that point that I can hardly get out of bed or function.

My team of docs (Primary Care, Cardiology, Neurology, Hematology, GI, Rheumatology, Gynecology) at this point are all scratching their heads. They cannot find any cause for the consistent low pulse. I was even hospitalized for a few days after my last blackout until my pulse was back above 50 and they were not able to determine the root of the problem, nor a way to treat it. We just had to "Wait it out".

Next week I go to talk to my cardiologist again. We are considering putting in a pacemaker to see if can at the very least help my body to bounce back AFTER an episode, if not prevent the syncope in the first place.

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@jaanderson1

I have low blood pressure, dizziness and tiredness. My doc told me to eat more salt. Seriously worth a try.

Jump to this post

the treatment depend on ur age ,work, investgation tell me

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@joellenmac

I would like to ask why you stopped taking the beta blockers? My 13 year old daughter had taken a tilt table test and it was determined by her Dr. that she needed to have a pacemaker. Her fainting still occurrs even after two years of the pacemaker being put in. We are now giving her pindolol? Did your beta blockers work for you up to this point? I am so worried about the effects that they will have just hearing somone's experience with the beta blockers would help me with my decision . Do not be afraid if that is your option about the pacemaker my daughter recovered quickly and was back at school in 4 days.

Jump to this post

I stopped taking the beta blocker because it didn't do what the dr thought it might do- which was stop my BP from dropping. It's been 6 months since my last fainting. I am taking theophylline 200 mg 2xday. So far so good.

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@justkrs

I'm a 32 year old female. I had my first fainting episode almost 3 years ago. The first few months I was in the ER having blacked out at work almost once a week.
In time we learned that I had a combination of problems, and now 3 years later I'm still not ok, but many of my symptoms occur less often at least.

We found that my B-12 was so low it was non-existent because I have pernicious anemia. I now take weekly B-12 shots as my body can no longer absorb B-12 from food.

We also found my iron was crazy low, I was not only anemia but my body had no iron in storage (ferritin) either. Twice now I've been treated with IV iron protocols. My iron continues to drop for unknown reasons (we have run every test out there) so we check my blood counts monthly to monitor when I need more IV iron.

They started me 2 medications: Midodrine and Fludrocortisone. These both help alot with preventing me from actually blacking out all the way when I feel like I might.

In addition I transitioned to a high salt diet and increased my fluid intake to roughly 4 liters of water and juice a day.

With all of that in play things are managed to the point where I only fully black out maybe once ever other month or so and I've always had enough warning to sit or lay down first.
My continued problem is that after I black out, or almost black out, my heart rate drops to somewhere in the 32-45 range and stays there for hours or days on end. It is so low at that point that I can hardly get out of bed or function.

My team of docs (Primary Care, Cardiology, Neurology, Hematology, GI, Rheumatology, Gynecology) at this point are all scratching their heads. They cannot find any cause for the consistent low pulse. I was even hospitalized for a few days after my last blackout until my pulse was back above 50 and they were not able to determine the root of the problem, nor a way to treat it. We just had to "Wait it out".

Next week I go to talk to my cardiologist again. We are considering putting in a pacemaker to see if can at the very least help my body to bounce back AFTER an episode, if not prevent the syncope in the first place.

Jump to this post

Do you exercise frequently or vigorously? How are your eating habits? Based on information from my last cardiologist visit, I think I was exercising too intensely, too long, and too often. I also was not eating enough. I looked normal but for the amount and intensity of exercise I was doing my food intake was too low, especially protein. I now make sure to eat enough protein and don't exercise at such a high intensity.

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