Chronic fainting, sleep fainting, vasovagal syncope?

Posted by cherawgirl @cherawgirl, Aug 22, 2023

I started having fainting spells in 2018. Had heart workup, holter monitor, all negative for bradycardia. It starts during sleep. Fainting wakes me from 4-7 am, then I may faint 0-20 times the following day. This happens about once a month, may last 3 days. Was diagnosed with vasovagal syncope but symptoms don’t fit the disorder since I faint so many times for no known reason. I have Hashimoto’s disease but can’t find a connection, and I have Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency but can’t find a connection.

I posted this here because I couldn’t find another group that might be close. I mean fainting means the heart isn’t pumping blood to the brain but something has to trigger it!

Fainting causes bowel movements, to the point of diarrhea so bad I went into hyponatremia and ended up in the ER twice.

Why can’t I find help for this? If anyone knows ANYTHING, any lead could be the clue.

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Hello, I have the same symptoms of fainting with the diarreah.
What are all your symptoms. I have cvsd.

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I can't offer anything, sorry, as it is not my experience (other issues). However, if your kidneys are functioning well, you might be wise to sip an electrolytic drink most days. Nuun tablets are great, a bit spendy, but they're very good. I'm thinking that if you fall badly just once...AND...it's partly due to poor electrolyte balance.....

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@sally12345

Hello, I have the same symptoms of fainting with the diarreah.
What are all your symptoms. I have cvsd.

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Weight loss from EPI, digestive enzymes for that helped diarrhea tremendously, but I still have fainting 😢

Not many other sumptoms.

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@gloaming

I can't offer anything, sorry, as it is not my experience (other issues). However, if your kidneys are functioning well, you might be wise to sip an electrolytic drink most days. Nuun tablets are great, a bit spendy, but they're very good. I'm thinking that if you fall badly just once...AND...it's partly due to poor electrolyte balance.....

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Good advice, I drink Liquid IV daily w/ 1-2 liters of water. I’ll look into those tablets, thanks!

Fortunately, now I can feel immediately the faint coming on and have time to lie down and put my feet up. Only fell once.

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@cherawgirl

Good advice, I drink Liquid IV daily w/ 1-2 liters of water. I’ll look into those tablets, thanks!

Fortunately, now I can feel immediately the faint coming on and have time to lie down and put my feet up. Only fell once.

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research POTS

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UPDATE: Mayo tests show nothing wrong with my pancreas, so I do NOT have EPI and stopped taking digestive enzymes. Had a little SIBO that's been treated. I had not had a fainting event since Aug. but now had another bad 4 days of fainting over New Years. BP was mostly fine, a little low over a couple days (98/50). Heart rate is normal. I have made an appointment with my Primary Care physician to get help in what to do next. May have to do so exploratory treatments or med, even pacemaker. I have to do something, now I have extreme anxiety worrying when it is going to happen next. I am going to talk to her about starting I guess with cardiology. How can no one find out why a person is fainting 10 times a day for 4 days?! Even in my sleep.

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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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@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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@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

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UPDATE to my original post. Finally got in to see electrophysiologist (heart electricity Dr.). So far only seen his PA but OK with that now. They put me on a heart monitor. FIRST DAY had it on fainting started! on Friday night, continued to Monday morning. The Dr. office called me because they saw the monitor alerts. The monitor did not show anything out of the ordinary, hence they still think vasovagal syncope. I guess I should be glad I don't have a heart problem but I still have no clue what triggers the VVS. Dr. office mentioned there are medicines for it and she(the PA) is going to talk to the Dr. (who was in surgery all day yesterday) to see what he says. So I go back and forth between gastro and cardio 🙁 and 5 years later still no help. Bad fainting leaves you with a terrible head ache that nothing eases, feeling sick, and creates mental deficits with memory and thoughts. Please someone eventually find help for this.

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@cherawgirl

UPDATE to my original post. Finally got in to see electrophysiologist (heart electricity Dr.). So far only seen his PA but OK with that now. They put me on a heart monitor. FIRST DAY had it on fainting started! on Friday night, continued to Monday morning. The Dr. office called me because they saw the monitor alerts. The monitor did not show anything out of the ordinary, hence they still think vasovagal syncope. I guess I should be glad I don't have a heart problem but I still have no clue what triggers the VVS. Dr. office mentioned there are medicines for it and she(the PA) is going to talk to the Dr. (who was in surgery all day yesterday) to see what he says. So I go back and forth between gastro and cardio 🙁 and 5 years later still no help. Bad fainting leaves you with a terrible head ache that nothing eases, feeling sick, and creates mental deficits with memory and thoughts. Please someone eventually find help for this.

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Have you ever thought about going to a neurologist to help with your headaches maybe starting a medication called topamax are getting those shots in your head to help with headaches. Do you eat a small meals throughout the day that might help and try to cut out gluten and drink try to drink fluids throughout the day. Even if you don't test gluten you might be gluten sensitive so I try to cut out the gluten and that helps with me I'm cutting out the gluten really helped hopes for me. 😇😀🤣 Sometimes gluten to make you feel nauseous and dizzy and make you pass out. 🙏🆓😇😇🙏🙏

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