Have you ever inexplicably fainted before?

[AlanW]

Can I start but saying that normally I don't have a problem with blood tests.

But that changed last year, I went to my GP not feeling 100% and as a matter of caution he arranged for the nurse to take bloods.

So there I was sat on the chair talking to the nurse, not a care in the world and watching her every move, as I had done in the past. She asked me if I had a problem giving blood, of course not was the very prompt reply.

Now unknown to me, this is where it really started to go tits up, I watched her stick the needle in and start to draw the blood.

The next thing I recall is sitting on the floor with the nurse holding my hand. She said "I thought you said you didn't have a problem?"

Blimey, how poorly did I feel while I was sat on the floor trying to regain my senses again.

She said, that one minute I was talking to her, then a split second later I was sliding off the chair towards the floor and there was nothing she could do to stop me, so she just let me carry on till I hit the deck.

 

[661-Pete]

I have a vague memory, many years ago (in my 20s), of - well not exactly fainting, but coming very close, having to bite my tongue or something to keep myself conscious. And even more important, to conceal my state of health from the person I was with.

I was in the middle of a job interview at the time. Despite my best efforts, I must have stopped making any sense at that point.

I didn't get the job...

 

[661-Pete]

My other experience, which may have been a faint, I wrote up on one or other of the old cycling forums some years ago. That was a cycling 'off', a certain amount of alcohol was involved (more than I've drunk ever since), but I just ended up with a smashed-up face, broken teeth and about 15 minutes gapped out of my memory, which has never come back. I still don't know how it happened, but it doesn't seem to have involved another vehicle. No. I somehow just passed out while cycling, and the next thing I knew I was wrapped in a blanket being tended to by concerned passers-by as the ambulance drew up. But as I said, it may have been alcohol.

 

[potsy]

My other experience, which may have been a faint, I wrote up on one or other of the old cycling forums some years ago. That was a cycling 'off', a certain amount of alcohol was involved (more than I've drunk ever since), but I just ended up with a smashed-up face, broken teeth and about 15 minutes gapped out of my memory, which has never come back. I still don't know how it happened, but it doesn't seem to have involved another vehicle. No. I somehow just passed out while cycling, and the next thing I knew I was wrapped in a blanket being tended to by concerned passers-by as the ambulance drew up. But as I said, it may have been alcohol.

Sounds like you were abducted by aliens Pete,surely that's more likely than drink

 

[Bandini]

Well actually it has always been a bit 'explicable', come to think of it.

 

[postman]

The Nurse said i went a funny shade of green-grey .When many years ago i had fluid drained out of my knee with a very large needle .I had to lay down and a fan was wheeled into the cubicle .(Didn't know him though )

Never had probs with needles i am a silver badge holder at blood donoring.

But the best was a few years back .Pains in chest .Admitted so they could keep an eye on me .Gave me a pill to suck .Later felt queezy and sick .Called the nurse and fainted .

Woke up with a doctor sticking a needle in my arm .Two porters ready to take me to ICU .Stayed 12 hours let home .Bad reaction to whatever the pill was .And i had Pericarditis .A virus .

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i once had a potentially deadly fall after fainting at the top of the stairs. i remember, having had half a bottle of wine and lying on the sofa in a warm room, going up the stairs for a pee. i then felt a bit funny, and the next thing i can hear is mrs alec telling someone "he's coming round", which i thought was an odd time to get visitors.

a trip to the gp confirmed that the combination of the above was enough to drop my blood pressure sufficiently to pass out. she also said i was lucky to have been out while falling down stairs, as most injuries are incurred by the body tensing up.

even now, if i've been asleep on the sofa i'll have a 'sit down' wee as a precaution; even though the house we're in now makes the same sort of fall unlikely.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm fascinated by the connection with having a pee. When I was a teenager, I woke up in the middle of the night ,absolutely desperate for a pee, and rushed to the loo. Standing there, just about to start the "business in hand", my peripheral vision started closing in with blackness, just like the scenes when somebody gets sapped in a Bogart movie. I had just enough time to realise that I was fainting, and squatted down on the floor so that I wouldn't crack my skull on the WC when I dropped. I came round on the loo floor, miraculously continent.

The vision closing in thing was really quite interesting, and not totally unpleasant.

It has never happened since then, thank heavens.

 

[marooncat]

Only fainted once in my life and I can think of no reason for it. We were on a bus trip in Japan and stopped at a service station, got off the bus went to the loo and got and icecream and I was feeling fine. BF and I were standing eating the icecream and I suddenly could not see anything, grabbed BF arm and that was the last thing I remembered till I woke up lying on the ground.

I had been drinking the night before (it was a scotland football trip afterall) but had not had that much knowing I was up for the bus in the morning and had eaten something before leaving etc. Apart from feeling very embarrassed about it I was fine and could think of no reason for it. (my sister was determined I was pregnant!!) I was not back in the uk for another week so never went to the docs over it.

I think it actaully bothered BF more than me and he spent the rest of the trip on tender hooks I was going to faint again. One time I stumbled over a paving slab and he came belting over to me - I think ready to catch me

 

[Muddyfox]

My husband did when having a wee - apparently if you are a bloke the act of weeing can put pressure on the vegus? nerve and cause you to pass out. He went down like a sack of spuds, but luckily had finished pissing at that point.

Kirstie ... this could be the stress of Multi Tasking ?

us blokes have to Aim ~ scratch our arse and whistle all at the same time

Just a thought

Simon

 

[Yellow Fang]

I sometimes used to black out a bit as a teenager on getting up from the sofa. Once I even passed out and hit my head on the radiator. I expect it was just low blood pressure.

 

[snorri]

Most of the experiences related so far are not inexplicable faintings, which is what the op asked for. I think pre adult faintings should be discounted from this survey too.
Me? No, never fainted inexplicably.

 

[Crankarm]

No, never, although reading some of those graphic medical conditions and procedures earlier on in the thread I felt very light headed and started hyperventilating. I had a drink from my bottle so feel ok now . Hic!

 

[darkstar]

I've been knocked out 3 times but never fainted.

 

[slowmotion]

Most of the experiences related so far are not inexplicable faintings, which is what the op asked for. I think pre adult faintings should be discounted from this survey too.
Me? No, never fainted inexplicably.

Is that Mr Logic from Viz posting?