Heart stoppage

  15 years ago I began having episodes once every 6 months of lightheadedness
  due to my heart slowing down or stopping.  10 years ago while on a vacation
  I had a pronounced one, went to emergency, and it cut my vacation short.  
  After back in town I wore a holter monitor, ran tread mills, etc. and they
  found nothing.  Since then I have lived it and the frequency has varied to
  once or twice a month to once every 6 months.  Two years ago I had a serious
  one that caused me to go to emergency.  EKG showed nothing.  Another
  treadmill showed nothing, perfectly normal.  In the past six months I have
  had about a dozen of these attacks, two today that scared me.  I am
  normally relaxing or talking and suddenly start passing out and almost
  black out, but not quite.  I have felt my heart during these episodes and
  it seems that it stops beating.  Also when it kicks in it seems irregular,
  a real strong beat, then soft ones, then a strong one or skips, with no
  regular pattern.  Every time I have gone in nothing is found.  Today was
  one of the most serious ones but I slept it off and now feel fine.  I am
  healthy, fit, and don't have caffiene in my diet.  I don't know when I'll
  have another attack, could be months. What do I do next.  Thanks alot.  
  It is very kind of you to have this web site and help people like myself.

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Dear  David F.,
The medical term for what you are describing is syncope (or near syncope if you don

[zee0823]

A related discussion, passing out was started.