Passing out / not remembering how you got somewhere

[ipx]

Hey guys, this may be the wrong place, but I saw head aches and figured this should be OK. Please note that that she refuses to tell me the details again because she is convinced she's fine and doesn't need to go to the doctor, so I may not remember everything 100% correctly.

Anyway, recently, someone I know was on the subway, she said she was feeling very dizzy and odd and finally decided she needed to go home because she was feeling too ill to go to class. She told me that she doesn't really remember coming home, and that she all of a sudden found herself on the floor in her apartment with her neck and back hurting. This makes me think she passed out and hurt her neck and back when she fell. I would say the walk from the subway to her home is probably 10-15 minutes, that's quite a while to go without remembering anything. Also, over the next day or so she said she felt minor dizzy feelings again when she tried to go do errands around town. She has always had head aches, sometimes they would last for a day or two, but generally calm down after a good nights rest. They come often after she has read for long periods. I'm just worried the head aches may be connected to her passing out once she got home, and I need some info.

I'm worried maybe she had some sort of seizure or something. I can't think of a reason why she wouldn't be able to remember walking home or how she got on the floor.

Please help with any information you may have.

Thank you.

[caregiver222]

The problem is called "retrograde amnesia", and it is more common than you think. She needs to go to a stroke center, as of yesterday and get an MRI as of yesterday. There are many problems that can be easily resolved if caught within the "window of opportunity". She has had a yellow approach signal to an open drawbridge. And the river is very deep. If she has a stroke she can end up a virtual vegetable for the remainder of her days on this planet. Please urge her to seek emergency care.

[binder58]

There are a number of reasons for passing out, and typically they do not remember the events passing out.  But it is strange she does not remember coming home with the walk!  My husband passes out, he has had spinal headache for long time, due to an epidural injection, spinal fluid leaked.........anyway, he gets real warm in the face, and then bam he is out.  He woke up on the shower floor, not knowing what he hit, just that two toes were broke, and skinned up knees real bad.. it is scary!  And HE IS going to docs, and has for almost 2 years with NO real answers, and the docs keep cashing the checks, so that is even more aggravating......trying to get treatment and treating him like he has a cold!  But if you look up synoscope, or vaso vagel, it should give you some info, and maybe print the interesting ones out, that may apply to her situation, and let her look at them.  THere is a heart condition./blood pressure problem that can cause this, they do a tilt table test to find it, but can sometimes be detected by checking BP sitting down, then standing up.  Good luck, and hope she takes this condition seriously!