Conscious Fainting?

[ttransllucentt]

I have had about four spells, only one accompanied by involuntary spasms, where I have fainted (lost my vision and my ability to move, lost muscle control and fallen, unable to breathe during this time, and also with pins and needles all over my body) but I am still conscious and can hear / feel / understand what is going on around me.

I have only found one person who has experienced something similar via Google, but nobody had an answer for her. Can anybody help me understand what to call this? From what I've gathered, it's not a seizure, because it only lasts about 10-15 seconds for me, but it is not fainting, because I am conscious throughout the entire experience.

Some other things to note that might help are that I am anemic, and also that I suffer from migraines (though not so frequently to interrupt my life; about once a month, give or take a migraine if it's a good or bad month). The times that these spells have happened I was NOT currently, previously, or subsequently suffering from a migraine, and only one of these times had it been after getting up from a resting position. The other three times I had been on my feet for quite some time and it came on suddenly with seemingly no explanation as to why I would suddenly lose oxygen, if that could be a cause.

Hope to hear back, and that I was descriptive enough to make some sense.

[BreeKing]

A related discussion, I was concious but lost my vision? was started.

[ttransllucentt]

The only time my parents ever brought me to get this checked out, the doctors did an EEG to test for epilepsy, and found nothing of note. I probably should have mentioned that in the original post. My apologies. :/

[ttransllucentt]

I'd like to know what you mean by "involuntary vision spasms." I did happen to look this up online, and I noticed that many of the symptoms do not apply to me. My migraines / headaches are often behind my eyes or at the top of my head, whereas it describes these headaches to start at the base of your neck. I have no trouble with swallowing or breathing (minus my horrible smoking habit), and I have never had coordination problems or any trouble with the muscles in my upper body. Thank you for the suggestion, though! :)

[ttransllucentt]

Thank you all so much for your answers. I will consider the answers given and figure it out eventually, when I have health insurance!

[LetMeBe]

I have done this I think ... I felt like I was on a cloud and falling but wasn't trying to stop myself, thank goodness someone was in front of me to catch me.  I don't know if this is the same thing you are having I didn't really concentrate or whether I could see or not.  I really don't think I have ever heard of anything like this either but there have been some strange things happen with people who have migraines but you state you haven't had those.  I really think you should go to a doctor because this is something that as you stated you could find no information on.  It could just be blood pressure changes during the day and this is a real thing because I lost about 60 lbs in a year without the doctor checking my blood pressure much and come to find out my blood pressure went from 120/80 to 98/58, it's a little low and that being said was the reason I had these episodes of fainting without fainting ... I got up one time and everything went black and then back to normal, that was weird and then one time I lost my eyesight all together for about 20 minutes and this was called an ocular migraine. I do not have migraines either but my doctor said that a migraine can be felt or not felt I had no idea ... I had no head ache before or after and it's happened to me about three times in my life.  My doctor said he has them too but before that I never heard of it.  Pretty scary to say the least.  When something like you are saying is happening you best be served to see a doctor and find out that it isn't something serious, the longer you let something go the more the chances are it will get worse and usually it is something that just diet or blood pressure related.  Some people only get their blood pressure checked when the go to the doctor.  If you check your blood pressure throughout the day you may see spikes and these would cause some of those symptoms ... that would be my best non medical person guess.  Fainting is low something, could be low white cell, low iron or low blood pressure.  hope it helps.

[Sabbynal]

Hi, sorry you have bee having trouble. You are not alone. These episodes are pretty typical of one particular medical situation. You might just check out the Chiari Malformation forum, and see what symptoms people are talking about there.
I was diagnosed as having seizures when I was 16, and they were very like what you are describing. The tricky thing is, they weren't seizures, and Neurologists typically lump undiagnosable loss of conscousness to seizures. I was on meds for Epilepsy for two years. What it ended up being is actually a Chiari Malformation, or as my doctor liked to call it, a case of an escaping brain.
Essentially it is a brain to big for your skull syndrome, and it causes,(among other things), migraines, falling episodes, trouble breathing without losing pulse ox, temporary paralysis type feeling, and nystagmus (involuntary vision spasms).
I agree that you should see a Neuro, but insist on having an MRI to check for Chiari. If they don't, see someone who will. I sufferred for 20 years before I was diagnosed, and the radiologist was slow to pick up on it. It took seeing a Neurosurgeon to settle the issue.
If it is Chiari, there is help. I had surgery and am doing great! Fully recovered. Don't wait. Whatever you read, time matters! Better to catch it before it does permanent damage. Good luck. You can get beyond this.
Best to you,
Abby

[caregiver222]

Actually you have experienced a siezure. A variety of petit-mal siezure. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. Often these are triggered by exposure to flashing red lights, a television or computer screen, or sunlight going through the blades of a helicopter.  That being said it does not necessarily mean you will have to take medications. The big problem is having an episode while driving or standing near the edge of a railway platform. You need a proper neurological evaluation at a teaching hospital. If the event takes place again go immediately to an ER via 911 ambulance.