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Avatar universal

Why am I fainting?

i am wondering what is going on...
I have random dizzy spells that sometime turn into be fainting.
It has happened since high school and I am now 24.
I can feel when they are coming on. I get all light headed and dizzy, sometimes I feel nauseous. I feel really "heavy", sometimes I hear a ringing in my ear, and other times it feels like I have my ears plugged.
I have fainted a about 5 times in 6 years. I do completly black out, not for too long, when I come to I am shaky and sweaty and feel "heavy".
This is starting to scare me....

Besides this problem I have contsant nausea, but the doc has givin me medication to stop the nausea which is really helping.

Can someone help me please?
27 Responses
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Avatar universal
plzzzz plzzzz ans i feel like fainting every time i am feeling dis past 1 year i feel like i am spinning but never fainted
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Avatar universal
i feel like fainting all time sometimes but never fainted i feel heavy headed......it is happening to me since 1year dont know what  to do .....plzzzz help
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1720140 tn?1310448743
Yesterday I fainted. It has been almost four years since the last time I fainted. I faint when I feel guilty, when someone is yelling at me and I begin to feel my head spin. Well, yesterday I was getting yelled at, and felt really guilty. I was already on crutches for my ankle (Three days earlier I fell down, hurt my ankle) and after feeling my head spin, I just fainted. Completely blacked out and everything. When I woke up, I thought it was a dream. I couldn't figure out if it was all a dream or it had really happened. Now, I love my family and they have always helped me. The first time I fainted, they got me checked out, and I know if I asked again they would take me. I love them very much for all of their support, but I am very very scared. The doctors haven't really told me anything when I was first checked out, and I just really wanted to write this down since the bruises on my face and nose and head hurt pretty badly even though I have been taking medicine regularly. (Advil, Aspirin) I am so very scared because I never thought I would faint again. Ever. I am so scared because my family doesn't seem concerned, since my mom was the only one to see it, I don't think they really understand. But when it happened, I just don't know what to do. I haven't had very much swelling, a little bit on my head, but I do have bumps. My mom really didn't say much, only that I don't need to be examined since it's the exact same thing as last time. I trust her, but I still think at night about how I don't want this to every happen again. I don't know what to do. I am twelve years old. Please, any advice or help?
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Avatar universal
I'm 14 and last night i was just standing there talking to my dad and next minute i woke up on the floor and everything hurt, my dad and brother say my legs gave way or something and i fell and hit my head on the fireplace. When i woke up i was in hysterics because this has never happened to me and i couldn't and still can't remember what happened. I now just have a major headache. It's happened to my brother before who is a year older. Maybe it was just a random faint. It scared me though..
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Avatar universal
Steady ladies. Don't panic, you're not going to die. That's just a normal reaction to my presence.
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Avatar universal
i have the same thing only mine are fallowed by sevre cramps in my abdomen  but i hve been fainting since i was 12 i  i always know when it's coming but i don't always faint  it feels like i have to go to the restroom but instead i find my self on the floor  shaky and dizzy still and i will go lay down on the bed and faint while laying down .. and i always feel like vomiting afterwards .. i have had all kinds of test done none of the docs can find anything  i am scared cus i always hurt my self when i faint  i just fainted lastnight i managed to give my self a black eye ...
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Avatar universal
I also have the same symptoms and pass out about 1 to 3 times a year for the last 5 years or so. I am now 23. I went to the doctors about it (after the 5th time it occured because I gave myself a concussion) They said it could be a heart murmur or I might have low blood sugar. After testing for both, ekg and such, they say its syncope related to anxiety. I thought that it may be the case but 2 nights ago i passed out in the middle of the night after waking to go to the bathroom. I hit my head, again, and briused myself so bad. After it happens I feel so horrible and out of it for like a day at least. I wish there were answers. I feel so abnormal. I know its not healthy to pass out like this. I mean I eat healthy and I exercise regularly. I have no idea whats wrong with me but I'm scared and wish I knew. Good luck all.
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Avatar universal
It just happened to me tonight - at the movies in line to get into the theater for a really crowded showing.  I was so embarrassed! I didn't have a place to sit down and i knew it was coming and had to go with it. Luckily my husband was there and held me up as i went "blind", then i slid down and landed, woke up and was sweaty and shaky - as usual. This has happend to me only about 8 times in my life and has freaked me out every time and no one has any answers.  A couple of times it happend on my first day of my period when i was a teenager - my periods were frequent and extremely heavy, since having changed.  Other times it has just happened randomly - at the bus stop for example, another time on the subway.  What is this?!?!?!
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Avatar universal
hey everyone! im glad to know that im not the only one who faints all the time! i get soooo frustrated.
My first fainting spell happened when i was using the bathroom. I didnt have no warning signs tho. I just woke up face down on the bathroom floor. Then i got up and was really confused. I made it about three steps, and fainted again. Still, no warning signs.
The second time i fainted was at  funeral. The funeral itself didnt bother me, i was outside talking to friends, had a sip of water my ex gave me, and then i flet weak, dizzy, and nauseas. So i was i ran inside lokoing for the bathroom to pass out. I didnt make it n, but i made it to the door. Face down AGAIN. Then i woke up, went into the bathrom, shut the door, and passed out again.
The third time i passed out was this feburuary while i was working. I am a waitress, and it was one of our busiest nights. While,  twisted my knee, had so much pain, and i was carried over to the bench cus i couldnt walk. Well, not even a minuet later, I felt dizzy and i emembr tellin the security guy "im going to pass out" and i kept saying that as i was trying to make it to the bathroom into a stall. While i made it to the crowded bathroom, i remember saying " i need an empty stall, im going to pass out". Then i woke up with a bloody nose, and a massive laceration on my arm, fom falling on the wooden stall door. I tld my boyfriend i pass out all the time, but he didnt believe me untill he saw me in the girlsw bathroom that night. I was confused at first, one lady was holdong my head up, there was a doctor there too. She was trying to talk to me, but i couldnt hear her because of the ringing in my ears. I lookd out of the bathroom door, and i seen all my friends and coworkers looking at me. It was SOOOO embarrassing.
Yesterday really scared me. I was driving from a gas station to work, and i felt very very weak, like how you feel when you close your fists when you first wake up in the morning. I quickly pulled off onto a side street, parked my car and just waited to pass out. I never passed out though.
Ever since passing out at work infront of the largest crowd thathas ever been there, i have been feeling very strange. I think that i developed severe anxiety issues from this. Everywhere i go, i hve to know where a bathroom is, just incase i pass out. I went to the doctors several of times, and they put me on motion sickness pills because they believed i had vertigo.
I cant live a normal life. I stay inside all day, i call off of work, and i dont hang out with my friends anymore, because i am so afraid of passing out. I just signed up to a new doctor, hes suppose to be good, maybe he will find out what is wrong with me. Good luck to all of you!!!
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Avatar universal
hi guys , wow it has been great to read all your words .
i am 22 females , and i ahve been fainting / seizxures or the last month
i ahve been in hopsital twice , and have found sittying down for long erpiods makes it worse ....my ct scan and all blood tests came normal
docs dont knwow ahts wrong , and eventually after begging and begging , and gettin no where , i offically one day stopped breathing ....that has luckily got me an eeg scan ...in two weeks ......the neuro man says it willc oem back normal .....i am so frustared and have no diea waht to do with my life ...i was fiored from my job , and as a result lost my home na dhad to move back with poarents , and then my uni asked me if i would contiue or not ....i got myself together and depsite still fainting / seizures , i am braving ona nd finsging uni , as these docs are taking their time to helpe e !
i urge anyone that if it keeps happeningt o you ,especially if you drink water etc ,to not be pawned off by docs ....it is not stress
if any one knows what i may have please help me !!!!
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Avatar universal
I am 22 years old and have recently been fainting a lot. In the past 6 weeks i have fainting almost 10 times. Just yesterday i fainted in the shower 2x and then when i got to my room again and this happened in a 30 minute span. I have noticed that i have been fainting in the shower..which is not good...i have hit my head several times.

I also know when i am going to faint...i start feeling like i cant breathe...my eyes get blurry...my ears start ringing and my body starts feeling heavy and then i try to quickly sit down before i fall. I am out for like a few seconds and then slowly come back...but after this...my head is pounding, ears are still ringing, i am sweating, cold, and really weak.

I do have palpitations and just been told i have an overactive thyroid. I am seeing an endocrinologist. The doctors put me on a beta-blocker thinking that maybe that will help me from fainting...it did for a while...i have been on this medicine for like 3 weeks now. The thing i didnt understand was that i fainted 3 times yesterday in a matter of 30 minutes. Maybe it was that i didnt recover from the 1st fainting spell but whatever it is its getting frustrating.

I am not anemic...my iron level is fine....i am just so tired of fainting...especially since it has been in the last 6 weeks. I dont know what else to do. Should i just wait to be diagnosed with the right thyroid problem?...or is there anything i should do?...i thought it was low blood pressure since it was always in the morning right when i got in the shower but i thought the beta-blocker would help but i guess its not considering that i fainted again. If anyone knows what i should do next please let me know...i am totally frustrated and tired of it.

PLEASE HELP!!!
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Avatar universal
my doctor is sending me for a MRI and CAT scan for my fainting.....I have a really bad headache all the time..( i don't think it ever goes away) i have been put on different pain killers and anitbiotics and everything else imaginable and nothing is working....I am fine one minute and the next i am dizzy and then boom i wake up hot and sweaty and feeling heavy....i have two small kids to take care of and it scares them so much when it happens and lately it has happened every day.....
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Avatar universal
Wow - great to hear from fellow fainters, thx!

I have fainted my whole life, and had heaps of tests done too. Like you, at your age, they said anaemic....and yes, maybe that caused that one faint, but it couldn't possibly be th reason for my whole life!  

As you guys all know, fainting (and serious long term fainting, not just a old fashioned "pass out" like in the movies) is so annoying and embarrassing and no-one (even loved ones) understands how horrible you feel after it.  I often feel like embarrassed and  I dont want people to make a fuss, nor do I want to seem weak and let this ruin my life, so I get up and carry on when I clearly should be resting.  Poeple just don't understand.

Other reasons I have fainted is from pain, or from going hot to cold, and sometimes in the middle of the night with stomach pain, but for no other reason. It is so bizarre and no-one has an answer for it.

I've had the ECG and whatever the heart one is called, and both have come back ok.  The Neurolgists (ive seen two over my life - about 20yrs apart) both said the same thing...that my scan isn't normal, and has slight epileptic tendancies, but I definitely don't have epilepsy.  

Ugh....why is there no where to get information on this?  Even google searching doesn't come up with much. Well, it does, but a lot of the time its about fainting being a symptom for various diseases and head injuries.....and not much at all about people who are long time sufferrers.  It's so hard to figure out whether
the fainting is a cause of something, or just the problem on it's own.  All I know I have had to deal with it all my life...and just when I think it's all ok, bam! another attack happens.  Good news is as I've gotten older I think the attacks have lessened, but unfortunately have gotten worse in severity.  

It feels like no doctors really know what or why this happens.  Apart from those specialists I've been to heaps of GPs, and even into hospital a couple of times.  Still no answers. I don't even bother going anymore.

Right now I have a huge painful egg on my head from fainting (and falling on bathroom tiles) in the middle of last night, and today I am really annoyed as I just wish we could find some real answers!!

But, to leave on a positive note, there are worse conditions out there, and I do have an amazing life and most of the time I have found people to be sympathic, even if they can't ever understand what it really feels like to have an attack or live with this condition.  You can live a great life....try eating a high salt diet, drinks lots of water and always stand up slowly, and lie down as soon as you feel faint (with legs elevated even better).  

Good luck to you all, and if anyone hears any further studies/ideas be sure to let us know!  :)
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Avatar universal
Hello,

I faint all the time, i consistantly feel sick, i have problems sleeping and i black out just like you described but my eyes are watering and i have no idea who i am or where i am for about 5-10 mins afterwards, i have been told its possible that im anemic. I have never done any testing for it, little word of advise before you faint : Sitt Down On the Ground Where Ever you are before you faint incose you faint ontop of someone or if you colide with anything x
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Avatar universal
I FAINT THE SAME WAY MOST OF YOU DESCRIBED,LAST NIGHT IT HAPPENED AGAIN. I FEEL IT COMING AND ALWAYS TRY TO GET SOMEWHERE SEATED BUT USUALLY NEVER MAKE IT , LAST NIGHT MY HEAD MET THE DRESSER AND FOUGHT, I THOUGHT MY HEAD WAS GOING TO BUST FROM THE SWELLING. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO! THIS HAPPENS TO ME LIKE 1 TIME A YEAR AND THE DOC SAID THAT SINCE IT IS ALWAYS OCCURS AT NIGHT AFTER I EAT IT MUST BE THE SUGAR IN THE FOOD. BUT I DONT KNOW AND I DONT HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE SO TO GET A BETTER ANWSER IS IMPOSSIBLE.I ALWAYS WAKE UP HOT SWEATY AND CONFUSED.        PLEASE   HELP
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Avatar universal
im 21 and ive been fainting since i was 13. my docs have never bothered with it, they just look at me as if im lying. it might have something to do with the fact that people have only witnest this once before so they tend to ignore me.
i get dizzy alot and feel like im going to faint but i can pull myself out of it. when i do faint there is no warning or at least not a long enough warning to actually do something to stop or brace yourself. i recently had another and wacked my head off the bath, i completly knocked my self out. i have a huge lump on my head, lost a tooth, nearly broke my jaw an slit my lip open. the fainting spell i had before that one was the one that was witnest, by my boss of all people. i had a seizure they said. they disgibed what i was doing when i was out cold and it was in fact a siezure, yet my docs still won't do anything. they say they believe i don't have epilepsy (which is great ) so they aren't going to waste money by giving me a brain scan!!  JUST LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT, they told me. well not this time. people don't just faint for no reason. get yourself properly lokked and don't say no for an answer because the nest time you faint you could brake your neck.
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Avatar universal
I have the exact same symtoms I had went to  my doctor and they are sending me to a ears nose and throught doctor you might have Menieres Disease which is really vertigo. If it feels like you have been on a rollar coaster and you flipped a million times and after you get off you are still spining and want to throw up you might want to check into it, because it could also be your hart or even in worse cases be a brain tumor. Go and get checked out befor it's to late. Also check out the symptoms by typing in Menieres Disease and you will be surprised with all the information. Thats out there.
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Avatar universal
hey guys..i've been a fainter my whole life. so is my sister. i've had loads of heart testing, etc., and they never find anything. for me personally, i usually faint when i'm overheated. but have any of you asked your doctor about vertigo? it can be pretty severe, as you are describing. inner ear imbalance. just another thought.
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Avatar universal
Hi, i have just turned 18 and i have had the exact same happens to me.

it has happen 2 time before and my doctor put it down to my contraceptive pill which we changed there and then but it happened last sat night in the middle of town so i know its not my pill.  

I know when it is going to hapen as i get nausia then it turns rele bad to the point i need to put my head down, i try and get to a place where i can sit on the floor but whilst getting there i go really dizzy and people must think i am spaced out with the way i walk then i just faint its like my body gives up on the dizzyness.  i come round about a minite or 2 after i black out and i feel really weak, my head doesnt really seem fully with it and i am soaked in sweat. i come around fully after say 15 mins during this time i sip water. then after that i am totally fine until next time.  my doctor have referred me for some blood tests and ECG testing.  i will have to wait and see what and if they tell me what is wrong.
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Avatar universal
Hi, I used to have the same thing all the time. It got to the point where I was driving and fainted while driving the car. That night I went to the emergency room and they ran extensive testing. The test didn't show anything , but the e.r. doc referred me to a cardiologist for futher examination. The cardiologist asked me a series of questions and then told me that he was 99.9% sure I had a condition called nuerocardiogenic syncope. He said they could do a tilt table test to diagnose it. This is a test where they induce fainting and evaluate what happens when you faint. Turns out this is what I have and basically my blood pressure randomly drops and therefore I faint. To control it he put me on a beta blocker and
I have been on it for a year and a half with no more fainting spells and  it also controlled the rare palpitations I used to have.
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Avatar universal
to the original poster, i am 22 and am having a similar problem... though not usually accompanied by nausea i have had about 8 fainting/dizzy spells in the past 8 years, but the last 2 have come with in the past 6 months. i am making an appointment with an endocrinologist because it might be hypoglycemia, i am at a higher risk for diabetes since i have been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome. so maybe its hypoglycemia for you as well? good luck!
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Avatar universal
I'm not trying to scare you but I would take this very seriously.  It can be a sign of a heart arrhythmia that can be fatal.  I would see a doctor and not leave until they give you some answers on why this is happening.  Good luck to you.
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Avatar universal
Thanx for the info.

Last time it happened, my doctor said i was anemic. and to take iron pills. He never checked anythimg else. I have had my blood screened from l,ast years pcysical and everything was ok. I am stumped.

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Avatar universal
Check the heart forum, fainting can be a sign of heart arrhythmia.
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