Temporary Blindness, Nausea, and Ringing Ears

[jellopuddingstick]

My friend earlier today went temporarily blind. She recounted the story as follows:

"So, this morning my mom woke me up at 6.20 like she always does, and i got up and turned on the water for the shower, roamed around while it heated up, and then got in the shower. i was almost done showering (putting conditioner in my hair) when i suddenly felt sick to my stomach like, i was going to throw up right then and there. so, i started speeding up my showering so i could get out and lie down. i was about to wash the conditioner out when i went blind. like, y'know how you go kinda blind when you stand up too fast? it started out like that, like the blackish spots on my eyes and the weird head feeling but the head feeling was kinda different so i was just like aw man and waited for it to pass. it reached the peak of making me completely blind and stayed like that. my head felt funny, i felt like i was going to throw up, and i was blind and in the shower. i grabbed at the wall until i found the thing to turn the water off, turned it off, attempted to step out of the shower, slammed my foot against the edge of the tub, fell down, and curled up on the floor of the shower with my head between my knees until my vision came back and i managed to calm down. then, i got out of the shower, grabbed my towel, and layed down on my bed. then, my ears started ringing. but not ringing. it was the same feeling-ish, but different sound. then that went away, then i felt okay."

I am trying to convince to seek immediate medical attention, but she refuses. Am I exaggerating the severity of the situation, or should she go to the hospital?

[treekettle]

This exact thing has been happening for about two years now every once in a while, and I've only ever actually fainted away entirely once. I mean exact as in often times the shower is related too! I went to multiple doctors. They all said it might be dehydration and waved it off so I drank lots of water, but it still happens. I had a heart monitor for a month or so and the results said I had occasional arrhythmia, but it was normal for a girl my age (17). I'm still drinking a lot of water and nothing has changed. A therapist said it might be trauma, anxiety, or another overemotional response, but I don't recall ever having a bad memory associated with the shower. I'm sorry this isn't much help, but your friend is definitely not alone.

[jellopuddingstick]

My friend insists that, due to her young age (15), there can be nothing wrong. Does her age change your advice?

[Ray T Oyakawa, MD]

Please take her to the ER ASAP.

Dr. O.

[yarrow]

I've done this very thing when I was very sick with the flu, same circumstances, same symptoms.  In my case, it was just a slow-mo near-faint. If your friend doesn't turn out to be sick with something and is feeling OK now (no difficulty speaking, no one-sided weakness of any part of the body), it doesn't sound like an emergency to me, but I think it would be a good idea to make an appointment fairly soon to talk it over with her regular doc.

However, it depends a bit on your friend's age.  If she's an older lady, she should probably be seen quickly in case it's related to something like a stroke.