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Blackouts or Greyouts and High Blood Pressure?

Could these be a result of high blood pressure?

Having issues with what I call grey-outs or black-outs. I get a sudden onset of lightheadness, my ears will ring intensely, I see light spots and patterns, and there is always a weird electrical heat smell.Everything rushes to my head and ghere is a weird surreal or de-ja-vu feeling and then my hearing will go out all together, and my vision dissolves out to nothing but a grey expanse. Feels like on the verge of passing out. This can last for 30 seconds or a few mintues, the longest has been 5 mintues. It They are very disortienting, and during this my thoughts will scatter and I will start to dream and I am not aware of anything going on around me. Afterwards, I feel disortiented, I usually have forgotten what is was I was doing or thinking about prior to the event and I have a headache and I am very tired. If I rest for an hour or two that usually makes feel alot better. This happens I would say 3 to 4 times a year.

Blood Pressure related? Anyone else experience this or something similar?
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187666 tn?1331173345
Scanning the responses, did anyone touch on the "weird, electrical heat smell"? Some folks with certain types of epilepsy will get a smell aura before the seizure starts. There are many types of seizures, most are not the grande mal type where a person falls to the floor, shakes and is unaware. Petit mal can be a brief period of blankness, losing track of time and place. There are others. Just another thought.
Helpful - 1
Avatar universal
I am having same problems. First I blacked out,then fell! Then someone tells you after you fall into a closet your a stupid idiot! I will never forget that one!  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Get yourself a BP monitor and check your BP so you can tell the doctor what your BP is at home.  You need to see a doctor ASAP.  I would not wait with symptoms like that. I don't want to scare you but my mother in law had these symptoms and the doctors said she had small strokes.  They found that her carotid arteries were severely blocked.

If they find nothing serious the better but at least you have the serious causes ruled out.
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Avatar universal
i am having a migraine headache very frequently accompannied by black outs and the frequency is like 100 to 120 times an year.doctors are not helpful except in giving anti depprresents and pain killers which is making me very weak can any one help me with information
Helpful - 0
97628 tn?1204462033
That is interesting because my mother used to say my grandfather (who had syncope, was on digitalis and passed out constantly when she was a child, no worry there he lived to be almost 90) would go out in the cold, and say, chop some wood (they lived on a farm) come inside and promtply pass out. So, was it prompted by the exposure to the cold or the exposure to the warmth in the house AFTER the exposure to the cold or neither? :-)
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
its funny you mention the heat connection, because that is a common cause of vasovagal syncope.. Ide explain my symptoms to my doctor and get a full work up.. The hearing loss commonly accomponies a near fainting episode, but if you are experiencing hearing loss without the near blacking out as well, ide get a full physical. Good luck!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank-you, everyone for your quick responses, I didn't expect that.
No, I do not have a history of migraines or high blood pressure, however, my mother does for the better part of 30 years or more. Mostly high blood pressure and migraines due to the her pressure. In her case, she was about 28 when she developed it and it was during and after her pregnancy with me. Myself, this has actually been happening since I hit puberty at 15 or 16, I'm now 32, I have never been pregnant (at least not yet). When I was a teenager it used to like to occur mostly about 1/2 hour after I would shower or if the car heater was turned on too high. However, now it seems to occur at all times, when I'm just out shopping walking around, or sitting down talking to a friend or watching a movie. I'll have a slight headache but nothing major, it will go away within 15 or 20 mintues, I'll feel mostly tired and foggy headed more than anything. New things have started to happen as well that concern me even more, like all sound dropping out, no ringing no head rush just sound drops out. I thought it was the surround sound speakers at first, however my financee was there this last time and I turned to talk to him and I couldn't hear him either. There was absolutely no sound, after a few mintues, it came back, again no headache or anything. Needless to say my finance was more than a little concerned.
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Avatar universal
Hi, thank-you for your concern, insight and information.  When I started investigating this after alot of urging form my financee, I did run into a few things that mention syncope but it never really seem to fit. I do have a loss of vision, hearing, ringing in the ears, lightheadness, and some weakness, but that's it off that list. No sweating, or warm feeling or nauseau nothing like that. I'v'e never fainted in my life at least not that I know of have never found myself on the floor. It does come on extrememly suddenly I can be perfectly fine, feeling fine going about my business and then all of a sudden it happens within seconds. It will usually stop me dead in my tracks and I just grab onto the closest thing to me and if there is nothing around then I just kneel down and put my hands on the floor. Sometimes, I don't even get that much warning. I've kinda of got used to it and because I'm always fine afterwards it didn't concern me that much. However, because like I said new things are starting to occur and these events are starting to get longer and more intense it's now worrying me. In addition to the horrified reaction of my financee but he's a bit of hypocondract. I finally have a chance to get health insurance in a few months, so I think I will make an appointment for a general check-up and mention this to my doctor.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Here are the symptoms of pre-syncope.. does this sound familiar?... How bad is your headache afterwards??  Ide be very careful before labeling this a migraine.. It could be, but the compounded symptoms of loss of vision, the actual black out, and the complete loss of hearing screams pre-syncope to me.. Ive never seen a symptom of migraine being hearing loss, but its very typical of presyncope.

Before a faint due to vasovagal syncope, you may have warning signs and symptoms, such as:

Pale appearance to your skin
Feeling of warmth
Weakness
Lightheadedness
Nausea
Yawning
Sweating
Rapid breathing (hyperventilation)
Blurred vision
Field of vision "blacking out" or "whiting out"
Difficulty hearing or ringing in your ears

The signs and symptoms above may precede either a near faint (pre-syncope) or total loss of consciousness (syncope). But in either situation, you recover or regain consciousness on your own.  

I have heard of the aura sensation along with migraines, and the symptoms are visual disturbances, such as flashes of bright colored light, slowly spreading spots, blind or dark spots in vision.. aura usually starts around half an hour before the headache sets in..it sounds like your symptoms are much more abrupt, whats the typical time frame? i got the impression this happens pretty suddenly.. Ide definatly make an appointment to see my doctor if it was me.
Helpful - 0
97628 tn?1204462033
You should see a doctor about your symptoms to determine what it could be for certain.
Unfortunately, it does sound migraine-like. A co-worker of mine would have the vision disturbances due to migraines. You have my total sympathy.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi there,

Wow, sounds like fun stuff (:  Actually what it sounds like (in my opinion) is a migraine.  A lot of people will get what's called an "aura" before the migraine hits...vision disturbances, ringing ears, dizziness, disoriented.  I have a friend who also gets migraines (like me) who will experience a blacking out sensation where everything will go black from the bottom up and she almost can't see anything at all and feels very very disoriented.  Then her migraine comes on full force and she's miserable.  That's just my opinion.  Do you have a history of migraines or high blood pressure?  My migraines sometime come with an aura, sometimes not and last 2-3 days at the longest.  At that point I just want to rip my head off (:  Best wishes and take care!

momto3girls (:
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
the temporary loss of hearing and sight sounds like classic presyncope... Its surprising to me it lasts so long without you actually fainting.. It could definatly be related to a drop in blood pressure, a million other things, or nothing at all.. Does it happen at certain times? like when suddenly standing, anything like that?? Ide go to my primary care doc if i where you, since they are happening fairly often, and ide probably ask for a tilt table test as well.. They may not be able to find the exact cause, but its important to rule out any dangerous causes.
Helpful - 0
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