Mimmy

[sewingmachine]

four years ago, I regularly felt black coming from each side of my face, then feeling at that second I was going to pass out. I was told by doctor that it was a narrowing of the blood vessels at the back of the neck, thus causing a shortness off oxygen to the brain for a second. Now I have just had my first one after 4 years, and feel reluctant to put other drivers at risk, and also now told by doctor that she thinks I was about to faint, but stoopped myself by going on auto pilot and taking deep breath's out of the window I opened in what I felt was a split second. HELP!

[vienna13]

You did the right thing, by not panicking instead opening the window and taking deep breath. Your doctor had a good explanation, but how to prevent happening again that is the harder question.And Ed has a great point: how your doctor knows?
         I tell you how that was for my husband.  The same thing twice happened to him: once he pulled the car a side and was waited, he was alone, once again years later he had that thing after waking up and sitting.   He said these events were very scary and he is not a weak man in any way. Thinking: ‘if it will be everything ok again’ he said was awful. What he was thinking why he got that: it was a draft and his head was always sensitive for that, draft  used to gave him headache  sometimes  dizziness , so he was always  kind of  careful, but it is not all the time easy to be careful. After that second almost passing out event. He won’t go out without wearing something on his head and never sit places where the opposite side of windows is open. We changed the place of his bed far from the window. He said he was sure his head got a cold there when it was near. So far he is healthy and that never happened again.(All his tests were always good  normal blood pr.no narrowing arteries etc.)
Best to you.

[ChatterAlly]

I have blockages in both carotids and have been told this CANNOT be put off. (My insurance won't cover anything cardiovascular for the first 12 months)  I am strong and can fight back symptoms, also, but there comes a time when we just have to hand this over to the professionals.  Seek some medical advice.  Take care, Ally

[ed34]

Syncope can be caused by many things, but your Doctor has already diagnosed it as narrowing of your arteries. Has this been confirmed with tests? When you reach the stage of syncope, it's normally time to have the blockages intervened. I hope that you're not having TIA episodes. I would seek medical attention as soon as possible. I applaud you for fighting the anxiety which doesn't help when added to the situation.