Syncopes or....?

[Puggiepupmama]

About me: 30 y/o Female, 5”0 205 pounds (well aware that I am overweight). I have had these symptoms/episodes since I was 14 years old that haven’t gotten progressively worse in my mid-twenties and have yet to find any answers.  The first time I experienced this was when I was in middle school. I was home hanging out with a friend and had to use the rest room. I did my business and as I was leaving the bathroom I had a sudden wave of lightheaded-ness and shortness of breath, so I rushed to lay on my bed. The next thing I remember was waking up with my heart pounding heavily, but slowly in what felt like my throat and feeling disoriented. My legs were like jello! I brushed it off thinking maybe I was dehydrated.  This didn’t happen in a major way again until I was in my early 20’s while out at a party. I was drinking and of course with that comes urination. I felt a bit dizzy and had to use the restroom and when I made it inside, I immediately felt lightheaded and short of breath. The next thing I remember is waking up on the bathroom floor at my friends house covered in urine.   Fast forward another year later and I’m about 24 and getting ready to leave the house one morning. I sat to use the rest room and before I know it I was breathing heavily and felt faint. I came to while slumped over on the toilet, my entire body went lax and my face had hit the bath tub in front of me. Also I had urinated all over my self. Again I had no idea what to think of this. This same year I actually experience a bad fall. I was coming home from celebrating my birthday (I only had 2 beers while I was out and was not intoxicated) As I was climbing up the stairs to go into my room and get undressed, I started to feel it coming on. Lightheadedness, shortness of breath, heart beat racing and thumping in my chest but I could feel it all over, vision started to narrow and BOOM... I fall and hit my face smack on the hard wood and loose consciousness for about a minute. I came too covered in blood from biting down on my lip when I fell. My now husband then boyfriend rushed me to the ER where they presumed I was beaten by him due to my bloody lip, but I lied and said I slipped going up the stairs. Looking back at it I don’t know why I didn’t just tell them the truth, why I really fell and maybe then someone could have ran tests to try and diagnose my issue. I stayed quiet and pretended that nothing was wrong when deep down I felt lost. Why was this happening to me? When would I be able to live a normal life?  I am now 30 years old and my symptoms have progressed to a daily occurrence. Whenever I wake up in the morning or even in the middle of the night and I have to use the rest room (mainly #2) I feel as if I am going to lose consciousness. My breathing becomes heavy, my heart pounds and I do anything to try and hold on. Sometimes I can fight it off, but inevitably it forces itself to happen. Sometimes I can sense it and let my husband know so he can watch out for me. Sometimes it happens and I snap out of it quick feeling better. Sometimes it happens and I feel crippling back pain and have spasms to the point where I can’t move. Sometimes it happens on the toilet and sometimes while I’m just lying in bed. I’ve had multiple ER visits within the past 5 years, hit my head on concrete floors and even have had episodes while driving (twice!). I cannot function normally due to my fear of having an episode. I don’t know whether to call it “fainting” or “passing out” or “syncope” or even “seizure”. My anxiety has worsened over the years out of fear of hurting myself or others if I lose consciousness.  I’ve seen a neurologist and cardiologist. I’ve done tilt table tests, EKG’s, EEG’s, cat scans, an ambulatory EEG where I was monitored for 48 hours, wore a heart monitor for a week, I’ve been told that They are vasovagal syncopes that cannot be treated, I was prescribed anti-seizure medication and other meds that had horrible side effects and still nothing.   Now that I’m 30, married and looking to start a family I fear that I never will be able to. The stress that my body and mind go through on a daily basis is so overwhelming that I fear even if I were to become pregnant I would lose the child during an episode.  I guess the big question is... can ANYONE help me at this point? I feel as if I’ve exhausted my options and don’t know where else to turn.

[2210485]

P.S. Never mind.. it’s in heart rhythm now.

Don’t know if someone moved it or... it was showing up in women’s health before

[2210485]

Also;

Yes you can have children with syncope issues. In fact it’s possible for cardiac events to improve during pregnancy as the hormonal changes can suppress different sorts of rhythms and alter vagal tone.

Typically this can be predicted by looking at cardiac activity during the follicular phase of the menstral cycle. In particular the day immediately before and after your period.

If a noticeable increase in abnormal cardiac events can be traced to these time periods specifically it predicts a low probability of those events being very prevalent during pregnancy.

[2210485]

You can request an appointment with your electrophysiologist to discuss the implications of a “Rate Drop” pacemaking device if these occurrences are becoming dangerous.

Also, I do not understand why this is in women’s health and not Heart Rhythm where vasovagal syncope is discussed

I saw this by pure chance.

Apart from a rate drop device (only given for extreme cases) there is little to do