Brief blackouts, dizziness, headaches, visual disturbance

[mamaruns]

I hope someone, especially a doctor, could give me some ideas on what might be going on with my 43 year-old husband.  I was just told less then a month ago that for many years, he periodically gets these sudden quick blackouts that last for about a second.  He says there's a very brief moment of missing time, and he almost passes out but it happens so fast that he can catch himself and he feels very dizzy right after.  I had never noticed it, but it's happenning more often now and I have witnessed a few recently.  At first when he told me, I thought they might be absense seizures, but now that I've seen I really don't think they are.  Besides this, he's often fatigued, wakes up with horrible headaches with pain in the back of his head and neck, he's having dizziness and balance problems, there are times when he has "kaleidoscope" vision and sometimes when reading his eyes have a rapid back and forth movement.  He is also having episodes of weakness and numbness in his arms.  I think what he has is more then just a simple migraine, as the headache seems to be every day now.  He's had the pains in the back of his head since he was a child, it has just gotten worse.

Somebody please help!  

[Valveous]

im only 23 had blackouts /  headaches ever since i was a child. About 3 years ago it was gettin really bad in the service, when to the doctor, they found a syst. after they had it removed i havent had any blackouts or headaches since. Not sure if that helps just saying it....

[kkrylee]

My daughter started with the vision blackouts at 13 yrs old.  She is now 19 and has too many symptoms to count.  The only way that we got a diagnosis was to go to a specialty autonomic clinic 10 hrs away from our home.  They diagnosed her with POTS (Postural Orthostaic Tachycardia Syndrome) which is a form of Dysautonomia.  Go to dynakids(dot)org or dinet(dot)org for the best info on disorders of the Autonomic Nervous System.  The (dot) is because they don't always let us put in websites.

[esme1984]

hi i am soo happy that i am not alone in this.
i am a 26 year old mom of 4 and i have been suffering from this for over 14 years now.
i was 12 when i  had my first black out, i went blind for about 20 minutes, since then i would get extremely dizzy, get blurred vision (or visual total black outs), faint at times, and i am also suffering from low blood pressure. 2 years ago i got hurt very badly, i fell down the stairs during a dizzy spell, 5 metres, then i hit my head against a concrete wall and had a fracture in my temporal bone. i have never been so afraid since then. nowadays i am dizzy all day, every day. i am very weak, and dont know what it could be. about an hour ago i passed out again, i'm waiting for my husband to come home, to take me to a&e. i am tired of this, and hoping for an answer. if any of you have an diagnosis, please let me know.

[brian11]

My wife experiences nausea, then dizziness, usually passes out and loses her eye vision for 30sec to a minute. Then most times she has no energy and gets a headache which usually turns into a migraine which last for days. She's been to numerous specialist with no solid explanation. They think she has Neurally Mediated Hypotension, and the only thing that seems to help is she eats extremely healthy. No junk food, processed meats; anything unhealthy seems to make it worse. Not that eating healthy helps her completely, but it does help.

[fizz717]

im a 32 year old woman with high blood pressure ,my doctor gave me antideppressing tablets 3 days ago but today i had i blackout with no vision i was so scared it lasted 6 seconds i was driveing at the time.iv had these bad migranes for two weeks neck acke eyes hurt  pains in my left hand .please can u give some advise or ans thank you.

[kkrylee]

I am NOT a doctor but we have all been in your shoes.  1st the easiest test, and most doctors don't even think about doing it, is to check for blood pressure issues.  Take blood pressure and pulse laying down, then stand and take blood pressure pulse standing.  An autonomic problem will show either abnomality in the BP or Pulse due to the change in position.  We all have had every bloodwork possible, MRI's, MRA's, Spinal taps, EEG, EKG, etc. only to have all of those test come out normal.  Autonomic problems can cause all of your symptoms and checking pulse & BP laying and standing will identify an autonomic issue that can then be verified with a Tilt Table Test

There are many other things that can cause your issues but this test is too easy to not do to rule in or out an autonomic problem.