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Drinking water caused uncosciousness
Two nights ago I swallowed a large gulp of water from a bottle. The pain in my chest was unbearable and one of the worst feelings ever felt. The pain didn't subside but grew stronger as I started to freak out. The next thing I remember I was lying on the carpet, my face split open and bleeding. Apparently I had passed out at my desk, smashed my forehead on the edge of the desk, and then when my face hit the carpet my glasses broke in half and split my nose on both sides. I haven't been able to find any information as to what might have caused this and why. Any ideas? Thanks.
Hello!
If I had to hazard a guess, it sounded like you may have had what is called an esophageal spasm...(Food tube cramp)..It feels much like a heart attack with sudden chest pain that grows in intensity, causing a sensation of shortness of breath and it may even radiate to your neck and between your shoulder blades...And then, as jr dr said, reacted to the pain by having a vagal episode (nerve that causes your heart rate to slow waaaay down and your blood pressure to suddenly lower when it is triggered by pain and a few other things)...Your brain goes "OMG, I don't have enough blood pressure to work!" and makes you pass out, putting you on the ground, where it is at the same level as your heart and can get blood to itself...Everything returns to normal after a few minutes, and you are fine again...Hope this helps...
If I had to hazard a guess, it sounded like you may have had what is called an esophageal spasm...(Food tube cramp)..It feels much like a heart attack with sudden chest pain that grows in intensity, causing a sensation of shortness of breath and it may even radiate to your neck and between your shoulder blades...And then, as jr dr said, reacted to the pain by having a vagal episode (nerve that causes your heart rate to slow waaaay down and your blood pressure to suddenly lower when it is triggered by pain and a few other things)...Your brain goes "OMG, I don't have enough blood pressure to work!" and makes you pass out, putting you on the ground, where it is at the same level as your heart and can get blood to itself...Everything returns to normal after a few minutes, and you are fine again...Hope this helps...
Yes, I think I know what caused this (and it isn't sodium chloride or anything else in the water). You likely suffered what's known as a vasovagal reaction. Here's how it happened:
Every now and then, when we swallow, something just doesn't work right - we've all had this happen when we feel something get "stuck" or get a "dragging" sensation as it passes down the esophagus. There are both voluntary and involuntary muscles involved in swallowing; it's actually a more complicated process than you'd think. Anyway, that part, though uncomfortable, is pretty normal and happens to everyone from time to time.
Here's what happened next. Without going into a mind-boggling lesson in anatomy, I'll just say that the vagus nerve (cranial nerve number 10), gets sensory ennervation from many places, including the esophagus, and in fact, traverses very close to the esophagus as it heads down. In your case, it sounds as though this awkward swallowing stimulated the vagus nerve, which is actually quite common.
What happens when the vagus nerve gets stimulated?
Basically, the vagus nerve supplies parasympathetic fibers to nearly all our organs, including the heart. If you don't know what the PARAsympathetic system does, just remember that it does the OPPOSITE to the sympathetic ("fight-or-flight") system. So, if the sympathetic system causes our heart rate to speed up, our breathing rate to increase, our pupils to dilate and puts our bladder on hold (who needs to pee when they're running from a tiger?) then the PARAsympathetic system does the opposite - slows the heart rate down, causes our pupils to constrict, allows us to pee.
Activation of the vagus nerve typically gives us a sudden surge of parasympathetic activity - this leads to a (sometimes dramatic) reduction in heart rate, blood pressure, or both, which can cause the blood supply to the brain to be reduced critically. Next thing you know - BAM! - we lose consciousness ("pass out"), hit the floor and crack open our poor head. But the body's happy because now the head (though cracked-open!) is lower down and blood flows easier to lower places thanks to gravity! Hence, we regain consciousness.
This sequence is called "vasovagal syncope" or simply a "vagal reaction" - it's the cause of nearly all episodes of "fainting" and can be induced by pain, fear, and emotional stress (think of people fainting when having blood drawn), as well as any actual stimulation of the vagus nerve - for instance, with valsalva pressure which occurs when you hold your breath and bear down - this causes some people to faint when they're having a bowel movement! Swallowing awkwardly, as happened with you, can also cause this, and any degree of dehydration will make it worse.
I hope that helps! I'm sorry it happened to you, but hey, at least you learned something about your body and how it works (and how sometimes it goes off-the-rails)!
To RRBerdine - I have no doubt that our drinking water is polluted (including most bottled water which has flouride in it, for what reason I'm not sure - even 0.03 ppm means it's been added). Nonetheless, I don't think it's a plausible explanation for someone suddenly passing-out.
Jr.
Every now and then, when we swallow, something just doesn't work right - we've all had this happen when we feel something get "stuck" or get a "dragging" sensation as it passes down the esophagus. There are both voluntary and involuntary muscles involved in swallowing; it's actually a more complicated process than you'd think. Anyway, that part, though uncomfortable, is pretty normal and happens to everyone from time to time.
Here's what happened next. Without going into a mind-boggling lesson in anatomy, I'll just say that the vagus nerve (cranial nerve number 10), gets sensory ennervation from many places, including the esophagus, and in fact, traverses very close to the esophagus as it heads down. In your case, it sounds as though this awkward swallowing stimulated the vagus nerve, which is actually quite common.
What happens when the vagus nerve gets stimulated?
Basically, the vagus nerve supplies parasympathetic fibers to nearly all our organs, including the heart. If you don't know what the PARAsympathetic system does, just remember that it does the OPPOSITE to the sympathetic ("fight-or-flight") system. So, if the sympathetic system causes our heart rate to speed up, our breathing rate to increase, our pupils to dilate and puts our bladder on hold (who needs to pee when they're running from a tiger?) then the PARAsympathetic system does the opposite - slows the heart rate down, causes our pupils to constrict, allows us to pee.
Activation of the vagus nerve typically gives us a sudden surge of parasympathetic activity - this leads to a (sometimes dramatic) reduction in heart rate, blood pressure, or both, which can cause the blood supply to the brain to be reduced critically. Next thing you know - BAM! - we lose consciousness ("pass out"), hit the floor and crack open our poor head. But the body's happy because now the head (though cracked-open!) is lower down and blood flows easier to lower places thanks to gravity! Hence, we regain consciousness.
This sequence is called "vasovagal syncope" or simply a "vagal reaction" - it's the cause of nearly all episodes of "fainting" and can be induced by pain, fear, and emotional stress (think of people fainting when having blood drawn), as well as any actual stimulation of the vagus nerve - for instance, with valsalva pressure which occurs when you hold your breath and bear down - this causes some people to faint when they're having a bowel movement! Swallowing awkwardly, as happened with you, can also cause this, and any degree of dehydration will make it worse.
I hope that helps! I'm sorry it happened to you, but hey, at least you learned something about your body and how it works (and how sometimes it goes off-the-rails)!
To RRBerdine - I have no doubt that our drinking water is polluted (including most bottled water which has flouride in it, for what reason I'm not sure - even 0.03 ppm means it's been added). Nonetheless, I don't think it's a plausible explanation for someone suddenly passing-out.
Jr.
It could be the water had too much sodium chloride in it. If you are drinking city water, bottled water, they taint it with what they feel will make it safer to drink. Sodium Chloride is rat poison, but in minor amounts they feel it doesn't harm you.
On 20/20 they followed bottled water back to its origin and found various places it came from, one being a rusty pipe in a shack.
Bottled water is not what you think it is and if you feel it is safer than your own home drinking water, why not take it in to the city and let them check each? I do believe they do it for free.....
On 20/20 they followed bottled water back to its origin and found various places it came from, one being a rusty pipe in a shack.
Bottled water is not what you think it is and if you feel it is safer than your own home drinking water, why not take it in to the city and let them check each? I do believe they do it for free.....
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