Fainting, Low Blood Pressure, Pelvic Pain?!

[GymRat07]

Thanks for reading! I'm a 23 y/o active female with a history of very severe symptoms during menstruation (nausea, vomiting, fainting, the works). Over the past few years I've been put on several Rx's for pain and nausea. I'm also on BC (Yaz) and have never been pregnant.

These symptoms have continued to worsen, and a month ago I've started fainting and vomiting with little to no warning, and not during menstruation. I dropped and had a seizure in a parking lot in the middle of the day! I've had an ultrasound on my pelvis that came back normal.

I also have very low blood pressure (usually in the 80/50 range, 56/30 when I faint) ... and I'm considering attributing everything to that? Was tested for low blood sugar and came back negative.

I don't have access to great doctors or healthcare, so please - anyone with an idea of what could be going on here, I'd love to figure this out!

[GymRat07]

I was tested for h pylori in 2003 and was negative, thankfully. The ulcers were attributed to my self-medicating my menstrual pain with too many NSAIDs (tried everything), the result being a stomach ulcer.

The fainting, however, does worry me. I just don't know what to ask for. The pain is so bad that I was actually prescribed percocet - but I can't even take them during the workday!

My last gymo appt (a biopsy after an abnormal pap), I mentioned all my symptoms and the reply was "YAZ is the best BC, just take a stronger painkiller."

I've never been a fan of the military's healthcare system, but that's a whole different matter.

[caregiver222]

It is very easy to criticize a physician on hearsay and degrade his reputation, so I will not do so. I will say that physicians hear a lot of "stories" from patients and often make decisions as to what to tell them on the basis of what they think of the "story". Nevertheless, he was remiss in not urging you to file an FDA adverse event report. Physicians don't like this because it ends up with them having to fill out a form in return which cuts back on their golf time.

I suspect he did not concur that you had a siezure. Siezures can be due to hypoxia - if an aircraft decompresses passengers may experience epileptic-like siezures - but it is not usual for a siezure to follow a fainting episode.

If you have ulcers, you need a test for helibactor pylori and need to take bismuth first to reduce trhe population, then follow up with tripple-antibiotic therapy. Since reinfection is possibl;e everybody oiving with you needs the treatment, yout toothbrushes have to be thrown out, and the kitchen cutting board thrown out. Chickens are the usual carries. Thats why the chickens should be salted, well washed and well cooked.

Dainting spells such as you experience are usually due to a genetic "flaw". Jackie Jennedy had them all the time. This flaw must have some survival value or it wouldn't have continues. It is a susceptibility to so-called vaso-vagal episodes.

I am not the happiest of campers with Tramadol, which has also been linked with siezures.

A missing piece is "why are you having so much pain?"

[GymRat07]

Sorry, I guess I've been pretty vague!

I've been on YAZ for a year now, and I thought it was the best at managing the other symptoms. The doc that saw me post-faint said the "seizing" was very likely linked to the faint itself, and didn't send me for additional testing.

My mom has low blood pressure as well, and we both have ulcers. (I'm on nexium for those).

The day I fainted and "seized" I had taken Tramadol for pain and Zorofran for nausea, neither of which had given me an adverse reaction before. I'm into bodybuilding, so I'm usually VERY well-hydrated, especially if I take any supplements.

Other times I faint are if I take showers that are too hot, or stand up too fast - but the parking lot was completely random, as was the following day in the car (no car accident thank god).

[caregiver222]

I am not in a position to comment on whether "Yaz" is good, bad, or in the middle. I do know that since you have had a siezure, and since yaz had been linked to siezures, you should discontinue that medication and go to the FDA site to made an adverse drug event report, recording all your symptoms.

There is a difference between a siezure and fainting. I am very concerned about you, and really believe you need a good work-up by M.D. type physicians at a practice that knows something about siezures.

Your blood pressure is kind of low, and that suggests dehydration. Have your physician teach you how to take orthostatic vital signs.

Probably you are dehydrated and should drink electrolytes, and then check your blood pressure. Start to keep track of your fluid intake. If you can't drink much water add a touch of lemon or a bit of Tang orange mixture or a splash of orange juice.

There are lots of "missing pieces" in your patient history, making it impossible to even guess what is wrong with you. I could start on possibilities, and after fourteen thousand words, not have even scratched the surface.

It is hard to say if you have a disease process, a genetic inability to absorb nutrients or maintain homeostasis, or...well...I don't know?