Fainting

[Caligulette]

I fainted at the doctor's today. Nothing weird was going on - just a blood draw, which is something to which I am very used.

"Do you have problems with needles?"

"No." :vapours:

Well, maybe this once.

So I passed out, I guess, and dreamt of a beautiful forest - but there were people sort of crowing me and I thought my head was back - and, indeed, it was. Apparently, the bears in my dream were me snoring. Charming, no? :blush:

I didn't know where I was when I woke up - and there were a lot more doctors than before. My blood pressure was at 80 over 50 - which is low even for me. They had me lie down for about an hour or so. That part I liked.

I am fine now - just a little eekish - lingering effects, but all right.

So I am wondering - has anyone else fainted before? Why? Is this very common? (It's only the second time for me - the first was when I had Caligukid. I'd lost a lot of blood. They'd not got a drop when this time happened.)

[Ymir's blood]

I started to pass out while having blood drawn once. It never made sense to me, given that I wasn't scared at all. Actually the passing out bit was rather pleasant, being called back to consciousness was not. I was really dizzy for awhile afterward.

[Chris Porter]

Nope, never happened to me. I've given blood innumerable times, and never felt faint. And I hate needles.

My dad passes out, though. I sort of think it's just some people's normal physiology.

[viscousmemories]

I have not fainted, but the second to last time I gave blood I did get light-headed enough that I thought I might.

[Qingdai]

Frequently (according to someone I know who works at Red Cross) people who haven't eaten a lot recently pass out during blood draws. It seems fairly common, just from the number of times this person mentions the passing out at blood draws.

[Doctor X]

Dibs on your stereo.

--J.D.

[godfry n. glad]

Once. For summer camp. When I was getting my second vaccination against smallpox. (They couldn't find the scar for the first one.) I watched. He finished, I got hot and flushed and keeled over. I came to, evidently seconds later, with the dumbass doctor waving a smelly cigar under my nose.

Times have changed.

[Garnet]

I've never fainted giving blood. But I did faint once answering the front door. It was bizarre! I was sitting in my comfy recliner reading a book and there was an unexpected ring of the doorbell. I got up, opened the door, saw two good friends of mine and...

my knees started shaking, my vision tunneled and then nuthin'.

When I came to, I had two very concerned friends over me and I was flat on my back. I got up, was a little wobby for about half an hour and then I was fine.

Weird stuff. I wasn't stressed about anything, was very relaxed and had actually had eaten a healthy meal.

I haven't fainted since then.

[LadyShea]

When I was 16 or 17 I fainted in the lobby of the Denver Planet-arium, waiting for Laser Floyd. I hadn't been drinking or anything, but it was a few days past a break up so I probably hadn't eaten (I tend to not eat when depressed). I started feeling like hot and out of breath, then I heard a roaring in my ears, then my vision went black like a head rush, then I came to on the floor. My friends said my eyes were open and staring the whole time, but it only lasted a few seconds.

I actually felt a million times better afterward.

[JoeP]

I fainted once on a London Underground train. Hot and airless seems to be the only reason. I was leaning against the sliding door (it was packed) and when it opened ... fell straight onto the platform ... came to on a stretcher with my briefcase laid on my tummy ... stitches (left eyebrow ridge) and then on to work. :shrug:

[wildernesse]

I tend to faint when hearing about stories of childbirth. Usually, I can pull myself to before hitting the floor. They don't have to be particularly explicit stories, either! The first time was when my cousin had a baby and we went to visit them in the hospital--I don't even remember what they were talking about, but suddenly I couldn't hear and the tunnel vision started. The last time, I was reading someone's blog and caught myself in time to push the keyboard tray out of the way and put my head down without smacking into the desk.

Of course, when I was very little, I would hold my breath until I passed out. Because I was angry. Or, once, I was bored in church. I was cured of this bad habit by smashing my nose open on the hardwood floor.

The only time where I didn't see it coming was when I had pneumonia, and I was just so sick overall.

[ceptimus]

I've only fainted twice in my life.

The first time, I'd run upstairs to the bathroom and was brushing my teeth. Next thing I knew, I came round staring up at the ceiling light - I'd fallen backwards and was draped over the edge of the bath.

The other time was exactly as Caligulette described in her OP. My doctor was taking a small blood sample as part of a routine check-up. She asked me if the sight of blood bothered me, and I answered no - as far as I knew, it didn't. She was sucking the blood out into a transparent syringe - probably only three or four thimblefuls. Then I woke up with the doctor and her nurse asking me if I was okay. I felt fine. I don't know how long I was 'out' for. It felt as though I'd just dozed off for a few seconds, but I would never normally fall asleep in a situation like that.

[livius drusus]

Damn, fainting sounds cool. I've had my legs buckle (from a sudden headache that came out of nowhere and felt like a sledgehammer beating the inside of my skull) but I've never lost consciousness.

[Goliath]

I've had my legs buckle

:bunnythrust:

[SharonDee]

I have fainted twice in my life, both occurred before I turned twenty.

I had stayed home from school because of some illness (cold? flu? stomach virus?) and was watching TV with my sister, on the couch that had served as my makeshift bed all day. We were watching some TV adaptation of Frankenstein and there was a scene early in the movie where a guy's arm had to be amputated. This grossed me out so I got up to stand beside the bookshelf where I couldn't see the TV anymore.

My mother was standing beside me when she felt my body lean against hers. She thought I was being all dramatic and poor-me so she said, "Don't lean on me!" and moved away, whereupon I continued to fall until I hit the nearby closet's doorknob. All I remember from that is seeing a dark tunnel framing my sister's yelling face before the pain in my back brought me back around.

------

Then there was that time at Opryland. It was a hot summer day, I was due to start my period any day, I was hungry ... and while standing in line for some attraction or other, I saw a man whose arm had been amputated, obviously very recently. My accursed imagination began to fill in blanks as to how it must have felt to lose a limb, when suddenly the familiar black tunnel closed in on me again.

I don't remember landing on anything or anyone that time. I do remember the shame/exhilaration of being hauled around in the park's official first-aid wheel chair.

[Dingfod]

I fainted and fell off the top step of the risers at my 6th grade Xmas concert.

I once felt faint during multiple sticks and probing in the back of one of my hands during attempts to draw blood from my reluctant veins. They had me lie down and the RN came in and said she would get blood out of me if she had to punch me in the nose to get it. She found a vein in my arm right away.

[The Lone Ranger]

I've never fainted myself, at least, not to my knowledge. And oddly enough, I seem to have somewhat deeply-buried carotid arteries or something. In judo and karate classes, no one has ever managed to successfully get a chokehold on me. In a judo class once, we were being instructed on how to apply such a hold, and the sensei stressed that we should release the hold instantly when the person began to feel even a little light-headed. Neither of my partners could manage to make me feel even a little uncomfortable, so the sensei tried. After several attempts, even he had to admit defeat. Weird.




Oddly, though, I've had two students faint on me this semester.

The first happened when I was showing the students a neat way in which our senses work. What you do is you have a volunteer place one hand in a bath of hot water and the other hand in a bath of ice water. After they've had a few minutes to acclimate, you have them place each hand into a bath of room-temperature water. The result is quite dramatic. To the hand that had been in hot water, the room-temperature water feels cold, almost icy. To the hand that had been in the icewater, the room-temperature water feels hot -- in fact, many immediate snatch their hand out of it, thinking it's boiling-hot.

Anyway, this girl put her hand into the cold water (she knew it was cold; I had told her, and besides, there was ice in it), and immediately dropped like a rock. I semi-caught her as she fell, and so she didn't bump her head or anything. Afterwards, she brushed it off, saying that sudden temperature changes often make her faint. I pointed out to her that she might have mentioned this beforehand. If she had, I wouldn't have let her volunteer.


The second student went down just last week. I was showing students how to do blood-type testing. Again, they knew what was going to happen, so I hadn't anticipated any particular problems. I suppose, in retrospect, I should have asked if anyone had any problems with blood.

I pricked my volunteer's finger, and a second or two after the first drop of blood appeared, we all heard a "thump" and one of the students was on the floor. Unfortunately, she did hit her head when she landed, so after I got her revived, I made her go to Student Health Services.

She, too, told me that this sort of thing had happened to her before, and I mentioned that it would have been a really good idea to have mentioned this before a lab in which she knew she'd be seeing blood.


Later, I tested each student's blood pressure, and as I had suspected, each of them had rather lower-than-average BP (in the range of 95/60 or thereabouts). That helps explain their susceptibility, but not why neither of them apparently thought to mention their susceptibility to sudden temperature changes or to the sight of blood.



I was teaching a physiology class once that involved live animal surgeries. The first time I demonstrated to the class how to anesthetize a rabbit, I heard a loud "thump" behind me just as I inserted the needle and started to inject the anesthetic. I turned to see the big, 200+ pound football player who had, moments earlier, been bragging about how much he looked forward to seeing the rabbit's "guts" lying on the floor.


Cheers,

Michael

[Pinecone]

I don't think I've ever fainted but I've felt close to doing it a few times and either laid down or put my head down.

Mostly it was because I got out of bed for some jolting reason right after being sound asleep and once when the vet recommended I have my kitty put to sleep because she had something wrong with her blood they couldn't fix.

[Corona688]

Oddly, though, I've had two students faint on me this semester. You're lucky the quote system's broke :P

I've felt strange things that I wondered if they were precursors to fainting or not, but never anything like the fairly consistent stories I read here. It seems more like the description of exploding head syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome).

[Garnet]

Oddly, though, I've had two students faint on me this semester. You're lucky the quote system's broke :P

I've felt strange things that I wondered if they were precursors to fainting or not, but never anything like the fairly consistent stories I read here. It seems more like the description of exploding head syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome).

Holy fuck! I didn't know there was a name for that stuff! That wiki article describes exactly what I experience from time to time.

[Corona688]

Interesting, do you have tinnitus as well?

[Garnet]

Very rarely and only after being around really loud stuff like going to rock concerts or drag races. I've got a little bit of hearing damange from said activities so now I tend to wear ear plugs when I go to the races.

[One for Sorrow]

I passed out once after giving blood. They had a frail little old lady, probably in her early eighties, escort the donors to the canteen area. I almost laughed when I saw her, thinking, "Yeah, WTF is she gonna do if somebody passes out..." and then I was on the floor.

It was a pretty soft fall, though, so she must have done something right. The Beach Boys were playing softly on the radio, but for the few seconds I was on the floor it was very loud inside my head and I had a dream that I was on a beach somewhere.

It was kinda nice, until I came to with a bunch of people standing over me.

[Ymir's blood]

Frequently (according to someone I know who works at Red Cross) people who haven't eaten a lot recently pass out during blood draws. It seems fairly common, just from the number of times this person mentions the passing out at blood draws.
That's probably what happened to me. The doctor's appointment was at noon and I went there before lunch. My breakfasts are always light but if I'm occupied with something, forgetting to eat is a problem.

[JoeP]

Oddly, though, I've had two students faint on me this semester.

...
I pointed out to her that she might have mentioned this beforehand. If she had, I wouldn't have let her volunteer.
...
neither of them apparently thought to mention their susceptibility to sudden temperature changes or to the sight of blood.

I'd be suspicious of this if I were you, Dr. Jones.

[Dragar]

I've fainted while having blood taken for a test. I hate needles, and it was the third attempt the nurse was making to get some blood out of me. Anyway, I tried to mumble something about fainting but everything went black pretty quick and when I woke up I had the nurse propping me up while another two had come running in from outside.

Oddly, though, I've had two students faint on me this semester. You're lucky the quote system's broke :P

I've felt strange things that I wondered if they were precursors to fainting or not, but never anything like the fairly consistent stories I read here. It seems more like the description of exploding head syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome).

Holy fuck! I didn't know there was a name for that stuff! That wiki article describes exactly what I experience from time to time.

I get this from time to time after falling asleep (in that semi-sleep/awake state). I actually find it sort of enjoyable, and almost always comes with some visual elements to the experience (a ball bouncing around and empty football pitch is the most vivid one, with this 'roar' of the crowd cheering). The other thing I get is a visual thing where everything (in my dream) appears tiny. Not because it is; I know it's the right size. It just appears incredibly zoomed out, and keeps getting more tiny. It's a very weird experience.

[Garnet]

I've fainted while having blood taken for a test. I hate needles, and it was the third attempt the nurse was making to get some blood out of me. Anyway, I tried to mumble something about fainting but everything went black pretty quick and when I woke up I had the nurse propping me up while another two had come running in from outside.

Oddly, though, I've had two students faint on me this semester. You're lucky the quote system's broke :P

I've felt strange things that I wondered if they were precursors to fainting or not, but never anything like the fairly consistent stories I read here. It seems more like the description of exploding head syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome).

Holy fuck! I didn't know there was a name for that stuff! That wiki article describes exactly what I experience from time to time.

I get this from time to time after falling asleep (in that semi-sleep/awake state). I actually find it sort of enjoyable, and almost always comes with some visual elements to the experience (a ball bouncing around and empty football pitch is the most vivid one, with this 'roar' of the crowd cheering). The other thing I get is a visual thing where everything (in my dream) appears tiny. Not because it is; I know it's the right size. It just appears incredibly zoomed out, and keeps getting more tiny. It's a very weird experience.

I get loud bangs like gunshots, explosions or something that sounds like a whole bunch of people screaming. Mostly these are accompanied by red or white flashes. Scares the hell out of me every time it happens and takes me quite a while to slow down my heart rate and get back to sleep after.

[Corona688]

Sometimes they come by themselves, but I can make myself hear loud snapping noises and intense pulsing high-pitched whining noises more or less at will. Not imagine, really hear. The whining noise is usually faint and never really goes away; I've had it for as long as I can remember. White noise helps me sleep.

[Dingfod]

YouTube - people fainting compilation

[LadyShea]

Hypnagogic experiences...very weird and cool.

[Adam]

Damn, fainting sounds cool.

:chuckle:

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was thinking this. I've never fainted, that I know of, but I do get really light headed if I stand up too quickly after reading. I think it's my own fault, though, because my preferred reading position is face down on the couch, with the book on the floor and my head hanging off the side of the couch, so I'm sure there's like a gallon of blood in my head and none anywhere else.

I've also had the sledgehammer and starburst thing when a headache sets in, and once I was walking along and gravity suddenly decided to shift about 90 degrees on me. That probably would have been fun if not for the nausea.