Faint-hearted ...

[Getupngo]

I had quite a morning today. About 6 a.m. Kiwi woke me with one of those sneezing fits that I think is almost like a seizure. She was between the log bed and the wall and she was banging her head. So I got up, moved her to the foot of the bed where it would be less likely for her to hurt herself. Then I went into the bathroom to wash my hands.

Suddenly, I started feeling very dizzy, and I tried to get back to the bed to lie down. The next thing I remember is my jaw rattling from hitting the ground. After a while I came to, and realized I was lying at the foot of my bed. I was still very dizzy, so I crawled to the side of the bed and pulled myself up and in. I have no idea how long I was out. When I went down I apparently caromed off the log foot board of the bed. My breastbone is sore.

I called my son ... in large part for him to tell whether I was making any sense. I talked to his wife (a nurse) and then I called my ex-BF-friend and just bawled. A couple of hours later I was still feeling fuzzy and shaky ... so what do I do? Get in my car and drive to the ER. I had no business being on the road. Not enough bandwidth, if you know what I mean.

Long story short, they did blood tests and an EKG, and the doc says she doesn't know what caused me to faint. She says that the good news is that I got some warning. I felt dizzy and then fainted. She said when you are just going through life and drop in a faint that usually indicates heart problems.

So the good news is that nothing serious is wrong (that she could find). The bad news is I fainted, don't know why and don't know if it will happen again. But if I do feel dizzy again, I will immediately get myself to the floor while I can still do so voluntarily.

[Echo]

Now that's scary.....Hope you do better from now on and no more fainting!

[AlmostThere]

Gosh, Janice, that was scary! I know you have been exercising quite allot. Are you keeping yourself hydrated?
Also perhaps your blood pressure took a dip if you got up quickly.

[Bethers]

Very scary. I can see dehydration doing that - or over-exertion. But since it sounds like you just woke up don't know that could be it. Hate when there is no reason - so be very careful. So glad it's not serious and you didn't hurt yourself when it happened (or driving in that state!)

[Nasoosie]

Oh my, Janice, your scenario sounds very much like what happened to me several years ago now. I got out of bed, headed to the bathroom, and next thing I knew I was careening off my bureau and onto the floor...BAM! It scared the crap out of me, and when I was able, like you, (I wasn't sure if I had been unconcious or not), I hauled myself up to check in the mirror for stroke symptoms. I seemed fine after that for a few days, decided it was a faint from low blood pressure on awakening and getting out of bed too fast. Later, however, I began to feel so dizzy that the room would spin....like a cheap drunk type of spinning. Head position had a lot to do with the dizziness----especially looking up for me, or bending sort of sideways to load the woodstove, or just lying a certain way in my bed. Eventually I got medical help, even had an MRI to check for brain tumor, or stroke damage, or whatever, and they found nothing. Diagnosis is Labyrinthitits---or inflamation/disturbance in inner ear causing dizziness. After ear exams, sea-sickness medication to help with the dizziness and spinning, (which did nothing for me) head positioning to dislodge teeny little motes in inner ear canals, and much more, I guess I have learned to deal with the occassional dizziness attacks now. But that original falling down incident left me with a fright that won't go away. Sometimes I think the worst part of feeling dizzy and then fainting is the panic that seems to occur. Once in a while now, I have had to bend my whole body down in a waist bend, and fiddle with my shoes, pretending to adjust something, until the blood returns to my head! My sister-in-law had these symptoms so seriously that she had to be hospitalized for about a week, and then my brother had to carry her to and from places for another while. She says that once in a while, while tilting her head just right, she will get that feeling again. Vertigo is the old name for this, and since I have experienced it, I have met countless people who have been through it. I am glad you were able to get to the doc to make sure your heart was fine. Those inner ear canals are crucial to our feelings of where we are in space, and disturbances there can raise havoc with our bodies. You might want to consider leaving those pedal clips open/off for a while! Good luck adapting to the scare!

[Rufflesgurl]

Scarey Janice. Glad you are OK now but just take care and be careful.

Linda

[VickieP]

Glad you're doing better. The first thing I thought of was gas, carbon monoxide or something like that being sucked in your condo by your central unit.

[BirdbyBird]

I know that you will be thinking double hard about possible influences.....The inner ear disturbance does seem to fit on the possibilities list. Just b/c the docs don't know what caused it (not heart or bp related) just means that the cause may be still out there waiting to act up again. Good luck with your detective work! Be careful....head trauma can be so unforgiving.

[Getupngo]

Thanks for helping me think about possible causes. My friend in Wisconsin FREAKED OUT when I told him ... his wife died from a brain tumor. So I'm talking him off the ledge ...

I'm thinking that the jumping up from bed, bending over to pick up the dog, then bending over again to put her down could have caused it. I have always had low blood pressure. I haven't had any other type of vertigo.

Sooo ... I am going to get back on the bicycle today (supposed to be 60 degrees today). I can't let this frighten me into inactivity. But Soos, I'm not giving up on my clip-in bicycle pedals. However, I think we're talking about different types of clips. There is the basket on the pedal that you slide your foot into (which is what I think you're talking about) and then there are bicycling shoes with a cleat on the bottom that clicks into another cleat on the pedal, mechanically attaching the rider to the bike. The latter is what I have.

Kissing the ground is the occasional downside to the wonderful upside of being able to power through an entire stroke -- and on a mountain bike being connected to the bike in rough terrain (especially downhill). I fell over a couple of days ago because I didn't spread my stance wide enough to avoid losing my balance & tipping over.

[dayspring39]

Take care and go to the doctor for a complete check up...
Kathleen

[JudyJB]

I thought of carbon dioxide also, especially since the dog was having some problems.

Which reminded me that I do NOT have a CO2 monitor in my condo, and since I live alone, I don't know why I have ignored this for so long, especially since my grandfather died of a faulty furnace. Going to get one this evening.

An older friend once told me that after a "certain age" one should never leap out of bed in the morning! We both occasionally had vertigo, and she was absolutely right! Best to sit on the side of the bed for a few seconds and then get up, although I admit to seldom doing this myself.

[Getupngo]

CO poisoning is an interesting possibility, but I don't think I can get carbon monoxide poisoning from an electric heat pump, and if I could I don't think I would revive once having passed out.

I actually got CO poisoning in a really interesting way. When I was young, my next-door neighbor was working on his car, revving and revving it. The breeze carried the exhaust into the living room of my house, where I was napping. I woke up with incredible pain in my muscles -- like I had run a marathon -- from lack of oxygen. I ran into the back yard and did hyperventilation-type breathing to re-oxgenate my blood. So weird.

[Irmi]

Janice, I'm so glad you're feeling better and continue to do so. That must have been so scarey. Please take care of yourself.

[JudyJB]

Glad it wasn't CO2 poisoning this time!

[bluepinecones]

Glad you are doing better. given the things you have ruled out, BP and/or ear related issues seem likely culprits.