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Vasovagal Syncope: A Tale Of Fainting

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@shimmerz, your story sounds very familiar to me. However, in the now over 15 years of dealing with PTSD I never found a doctor that takes it serious/seems to understand what is going on/has any idea how to deal with it, and usually they look at me very strange and non-understanding/non-believing when I tell them about me "falling over". I have the exact same experiences. I hear everything around me, but are completely limp and just can't move. At some point I then start at least being able to speak again, and generally then tell people not to worry and that I am OK, and that there is no reason to call an ambulance...., but my voice then sound like I am completely drunk. The interesting thing is that I also survived by "playing dead", "fainting", "going completely limb". I am actually kind of upset about the incompetence of doctors. In the past it didn't happen that often, less than once a year on average and only in extremely stressful situations. However, in the past couple years I had increasingly trouble with verbally exploding when I am "cornered", people refuse to stop doing things that badly bothers or scares me, or don't let me get out of stressful situations. Then, magically people started to accumulate around me that evolved the interesting habit of consciously or unconsciously (who knows) exploiting my tendency to verbally explode as a divergence. At some point the whole thing started to hurt me badly because every time they did something that would get them in trouble, they did something that pushed my buttons, I ended up verbally misbehaving and certainly was then the bad guy, while their mishaps got completely forgotten over my misbehaving (how convenient....). With time I only needed to see or hear the voices of these people to have panic attacks that drove me insane and I felt like verbally exploding any minute. To handle the whole situation, my doctor and therapist then advised me to somehow learn to keep myself from verbally exploding (their argument: I only get hurt because I explode.....). Well, good news is that I actually now manage to not explode any more. However, as a trade off I now drop onto the floor way more frequently and the stress level threshold that makes me drop is way down.... great...... The other day I just dropped onto the ground in front of a police man I was talking to on the street. I did this in the middle of a sentence at the moment when his body language switched to Military violence police style for some unknown reason. Actually kind of funny is that while talking to him afterwards, it turned out that he was military police in Iraque and has himself PTSD issues and sometimes simply switches to military police violence mode just like that for no good reason. Well, good body language reading on my side I would say......but I can't keep dropping like that at the slightest first sight of violence in the air.... the question is how do I stop this....?
 
Am a bit wiped from thelast few days events @scot but would really like to speak with you about this. Would you mind if I PM you tomorrow of the next day (depending on how I feel the next few days)? I am very interested in comparing notes. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I feel your pain and confusion.
 
@shimmerz, sorry I was myself out for a bit. I was reading the other thread from you. I hope things calmed down a bit, but the whole situation sound pretty complicated. The reason why I showed up here was actually because I felt like starting loosing it for no good apparent reason (well, actually I knew, I wasn't facing anything that should make people loose it). I have to say it felt quite good to see that I am not alone.... Current stage: situation mastered, I am OK, things actually worked out surprisingly well, maybe actually not surprisingly... I nailed down another major trigger and an answer how to deal with it in the process. Yes, feel free to PM when you are up to. I would actually like to hear from your experiences as well.
 
I am so grateful you posted this. I moved and I am in a new house and I am starting to have this happen the last couple of weeks. I think my change in environment is triggering something. I went to the ER yesterday and of course they found nothing wrong with my which was once again humiliating. My ptsd symptoms, I am still learning about. Will this go away, or come and go as triggers happen and how do we manage it?
 
I do want to address this and would love to PM you both if that is okay. Moving for me @Gloww33 is a HUGE trigger and affects me beyond belief. I think @scot said it fairly well when he said this....

I nailed down another major trigger and an answer how to deal with it in the process

This is how I have been dealing with my 'spells' as well. I had another one today over a helicopter (which I thought I had broken), but this one actually shook the house so affected more senses than I had addressed when just hearing or seeing a helicopter. Another piece of the puzzle to work out. I am going to say that yes, it is possible to break it. I am learning a different language here. My primitive brain language. That has helped a ton.

And yes, @scot, it is absolutely humiliating when doctors don't get this. I find their ignorance offensive. Sorry.... rant.

Are you two interested in PM'ing as a group?
 
and she brought up that it could be a vagal response. Which led me to our good friend, Wikipedia, and eventually this article about Vasovagal Syncope, which is what seems to cause a lot of fainting in the world...But!! I also notice in this article the trauma-related trigger item which I have never thought about / associated in my experience. (Basically, it says that trauma and associations to trauma can trigger a faint). ..And then I wonder!! Do any of you have trauma/PTSD related fainting?
I was raped as a teen and I have been fainting ever since. I've been to every specialist in the US and was finally diagnosed with PTSD. I've had therapy, injections and numerous meds and nothing has helped. I'm desperate to get my life back. Any suggestions?
 
@Cheer mom mom Have you tried somatic experiencing or other body related therapies? Doing this therapy has helped me go through many faint moments when going through the emotions tied to the fainting. Once your body can release this, your brain will process it, and it should no longer bother you. At least that is how I have experienced it.

What I miss in this thread is that the four F's as I have learned them are flight, fight, freeze and faint. Faint is the state in which you collapse, you give up in which your muscle tension becomes flaccid, while in freeze you are still have not given up as you keep the tonic immobility in case you can still outrun the predator. Freeze is still resisting, while faint is giving up. Faint is associated with the worst trauma in my case, as it was the most overwhelming, in which you just collapse.
 
I've lost consciousness like this at least 4 times in my life, and the times I went to the hospital they labeled it vasovagal syncope. I was diagnosed with narcolepsy with cataplexy a year ago, as I lose muscle tone when I feel a strong emotion, am stressed, or am exhausted. I read today, though, that PTSD shortens your sleep latency and that one experiences more REM sleep, so I'm not sure if the diagnosis is correct. When you all collapse, does it start from the top of your head downwards?
 
I am a therapist that specializes in trauma and also personally suffered with fainting spells as a child due to trauma. Some treatments that can help are EMDR, NLP, Brainspotting, hypnotherapy and trauma-based therapies. Check these out! They can really help after medical rule out.
 
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