Syncope - Being Stuck In Collapse

[Crow]

Yesterday I had my first vasovagal syncope episode in about 8 months. Used to I would have varying degrees several times a week. The first I remember had me bottom out on vitals and I was rushed to emergency and in the hospital for two days. After tens of thousands out of pocket trying to figure out what was wrong, my psychiatrist suggested it was a vasovagal response to threat. Basically my freeze goes into collapse and my body wants to feign death - kind of like the gazelle that gets caught by the lion and then when the lion thinks it's dead and releases grip, the gazelle bounds away. The only difference is my nervous system can't get back online. So when these 'attacks' happen, I can now tell they're coming with a few minutes warning and I get back to bed or to the couch so I'm not passing out and falling. My bp falls, my oxygen levels fall, my coordination and cognitive functions bottom out. These day it's the physical recovery that takes a toll. Yesterday from 4am to about 6pm, I couldn't be vertical for more than 20 minutes. Then I went into 'don't go to sleep' mode where I feel like I need to get everything done no matter how sore and exhausted I am because I don't know if I'll be able to do it the next day. Today my body just aches. And I'm not at all hungry.

Just wondering if other folks experience this extreme version of collapse and what you do to cope.

 

[Friday]

Been doing the long illness thing here since about last march. What resonated in what you wrote is the sudden oxygen drop & looooong recovery. While I was on o2 from apx April-June, during July-Sept my pulseOx would drop out of nowhere / for no good reason. If I just roughed it out, while my o2 levels rose again, it took days to recover from. I found, though, that if I popped my oxygen back on for a couple hours at 2-4liters per hour? Voila. I was fine. Immediately, I was fine on o2, and then I could be off the o2 within about an hour or two. No recovery time needed. While I had the big honking machine for home, and the big rolly bin cans for being out and about, the little 2 liter soda bottle sized "purse pooch" oxygen tanks? OMFG. So amazing. I just carried one around with me everywhere in my bag, so if my SpO2 fell? Canulas up my nose, and supplemental o2 for a spell, and go about my day.

My son's pulmonologist clued me into that one. He said that once blood oxygen levels get screwy, if they're not raised right away, it usually takes a couple days for the brain to get all systems working in concert, again. Until then, they're all sort of fighting each other, like bickering children.

So if your oxygen levels are dropping? I'd strongly recommend getting a few cans of air, and seeing if feeding your brain oxygen works to get the rest of your systems online on the que vive.

 

[Crow]

That's brilliant @Friday . Explains the long recovery. Is canned o2 prescription only?

 

[Cryptantha]

I used to faint like this VERY often, sometimes 2-3 times a day. Feeling paralyzed, I could only make very small movements and trying to get up again just meant fainting again. The fainting has lessened considerably since I learned to listen to my body and not overdo it. It also helped that I kept repeating to myself that I DESERVE to rest and not keep pushing past my small limits in terms of pain and exhaustion (I have Fibromyalgia).

I'm not sure if this helps, but this is my experience with vasovagal sycope. I had a tilt-table test done and many ER visits, to the point that they told me to stop coming in about it.