How to face fear of fainting

[loopylu86]

So I have passed out 4 times in my entire life. None of which has been a result of a panic attack. Every attack I have had recently I have had access to a bed or not been in a situation where I couldn't lie down or elevate my legs etc. I think this is a huge factor as to when I go out why I feel anxious. I don't care about what others think...It isn't the humiliation that bothers me..It is the actual experience of fainting that is so disturbing an experience to me that I fear being in a sitution where I can't lie down. I have felt fine today..But have been doing research on fainting etc and the lightheaded sensation of an attack is exactly how I felt before I fainted. I haven't had an anxiety attack in several weeks and feel an improvement so don't know why this is playing on my mind today. How can I face a fear that is not something I am very likely to have to face again??? Is it a case of letting go of old memories associated with fainting maybe? The intense doom and fear that I feel with high anxiety is truly the worst thing I have ever had to experience. It is this very feeling of unease that I constantly check that I am not feeling.

[Lindy]

I really feel for you on this one and totally get where you're coming from. I have fainted in some crap places, almost always in public so understand your fear - I was fainting maybe a couple of times a year at its peak, then got it down to about once a year, and now I haven't fainted for a few years! It's quite a weird experience, because you have no idea what happened when you were 'out', even if its not for very long. On a few occasions I've woken up not quite in the same place as I fainted which is horrible....but at the same time, grateful to the friends who tried to move me.

Agree that the symptoms of anxiety are identical to those just before you faint. Every time I get anxious I have that fleeting thought / worry that I will faint. This is my biggest problem with driving. I won't drive at all on the motorway now -even though I haven't fainted for a few years. However, the longer I go without fainting, the more confidence I have that I won't. Similarly, I don't feel embarrassed so much as that it's a) massively unpleasant, b) totally inconvenient, and I worry that if I'm on my own then c) someone will run off with my bike/handbag etc or I'll faint somewhere dangerous -ie fall into traffic or similar.

For me the only thing that has worked has been to get a handle on the anxiety, because once you start restricting the places you go...well for me that list of places just grew! The online course you can do through this site is really, really good and helps explains the things that you probably already know bout symptoms, but gives you some really good understanding. I've also been seeing a therapist for some time now, and that's helped loads too. I too have been fine for weeks and weeks...but back here today because I felt anxious and thought I was going to faint ;) if only recovery was linear!

[Stormsky]

My doc told me that blood pressure raises when you panic, so you can't faint... It's drop in blood pressure or low blood pressure that causes fainting..... The dizziness you get is the adrenaline rush.

[Laura123]

This is my fear also and what stops me going into shops etc, I get really dizzy and I think I will faint. I guess your going up have to cbt the hell out of it. It worked for me last year, need to work on it myself too. I think a good place to start is by going somewhere you feel this way. And stay until the feeling passes. X

---------- Post added at 17:49 ---------- Previous post was at 17:36 ----------

I used to do this in matalan, that shop used to always give me panic attacks, I started going in and just walking about looking at stuff till the feelings passed, I think they thought I was a shoplifter by the end lol x

[loopylu86]

I really feel for you on this one and totally get where you're coming from. I have fainted in some crap places, almost always in public so understand your fear - I was fainting maybe a couple of times a year at its peak, then got it down to about once a year, and now I haven't fainted for a few years! It's quite a weird experience, because you have no idea what happened when you were 'out', even if its not for very long. On a few occasions I've woken up not quite in the same place as I fainted which is horrible....but at the same time, grateful to the friends who tried to move me.

Agree that the symptoms of anxiety are identical to those just before you faint. Every time I get anxious I have that fleeting thought / worry that I will faint. This is my biggest problem with driving. I won't drive at all on the motorway now -even though I haven't fainted for a few years. However, the longer I go without fainting, the more confidence I have that I won't. Similarly, I don't feel embarrassed so much as that it's a) massively unpleasant, b) totally inconvenient, and I worry that if I'm on my own then c) someone will run off with my bike/handbag etc or I'll faint somewhere dangerous -ie fall into traffic or similar.

For me the only thing that has worked has been to get a handle on the anxiety, because once you start restricting the places you go...well for me that list of places just grew! The online course you can do through this site is really, really good and helps explains the things that you probably already know bout symptoms, but gives you some really good understanding. I've also been seeing a therapist for some time now, and that's helped loads too. I too have been fine for weeks and weeks...but back here today because I felt anxious and thought I was going to faint ;) if only recovery was linear!

Did you ever have it checked as to why you were fainting? I know panic attack is rare to actually faint due to the high blood pressure...but that's the thing..I don't get th racing heart during an attack. It is dizziness and DP that makes my panic attacks so intense just that pure feeling of doom and dread and just pure fear. Fear of fear is what my attacks are. I have not actually fainted for 5 years!! I have only starting thinking about this recently as anxiety has brought it to the surface! I lived a perfectly normal-anxiety and worry free of fainting lifestyle up until a string of really stressful events triggered my anxiety and panic attacks!! I once fainted in a casino in Morrocco. I still think dehydration caused this..I was moved from one side of the room to the other and came around sat upright in a chair surrounded by literally about 20 people. My ex-BF..This lovely couple we had met out there..along with bar/casino/security staff of the place. I came around in such a panicked way that I automatically got up and fled...This of course resulted in being picked up by my arms and legs by two security men at the door who thought I was a thief or something lol. That just added to the distress of the situation and tbh only once did I hacve a peaceful come-to when I fainted out with friends...It is the pure doom I feel before and after and just being out of control that I fear.

---------- Post added at 19:04 ---------- Previous post was at 19:01 ----------


This is my fear also and what stops me going into shops etc, I get really dizzy and I think I will faint. I guess your going up have to cbt the hell out of it. It worked for me last year, need to work on it myself too. I think a good place to start is by going somewhere you feel this way. And stay until the feeling passes. X

---------- Post added at 17:49 ---------- Previous post was at 17:36 ----------

I used to do this in matalan, that shop used to always give me panic attacks, I started going in and just walking about looking at stuff till the feelings passed, I think they thought I was a shoplifter by the end lol x


What is really hard for me is that even when my anxiety is low..I always just have this sense of unease that I really can't explain. It is just a feeling of pure nerves and doom. Living in a constant state of this..for me..Is hell on earth...Like literally if we go had to go to hell in the afterlife. Living in a constant state of this would be that..Morbid yes but that is how bad it feels to me. Do you relate to this?

In the depths of my anxiety..I actually worried wether I had died and WAS in hell. This makes me sound like a frak doesn't it? My mind really does go to that dark a place.

---------- Post added at 19:07 ---------- Previous post was at 19:04 ----------


My doc told me that blood pressure raises when you panic, so you can't faint... It's drop in blood pressure or low blood pressure that causes fainting..... The dizziness you get is the adrenaline rush.


Does blood pressure raise despite no rushing heart beat? I never get that with attacks. Just pure tunnel vision and dizziness. I get just this pure dread feeling.

[24track]

Does blood pressure raise despite no rushing heart beat? I never get that with attacks. Just pure tunnel vision and dizziness. I get just this pure dread feeling.

Yes it can do; you do not necessarily need an elevated pulse rate to encounter raised BP. And anxiety attacks more often than not involve higher BP, with or without a racing heart!