Anyone actually blacked out?

[tbourner]

I have a friend who's wife passes out, recently needing to go to hospital after hitting her face quite badly on the ground! They've had neurologists and heart specialists and all kinds of tests, it's been going on for years!! The blackouts happen maybe a few times a year, sometimes more, but they haven't happened for nearly a year until this recent one.
Doctors have no clue what it is, they're talking about some device under the skin that measures the heart so that once awake you wave a magnet over it and it records the last 20 minutes. Thing is she is fully aware almost immediately after waking so it's not like any normal seizures. They're stumped.

I thought about an anxiety/panic symptom, but I've never heard of anyone actually blacking out from it before, I've had plenty of feelings that I was going to pass out but it never actually happens - has anyone actually passed out through these problems before? Another thing that made me think about it is because he said it's never happened to her when driving or doing anything mentally challenging, it's always when just sat down or maybe stood at home, and with mine I was always concerned about it happening when driving but it never did!

What do you guys think? Am I barking up the wrong tree by thinking it may be a panic/anxiety thing?

[CreteBluez]

Hey Tbour er

I have been suffering with black outs for 9 years now. I had all sorts of tests done MRIs etc..

Last year I saw a neurologist who didn't really know what it was but refered me to a specialist at a different hospital. After talking to her for 30 minutes she instantly 'knew' what it was. She called it 'non-epileptic seizures'. I still don't understand it a 100% but is definitely stress related as I can go a while without then. However I have had 12 in two weeks (I have been under extreme stress with really bad health anxiety and panic attacks so definitely my anxiety plays a part.

I can't say this is what's happening to your friends wife but just thought it could help maybe by sharing my story. It took them 8 years to diagnose as not many doctors ate familiar with it. It was horrible as you almost feel like the doctors think you're making it up.

Hope that helped

All the best

Evangelia

---------- Post added at 09:40 ---------- Previous post was at 09:39 ----------

If you want to know anything else about it, feel free to ask and il try my best to answer them :)

[tbourner]

Thanks Evangelia that's interesting! He's always said it's not a seizure as she never has any convulsions when it happens (as well as the fact she 'comes around' quickly as opposed to epilepsy where very often the person is confused for a long time afterwards). She literally just faints and hits the floor, then wakes up a few minutes later. I can't find any info about whether non-epileptic seizures have to have a convulsive element or not, but I'll do some research.

[CreteBluez]

Hey Trev.

I have had black outs without having the 'fits' as well. So it is a difficult one. However majority the time I don't 'come around' straight away. Do you notice she tends to hve these one under more stress? As my black outs seems to be a way of my brain 'distorting' it's self.

I hope you find some answers soon. It's awful
Going through something and having no idea what it is.

All the best

[harasgenster]

I've collapsed where all my muscles just suddenly gave out but not actually blacked out. We're not sure if it was non-epileptic seizures (stress related and actually dissociation not a seizure) or painless migraines.

Presumably migraines have been tested for.

Normally people with non-epileptic seizures will not actually hurt themselves when they fall, because it's still essentially psychological. It's basically such deep dissociation that you just kind of switch off. Stress will generally raise your blood pressure/heart rate so it's unusual to actually lose consciousness (except in specific circumstances where people faint from losing blood etc.)

If she hurt her face I'm not sure. Normally there are defence mechanisms in place that will stop us from doing that. My friend has fallen quite a few times, though, and has hurt herself a few times. At first she thought it was stress, but it turned out to be a B12 deficiency (pernicious anaemia). She's on injections now and feels better.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Search on Google for disassociative seizures. They show panic attacks as a form of one but on the site I read, it said anxiety disorder sufferers can experience these.

I'll try and find the website and post it on here for you.


A neurologist could test for epilepsy. Then they could rule out other types of seizures in order to reach this type.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Found it.

Have a look at this.

http://www.epilepsysociety.org.uk/non-epileptic-seizures

[harasgenster]

I just want to say on this thread that while it is realistic for a person with an anxiety disorder to consider stress or dissociation when they have troubling physical symptoms, one great thing I learned from therapy is that you can do that a little too much.

As I thankfully never suffered from HA, I got in the habit of putting everything down to stress, but it's actually worth checking with a doctor. 98% of the time, the doctor disagreed with me and said it wouldn't be psychological. I didn't believe him at the time and would keep pushing myself but quite a few times he turned out to be right.

I'm not a doctor, but with this case, where you have an actual loss of consciousness, I think dissociative "seizures" (they're not actually seizures, though) would probably be the absolute last resort diagnosis. As far as I know, you don't really lose consciousness when you have a dissociative episode and it's very rare you'd actually really hurt yourself. What it felt like to me was being in a different realm of consciousness and to those outside of me I appeared unresponsive/unconscious. I wasn't "fully" conscious to what was going on outside of me (it was too far away, more like a television playing in the background) but I had a sort of consciousness in that I was still awake trapped somewhere deep within my head. But that's not the same as an actual blackout. If she is actually losing consciousness completely instead of becoming severely dissociated (where she is still sort of awake to herself even if not awake to the rest of the world) then I don't know if it would be wise to push the stress angle here (unless a doctor agrees). It's really up to how she feels as well - does she feel dissociated when it happens?

[MyNameIsTerry]

NES can have the same features as epileptic seizures. I also didn't know that epilepsy sufferers can experience NES.

There is an interesting part on that webpage where it also says you could experience own by domestic deafness. I remember feeling this when I first started with Anxiety. However, I don't think it really was this because the panic set in and I got out of there.

To be honest, I didn't even know you could have these with stress or anxiety. I only found out because I heard of someone I used to know having one and collapsing in a supermarket. He banged his head and went to hospital.

The neurologist ruled everything else out first and then put it down to this. I think from there it would be a matter of whether it happened again.

[Round in circles]

I've passed out several times over the years. I've always put it down to either standing too long or over heating, or a combination of the two. I've mentioned it to GPs before but they never did any tests or appeared concerned. Is it just one of those things or should I be worried? The last time I broke my fall with my forehead. People thought I was drunk :(

[MyNameIsTerry]

I guess you could have a look at the link I posted earlier as that has all the info on but you would need to go to your GP because to check seizures they are going to refer you off to a neurologist to work through what it could be.

If you hadn't eaten or were dehydrated, could it be you fainted?

[Autumn]

How do you manage to cope when you have one of these episodes? Does it make you anxious that it might happen again? How distressing is it for you guys? Sorry for all the questions. x

[tbourner]

Sorry haven't been around, thanks to everyone for the replies.


I'm not a doctor, but with this case, where you have an actual loss of consciousness, I think dissociative "seizures" (they're not actually seizures, though) would probably be the absolute last resort diagnosis.
If she is actually losing consciousness completely instead of becoming severely dissociated (where she is still sort of awake to herself even if not awake to the rest of the world) then I don't know if it would be wise to push the stress angle here (unless a doctor agrees). It's really up to how she feels as well - does she feel dissociated when it happens?

Don't get me wrong this IS the last resort, I'm only asking on here as I've experienced some of the really odd symptoms that can come from anxiety etc. I haven't told my mate that I've mentioned it on here, but it's been going on for so long and the doctors seem to have tried every avenue with no other answers! I think it's highly unlikely to be a stress/anxiety thing but thought it might be worth asking. I'm going to mention NES anyway so he can go to their doctor with the idea.