View Full Version : Has anyone ever fainted?
Hi,
I have a terrible fear that when im anxious or panic that i will faint, i have fainted once but i was pregnant at the time.
Everybody tells me that you cannot faint from panic but i was just curious of other peoples experiences.
Has anybody ever fainted during panic/anxiety?
Also i realise that differant people fear differant things with anxiety so it would be interesting to know if anybodys fears have ever happened.
Thanks
Poppy
ive been told that you can't faint from panic as you have too much adrenaline going round your body. I have never fainted during panic but i do not worry about this happening i worry that im going to run really fast or die but as you can see this has not happened lol
Hey,
No, i've never fainted either!
tracy x x
Every time you avoid your fears they become stronger,every time you face your fears they become weaker.
Hi,
Even when my anxiety was at its worse, and I was dizzy and lightheaded I never once fainted.
Take care
Tracey xx
'Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten'
hi
i have never faintedand i fyou read claire weekes books she explains tha t although many believe they will no one has ever fainted through panic.
i hope no one ever has and i dont mean to offend anyone who has but this is what i have read
jackie
I was actually thinking about this very thing the other day, when I was rationalising things to myself, and I realised that in all my years of panic and anxiety, I have never *once* done *anything* that I'm afraid of doing when I get anxious - I've never fainted, collapsed, been sick, or made an **** of myself, and I don't actually suppose I ever will... not because I've got anything under control, or because my anxiety has gone, but just because the fear of it happening (i.e. what paralyses me into not doing things) is totally irrational, and irrational things don't happen just because you imagine that they might. I hope that makes some sort of sense?!
Leah xx
--- Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
hi there,
the worst panic attack i had i was so dizzy and lightheaded i kept saying 'oh my god, i'm going to faint, i'm going to die'. honestly, it was the worst experience i've ever had. but i didn't faint and obviously i didn't die!
since then, i've started to believe that whatever happens, i won't faint.
henri
I sometimes feel like I am going to fall over, cant find feet, lightheaded, head going to explode, lights hurt but I have never fainted.
Cheers
Paul
Learning to underreact
Hi there
I have had this irrational fear of fainting for over 8 years now. I can get so lightheaded and dizzy and legs like jelly and feel so faint - but I have never fainted - ive wasted all those years waiting on something to happen that never has!
Darkangel
........life is for living not just for surviving
Hi Poppy,
Just want to say that I have NOT fainted.
TAKE CARE
LOVE JILLXX
When you fear something
learn as much about it as you can
knowledge conquers fear.
cray-long-legs
09-02-06, 15:34
well...im just wierd lol bt i have....bt wen i hav an attack an collapse ...the severe hyperventilation i suffer puts my blood pressure right down an i get super dizzy an pass out...iv had to be taken into hospital loads caus of it.
but i suppose that might be different
mayb iv helped...probs not
lol xxxxxxxxxx
It is not normal or common to faint with panic although if you really hyperventilate then you can do so when the blood gases get to out of sync that your body decides to have you faint so it can take back breathing control.
Mostly if you are going to faint you do so from early on during acute anxiety.
Some of these contain further discussions
Spaciness (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2696)
Light Headed (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2951)
dizzyness (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3062)
Jules31 (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=310)
Light Headed (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2951)
Very dizzy (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3743)
help :( (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3742)
vertigo, diziness (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4877)
Vertigo type sensations (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5669)
New to this site and need some advice :( (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5961)
Is my head normal??? (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6731)
Anxiety + Panic + Stress + Dizziness + some relief (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6338)
Dizziness - I hate it, any help? (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6854)
Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com
Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?
I have not fainted from a panic attack or from my heightened anxiety (it leads to hyperventilation but not full blown attacks), though I felt lik eI was coming very close to it.
I never have. Even at my very worst with dizziness and lightheadedness and not being able to breathe it has never happened! I have been totally sure that I would but it came to nothing.
I'll have to remember that in future :)
Annie x
nomorepanic
09-02-06, 21:05
I have never fainted even though I really thought I would most times
Nicola
chellebelle
11-02-06, 21:52
I feel like I'm going to sometimes at the height of an attack, the closest I've come is having black spots in front of my eyes while feeling light headed - but I've never actually fainted. (Like Annie, I'll have to remember that next time too!)
"This too, shall pass"
berry-nice
16-02-06, 21:27
Ive felt like I was going to faint so many times & never have either..! I feel like i'm on a boat in a storm sometimes!
~*Rachel*~
ummm i dont mean to scare anyone but I am violently sick and i have fainted 3 times!!!
Sorry!!
jollywalrus
17-02-06, 06:59
Hi All,
I have fainted too, but there really is nothing to worry about - honest!! It's just your body's way of putting things right, and I always came round quickly and people were very nice to me! (One man even caught me as I went down, pity I was wearing a skirt!!)
So it is unlikely you will faint, but if you do you will be ok. If you feel like your going just put your head down and you'll be fine.
Christine xx
With extreme hyperventilation you can faint but you can learn to overcome this by learning to steady and regulate your breathing as soon as you feel anxious.
Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com
Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?
This post has been really interesting, thank you.
It has helped me with my fear of fainting. I have already overcome fear of brain tumour and fear of going insane. I think once you concur a fear another one takes its place.
Does anyone else feel that way?
Anyway i am guessing after 6years of anxiety and not fainting it aint gonna happen now.
Thanks again all.
Poppy
Hi
I am a new member and have been convinced I am going to faint for over ten years and despite never actually fainting am still sure every Day that I will pass out
Hope this feeling will one day end
Wendy
<b id="quote">quote:</b id="quote"><table border="0" id="quote"><tr id="quote"><td class="quote" id="quote">Ive felt like I was going to faint so many times & never have either..! I feel like i'm on a boat in a storm sometimes!
~*Rachel*~
<div align="right">Originally posted by berry-nice - 16 February 2006 : 21:27:48</div id="right">
</td id="quote"></tr id="quote"></table id="quote">
i have also felt very lightheaded and feeling like i was going to faint. never happened tho! And they say if you havent fainted yet in a panick attack you never will, so that is always reassuring for me when i am feeling anxious and lightheaded.
I have always had this fear of fainting for the past 4 years,
I had a bad turn friday in a small shop when the assistant took ages to get my change - i totally freaked out and my heart seemed to jump and i went breathless and dizzy.......i was sure i was on my way down to the floor but it has never actually happened EVER!
MY husband said to me the attitude to have is ...
SO "F------" WHAT IF I PASS OUT -WHATS THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN ? I REGAIN CONCIOUSNESS WITH A BRUISE LOL.
This gets me thinking it must be more of a fear of the thought of people looking at me as i loose control ? because to think about it a bruise dosent scare me at all ,does anyone else feel like this ?
mirryx
Well,
If you think about the fact that this is said to be part of the "fight or flight" thing that kicks in, it would be pretty bad if you were either running away from something extremely dangerous or fighting it, and you fainted. (:
I've never fainted.
It's possible to faint when having panic if you:
- hyperventilate severly, or
- you have a phobia towards blood (beacause of a sudden decrease in bloodpressure that is typical for this kind of phobia).
It's almost impossible to faint from panic otherwise, as your bloodpressure rises.
KaylaMarie
25-09-08, 03:36
I have passed out three times...Once in a grocery store, once outside of the movie theatres, and the other time in my bathroom...and I was freaking out (Panicing) all times. I think I'd rather pass out anyway, that way my breathing automatically goes back to normal...and I dont have to feel so crummy. (granted the first thing out of my mouth when I wake up will be "What the hell happened." as it is everytime. lol)
The only thing that sucked was when I passed out in my bathroom, I hit my face/mouth on the side of the tub..And I had braces at the time so I had a really big cut on the inside of my lip. >.<
Little side story, the first time I passed out (In the grocery store) There was a nurse grocery shopping...who saw me fall and When I woke up he was very kind and even bought me some chocolates afterwards ^.^ He stuck around for a bit to explain to me what happened...so maybe having someone "walk me though" the first one is why they dont bother me as much (Though I will admit to being afraid of them occasionally)
This is my worst nightmare, I worry about this all the time, at times it has overtaken my life, I have never fainted but felt close to it and worried about heart attacks, brain tumours dropping dead etc, its horrible when this gets a hold of you. Sometimes I struggle to get to work and function normally some days I feel so sick and exhausted with it all I just want to stay in bed but this is not an option as I work full time and have a daughter to get up for school. Stress in work doesn't help but the people on here are great
Take care everyone
Heather
XXXXXXXXXXX
Mudskipper
25-09-08, 10:34
Is there a difference between a panic attack and a sudden shock? I recall a few years back my wife was rushed to hospital with chest pains. I had to stay home with the kids because there was no-one else to watch them, so I spent the evening fretting as usual then finally rang the hospital and spoke to my wife who informed me that they were keeping her in as an x-ray had shown a shadow on her lung. Naturally my mind went into immediate panic and I fainted. Came to a few moments later and I vaguely recall spouting a lot of gibberish and dragging myself to the bathroom where I splashed lots of cold water on my face until I came back to reality. Fortunately the wife was still on the phone and shouting at me and I quickly reassured her but it was quite scary at the time and pretty draining too. Fortunately the shadow was only a chest infection. HA on someone else's behalf, I guess...:wacko:
Natural Mystic
25-09-08, 12:33
I feel lightheaded and as if I'm gonig to faint too, never have though
I saw my works company Doctor yesterday who said he has had a lot of experience dealing with people who have anxiety and panic and he said that in 25 years he has never once come across a patient who has actually fainted. He said to me to try and look at it differently :
If you did not suffer from anxiety and panic and you where out, say in Tesco's, and you fainted what would happen? Somebody would help you, you might get a bruise or two and feel a bit embarrassed and that would be it.
He said it is one of the most common fears with anxiety sufferers and try to realise that if you did actually faint (which isn't going to happen anyway) that it would not be the end of the world. People faint all day every day all over the world and someone always helps them.
I thought that was a good way of looking at it :)
This too was one of my main fears. But i was told its impossible to faint unless you have low blood pressure. Your feeling faint mainly due to the lower oxygen levels in your blood, normally brought on by shallow breathing. Take a few long breaths, make sure you breath in from your tummy rather than your chest. Slowly count to 4 breathing in through your nose, and then slowly breath out through you mouth counting again to 4. This may make you a little light headed, but dont worry, this is due to the oxygen levels going up in your body.
All the best
Ken
Stressed92
25-09-08, 15:37
OMG I have had this fear since I was 6, and i'm 15 now! I know from experience that I have never fainted before, but the fear is still there. I always make sure I've eaten enough and keep checking my pulse to check I havent got low blood pressure. Fainting is constantly on my mind and it ruins my life:weep: but it makes me feel better to know that others feel the same. My fear never started with anxiety, the anxiety came after the fear. The first time I had a panic attack I thought this is it, I'm gonna faint, but I didn't. It's a really scary feeling, but luckily I never have:). If anyone has a cure for this fear, I will happily take it:blush:
Amy
x
i have suffered the same fear for twenty long yrs and guess what ive never fainted in those twenty yrs and i have had some massive panic attacks so i guess we should all take heart from this if we think a pa is a massive rush of adrenaline running through our body i guess its very very unlikely that we are going to hit the ground and like evryone says what if we did would it really be that bad???:shrug:
Stressed92
25-09-08, 16:01
Suppose it wouldnt be that bad..would it:scared15:
Haha:blush:
Amy
x
In 19 years of panic attacks i have never fainted, i was told by my doc that you can only faint when the blood pressure drops and since the blood pressure goes sky high when having a panic attack he said it can't happen
di xx
In my life I've had many hundreds of panic attacks. I always feel as if I'm going to faint or die. I 've never done either. (lol)
It's only a feeling. It will not happen.
Best wishes, Dave.
I've never actually fainted, despite suffering from chronic lightheadedness.
Veronica H
25-09-08, 19:31
hi All
I just wanted to say that although I have not fainted I get the odd fearsome dizzy spell where I have to grab on to something. I have begun to realise that this happens when I literally forget to breathe because I am concentrating too hard!
Veronica
sazzle1505
26-09-08, 21:17
Ok, I don't want to worry you but I do faint occaisionally when I have seriously bad attacks. I think this may be due to overheating/dehydration not the actual attack. I am pretty sure most people won't faint I'm probably jsut super weird;)
Nikkiaj2005
28-09-08, 11:05
Hi I have a huge fear of fainting since starting with panic attacks! Even so that i work in a nursing home, and for years the sight of blood and needles have never ever bothered me,
but now.... needles, blood, being hot anything that can make you faint i start panicing... why the hell do i get this after all it's not bothered me before?
if i have not passed out throught blood or needles before does it mean even if i panic about i wont cuz ive never fainted before? or can anyone just faint?
please help it's driving me nuts!
I'd really love to do my nurse training but the thought of standing in theatre's and takin blood has put a downer on me, that i'm weak! :weep:
thanks Nikki x
I too have never fainted from a panic attack - and I have often thought I would.
I have only ever fainted once, which was due to a medication. It was on a train. I got on, sat down, and promptly passed out! When I came round, some people had 'caught me'. I got off at the next stop, and the station guy gave me some water. I got the train back home, and he called the staff, who met me from the train with more water, and got me a taxi home! They were so nice!
For me, the fear of fainting isn't about the embarrassment - it's about the loss of control. And the worry that when I come round I won't be in a fit state to get myself back to my 'safe place' (home).
Dahlia x
jumpattack
19-07-09, 05:34
It's possible to faint when having panic if you:
- hyperventilate severly, or
- you have a phobia towards blood (beacause of a sudden decrease in bloodpressure that is typical for this kind of phobia).
It's almost impossible to faint from panic otherwise, as your bloodpressure rises.
I have a blood phobia and low blood pressure and have passed out a few times while having my blood drawn, getting an IV or getting injured. Funny thing is, I don't mind fainting at all. In fact, I always feel really good when I wake up - like I've had the most restful sleep. I am now at the point where I know exactly what a faint feels like when it's coming on and I can sit down, put my head down and I feel fine in a few minutes. I will say that I have never fainted because of a panic attack, only under the conditions I mentioned above.
Anyway, fainting is nothing to be afraid of - it's not likely to happen if you don't have a silly condition already and even if it does happen, it's a totally ok experience.
I have never fainted, although I've felt like I will. Sometimes my vision goes all starry and I cant hear properly but I sit down and it eventually passes.
Anxious_gal
19-07-09, 18:21
I have never ever fainted!
even when I am certain i will pass out it never happens!
fainting happens when your blood pressure drops,
I like how fainting/swooning is so romanticized on t.v haaha
no i didnt faint but my husband did when he had a severe panic attack he passed out fell down and busted his head open he was at work on a ladder.
I used to feint all the time - I just figured it was my body'[s way of making me shut up and stop torturing myself :lol:
Rarely with any warning I'd go light headed. I was told it was just a feeling and it would pass - I learnt that wasn't true when I knocked my front teeth out!
I was taken to the docs for this constant feinting when I was about 13, and the doc just yelled at me - saying of course I would if I was so stressed out, I should be going to yoga, not the doctors... so adding to my long list of phobia triggers, went doctors.
I'm in my early 40's now, live ith it, accept it - having a bad patch now and directed here. My dog was attacked and I'm just having a bad feeling about how I couldn't protect her - but haven't feinted for a couple of years, and generally don't expect to unless something really rotten happens - that time hubby told me he was made redundant.
I would just say, for the sake of it, don't chance it. The world can restart again once you've gotten over it, but I always sit down wherever I am the minute I start to feel dizzy. Most of the time its OK, but there were a few where I needed to get changed quickly afterwards, and that's just too embarracing.
Always worry I will, especially when out and dizzy but to date, no have never fainted
Pinkangels
29-04-10, 13:05
MY husband said to me the attitude to have is ...
SO "F------" WHAT IF I PASS OUT -WHATS THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN ? I REGAIN CONCIOUSNESS WITH A BRUISE LOL.
This gets me thinking it must be more of a fear of the thought of people looking at me as i loose control ? because to think about it a bruise dosent scare me at all ,does anyone else feel like this ?
mirryx
Yep! My fear of fainting isnt about the loss of control as such, (unless im driving) or bruising as I fall! its simply the amount of attention it would cause.................worst nightmare!
It is my biggest fear tho, and worst ever symptom. Cant stand that feeling.
I never have fainted tho, but thats still not convinced me that I wont. I still fret about it always.
margaret jones
29-04-10, 13:10
Been there felt like fainting but like others have not fainted from panic attack ,
Maggie xx
frightenedbutterfly
29-04-10, 21:25
My panic episodes usually leave me unconcious for a good 10 minutes, if not more. I actually welcome it, nothing else makes it stop!!
My panic episodes usually leave me unconcious for a good 10 minutes, if not more. I actually welcome it, nothing else makes it stop!!
yup, that's how i used to feel!:yesyes:
sapphire109
03-05-10, 16:40
My Aunt told me she fainted when taking a panic attack (depression seems to favour all the women in my family) but as it seems you can't faint from panic alone, I'll point out she was in a shopping place which was crouded with people and she was probably very warm, with the panic attack happening at the same time. I think crouded hot conditions led her to fainting and the croud plus context of home stress led to her panic attack. But don't worry, you cannot faint alone from panic.
hi All
I just wanted to say that although I have not fainted I get the odd fearsome dizzy spell where I have to grab on to something. I have begun to realise that this happens when I literally forget to breathe because I am concentrating too hard!
Veronica
This is why I've fainted in the past, it seems my natural reaction is to stop breathing. This helped end my first panic attack as soon as it had started really. Now I know this is a problem I can keep breathing consciously.
Yes, I have fainted once (long ago, during my teens) and I think it must have been due to a panic attack. I was reading about someone having a heart attack and started to feel something like the symptoms I was reading about—a kind of pressure on my chest. I was frightened, not knowing what was happening to me. I think I wondered if I was having a heart attack. I don't remember any more until I opened my eyes, feeling very confused. My mother told me I'd fainted.
Hey!
I feel awful to throw a spanner in the works but I learnt the hard way it is possible to faint during a panic attack. In my case however it occurred just after I had fallen over and badly injured myself. I hence, of course started to panic about all the blood and the pain and then I went delirious and passed out.
I talked to a doctor about this however and she said the only situations where it's possible to faint during a panic attack is where you've suddenly injured yourself. Otherwise the elevated blood pressure caused by your pounding heart rate means your body is doing the opposite of what would cause you to faint (low blood pressure). When you are suddenly submitted to a lot of pain however, the body's autonomic nervous system can react to this as an inbuilt survival instinct and lower your heart rate and blood pressure which can lead to fainting.
I hope this sort of helps! Fainting is one of my heads favourite fears during panic attacks too! x
PanickyGuy
06-01-17, 20:37
This is an old interesting thread, I wish I had found it years ago when I first started having panic disorder. Because that was my prime fear back then, well still is at times, but I've never fainted during a panic attack; though I damn near felt like I was about to every time.
The only time I ever actually fainted was when I was in my early twenties and that was because of lack of nutrition and low blood sugar from not eating right. Was loosing a lot of weight at the time too. Lol. My body decided not to put up with it anymore and teach me a lesson, I guess.
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