Feeling giddy. Blacked out. Anyone else?

[astrocan]

Commuting home on Thursday (7 of 8 miles) my vision went very peculiar, not so much that I couldn't see things more I couldn't make sense of them. Eventually it got so bad I had to pull over and stop and thats the last thing I remember before coming round surrounded by paramedics about 30mts along the pavement from where I pulled over.
Perhaps my food intake wasn't adequate (cereal 12hrs before, 4pieces fruit 10hrs before, packet of fruit pastilles 3hrs before) and I suspect that my caffeine intake is higher than it aught to be so neither of these would help but surely not enough on their own. I also wondered if my head had got too cold, my helmet has vents and ducts to channel cooling air which is fine in the summer but on a cold day could the effect become detrimental?
Apparently certain symptoms suggest cardiac arrhythmia while other symptoms indicate a neurological seizure, neither of which I am too elated about. Has anyone else experienced similar symptoms or effects, I am particularly interested in the possibility and effects of excessive cooling.
Off to wrap up warm.

 

[Andrew_P]

I have to be careful at a set of lights just after a really tough climb , my HR plummets if I am caught at the lights and I get light headed whilst waiting.

Had you just made a big climb or 90-100% effort just before stopping?

Read somewhere that the blood can pool quickly in the legs causing dizziness and light head felling.

 

[ianrauk]

cereal 12hrs before, 4pieces fruit 10hrs before, packet of fruit pastilles 3hrs before


If this is what you had to eat all day then is it any wonder?
Why are you starving yourself?

 

[astrocan]

I have to be careful at a set of lights just after a really tough climb , my HR plummets if I am caught at the lights and I get light headed whilst waiting.

Had you just made a big climb or 90-100% effort just before stopping?

Read somewhere that the blood can pool quickly in the legs causing dizziness and light head felling.

No big climbs of any description around here but I had just had the exciting bit of my commute through town.

 

[astrocan]

cereal 12hrs before, 4pieces fruit 10hrs before, packet of fruit pastilles 3hrs before


If this is what you had to eat all day then is it any wonder?
Why are you starving yourself?

Fair point but not well made.
I can't be the only one who has a fairly sedentary job and needs to loose a bit of bulk after Christmas and perhaps I had gone a bit too far with the calorie reduction that day but I think 'starving myself' is more drama than fact.

 

[col]

Go to docs for a check up, telling him you blacked out. If we do this we lose our licence until the reason is found, or for good. Next time you might not have time to stop, who knows what or who you could hit?

 

[ianrauk]

Fair point but not well made.
I can't be the only one who has a fairly sedentary job and needs to loose a bit of bulk after Christmas and perhaps I had gone a bit too far with the calorie reduction that day but I think 'starving myself' is more drama than fact.

You have taken on barely any food/calories the whole day. I would call that starving oneself.

 

[astrocan]

Paramedics took me to A+E and I am not driving until test results are through which is a nuisance as I drive for a living. Don't get me wrong, thats exactly as it should be, but if it is an easy situation to avoid simply by wrapping my head a bit better it would be a useful bit of information to have.

 

[astrocan]

You have taken on barely any food/calories the whole day. I would call that starving oneself.

I would call it being ineptly over cautious. Starving has the element of will power against all cotraindications that you are harming yourself.
Thats not me mister.

 

[col]

I would imagine paramedics would have checked your blood sugar, and taken other things into account? So if it wasnt due to not eating enough that day, and you think a possibility might be to keep your head warm? id get in to the docs sharpish.

 

[ushills]

Go to docs for a check up, telling him you blacked out. If we do this we lose our licence until the reason is found, or for good. Next time you might not have time to stop, who knows what or who you could hit?

This is generally not the case or wasn't in mine, blacked out at top of stairs and broke back in the resulting fall. Doctor never suspected epilepsy and therefore no need to stop driving, has happened before when younger.

In response to the OP I also used to regularly pass out when cycling usually after stopping, would get off bike take a few breaths then lights would go out and I would wake up in some office or on the pavement with a crowd around me, must have happened 20+ times in my teens and early twenties.

Think with me it was to do with dropping blood pressure when stopping and insufficient calorie intake, I was a big lad but not fat and needed more than most.

Also, do you suffer from migraines ever?

 

[Becs]

I would call it being ineptly over cautious. Starving has the element of will power against all cotraindications that you are harming yourself.
Thats not me mister.

You've just had one of those!!! I'm with Ian on this one. It's quite possible your symptoms were from hypogylcaemia due to not eating enough during the day (and for how many days?) - this would give you the neurological symptoms you describe. Obviously there are a bunch of other possible causes but whatever the case eating less than 600 calories in a day and trying to commute 7 or 8 miles (each way?) is pretty bloody foolish! If you want to lose weight sensibly use something like "my fitness pal" to track your calories while eating a balanced diet.

Incidentally I experience your pre-blackout symptoms on long rides when I don't eat enough.

The cold head warm head thing is probably b*llocks IMO

 

[Linford]

It sounds to me like you had a hypo. My blood sugar levels would be on the floor if I'd had such a small intake and then exercised in the cold.
Eating sweets like that encourages the body to produce a dollop of insulin, but because you had starved yourself, you had little glucose in your tissues or bloodstream, and little Glycogen in your liver. Fast release carbs like sweets and chocolate give only a brief boost.
I discovered I was diabetic after doing similar on an empty stomach.

 

[astrocan]

I am taking medical advice from the doctors at A+E and my own GP and I have faith in their judgement. Tests have been done or are planned in an effort to establish the how, what and why.
I simply WONDERED if anyone else had had a similar experience and to what extent excessive cooling may have contributed.

 

[col]

This is generally not the case or wasn't in mine, blacked out at top of stairs and broke back in the resulting fall. Doctor never suspected epilepsy and therefore no need to stop driving, has happened before when younger.

In response to the OP I also used to regularly pass out when cycling usually after stopping, would get off bike take a few breaths then lights would go out and I would wake up in some office or on the pavement with a crowd around me, must have happened 20+ times in my teens and early twenties.

Think with me it was to do with dropping blood pressure when stopping and insufficient calorie intake, I was a big lad but not fat and needed more than most.

Also, do you suffer from migraines ever?

If you drive professionally for a living, you wouldnt have got your licence back until they knew why you blacked out. This is always the case . As you say, it wasnt in yours, unless you drive large vehicles or buses for a living. In which case your doc would be in serious trouble if you blacked out again at the wheel, without finding out the cause, and not informing the authourities of your previous blackout.