Feeling giddy. Blacked out. Anyone else?

[Becs]

I am taking medical advice from the doctors at A+E and my own GP and I have faith in their judgement. .

I wouldn't trust them too much. I have a very low opinion of (most) GPs and (most) A and E doctors, with good reason. Don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion or to see a specialist.

 

[astrocan]

Thanks Becs and Linford,
That seeems to be the sort of information that I need.
I will have to try harder to have reasonable quantities of quality food around me.
That presents its own problems but it looks like more planning and will power are needed.

I'm still going to get a hat though.

 

[Linford]

I'm not suggesting you are diabetic because you had a hypo. Just that you didn't consume enough to replace that which you had burned off, or had in reserve.

A common cause of death through alcoholic poisoning is because it messes with the liver function, and limits its ability to release the sugars in the night to keep the vital organs functioning after a heavy session. The body shuts down because it has no glucose, and the booze has turned off the liver (glucose store).

 

[col]

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.

Ah so your already under your doc about it. Should have asked your doc if a cold head can cause it then?

 

[astrocan]

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.

I told them I am an LGV driver and they have advised that I don't drive until the cause is established. I anticipate that should it become clear that a medical condition (eg diabetes / epilepsy) is the cause then I will need a new career but that is by no means certain at the moment.

 

[col]

I told them I am an LGV driver and they have advised that I don't drive until the cause is established. I anticipate that should it become clear that a medical condition (eg diabetes / epilepsy) is the cause then I will need a new career but that is by no means certain at the moment.

It must be more strict for passenger carrying, as your licence is revoked on the spot until the cause is found.

 

[astrocan]

I'm not sure.
On one hand I know of diabetic taxi drivers, on the other I have also heard the story about the bus driver who wanted time of to go to a football match, he was told he had to work so as he was walking across to his vehicle on the Saturday he faked a fainting fit, went to the match and lost his licence.

 

[Becs]

I think if they find a cause that can be managed effectively with drugs then you're ok once the condition is shown to be under control over the subsequent months.

 

[col]

I'm not sure.
On one hand I know of diabetic taxi drivers, on the other I have also heard the story about the bus driver who wanted time of to go to a football match, he was told he had to work so as he was walking across to his vehicle on the Saturday he faked a fainting fit, went to the match and lost his licence.

Yes I knew a lad it nearly backfired on too. He faked a blackout to skive and it took six months to get his licence back, lucky, because they couldnt find a cause, and also couldnt find a reason either.

 

[broomwagon]

I had something similar happen to me last year....Nothing was found to be wrong, (touches wood) but I visited the Dr and after a chat about my job and eating habits, the reason for my feeling not quite right was put down to too much caffien, not eating enough during the day and not drinking enough water. It was a little obvious really when we discussed it!
Things have changed for me since then, I have lots of water, I've cut the caffeine out and I eat a decent, healthy lunch which is on top of the bit of fruit I was having before.

 

[col]

I think if they find a cause that can be managed effectively with drugs then you're ok once the condition is shown to be under control over the subsequent months.

This is true, but if its a heart condition, I think its a minimum of one year without incident.

 

[guitarpete247]

I too have decided to do something about my weight and have gone onto a drastic reduced calorie diet. My diet however is very rigidly controlled and monitored. I started on 4 Cambridge products a day (550 calories) but these have all the vitamins/minerals I need per day. I was also told to hold off any cardiovascular exercise, not doubling my resting heartrate, or I could seriously damage heart muscles. I agree with ianrauk you are starving yourself. My diet is designed to put me in ketosis which it did and I measured it with ketostix provided by my diet consultant.

Have you spoken to your GP about your calorie intake and asked if this could be a contributory factor into you passing out? If you have I would be surprised if they didn't warn you off this severe diet.

Is this level of food intake you have described a one-off or have you been following this regime for a while?

 

[I_S]

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.

Did you have an ECG at hospital? 18months ago I cycled home, had a high surgar drink & collapsed walking across a busy road. No driving for 6 months, given eeg, ecg + mri scans no definite cause found. Driving allowed again. My understanding is a one off event is not uncommon - twice and there may be a pattern.

 

[Miffy]

Hi Astrocan, not sure if I can be much help on the cooling theory but I have had a few of those types of faints/blackouts when I was younger. With me I think its vasovagal as no other likely cause, I work in cardiorespiratory now so i've pretty much had a full work up self testing the equipment! definitely not diabetic either. I think with me it may have been caused by lack of sleep/exhaustion as I was working long hours in the day and nights on call. I still get the occasional light headed feeling if i've really been pushing it on the bike and then stop suddenly which I put down to a blood pressure issue as its never happened sitting or lying down (i'm certainly not an expert though). To prevent it I just cool down a bit before stopping by slowing down if I can, and by not going flat out between traffic lights. As others have said the lack of food won't help, I had a friend who would severely restrict her diet and then go and do an hour of spin class, she would faint after every class, unsurprisingly perhaps. Having said that I also knew someone (what is it with me?) who would black out suddenly and fall without warning, he had lots of neuro exams but no cause found, and was prevented from driving. Have the docs said anything about the warning signs? I thought this was more common with 'simple faints', but again i'm no expert. Good luck with finding the cause anyway, hope you feel ok now. Its no fun losing control of your own body!

 

[jefmcg]

I'm just going to back up others here. When I was leading a teenage lifestyle (running about a lot, not dieting) I discovered if I skipped a couple of meals, even though I felt fine and wasn't hungry, I'd faint. And that was standing on a tram, not cycling across the city. Later I noticed that if I hadn't eaten for a while, I'd also get pretty grumpy, when other people were ok. So, I just came to terms with being more sensitive to lower blood sugar than other people, and made sure I ate when I needed to.

That being said, now I can cycle 16 miles on a cup of white coffee: but I trust my hunger, and when I feel I need it, I eat something. If you are trying to lose weight, sometimes you can convince you're hunger is psychological, so you have to learn the difference between genuine hunger and the sort of eating that makes you need to diet in the first place.