Feeling giddy. Blacked out. Anyone else?

[Linford]

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.

My low blood sugar has a big effect on my moods. If I've not eaten by 7pm after work, I can be a bit of a nightmare with a very short fuse but otherwise still function. 20 minutes after food, and I'm back onto an even keel.

 

[Fubar]

I had something similar on a couple of training rides, didn't blackout but my energy levels bottomed-out and I had to stop and sit down for half-an-hour. Managed to crawl home. Both happened on hot days and I put it down to (a) lack of proper food and (b) lack of proper hydration. I had also been on a low-carb diet and upped my exercise. Not saying that's what happened to you but I doubt the cold was the main cause. I think we tend to under-estimate the link between what we are putting in and what we are burning off, especially when overweight (like myself...)

 

[NormanD]

Happened to me once in the hospital while taking a patient in an elevator from a ward to Xray, I was a hospital porter at the time, as soon the elevator began to move I flopped to the floor out cold, turns out it was an inner ear infection that screwed up my Equilibrioception.

 

[amaferanga]

If I was trying to lose weigh as drastically you seem to be then wouldn't be snacking on fruit pastels

Seriously, this could be a genuine medical condition, but my money would be on the cause being down to the starvation diet. If so then your stupidity will have wasted the time of a lot of medical professionals, not to mention the cost to the NHS.

 

[swampyseifer]

Just to say that my father drives as part of his job (he doesnt have passengers) and he is diabetic. He has been told that so long as he only needs the tablets, and not injections, then its fine for him to drive. but if the diabetes gets bad enough where he needs regualr insulin injections then they will not insure him to drive but he can, if he insures himself.

Also, it certainly does sound glucose-based. The other week I went to the gym at like 11am on a sunday, hadnt eaten or drank for 15 hours or so. I pushed myself hard and bottomed out sugar-wise...felt-faint, had to sit for 30mins and even then I was unstable and shaky for another good 90mins after that.

 

[Gooner Mad Dog]

IanRauk right on I would have been light headed even not having cycled, this time of year you need at least tea, 2 x toast & ideally a banana or ceral bar etc before setting off, imagine if you pass out at roundabout or something??

Even if you are not a breakfast person you must have something, also when you get to destination take on fluids and again as a minimum a piece of fruit/snack bar/digestive biscuits etc

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Happened to me once in the hospital while taking a patient in an elevator from a ward to Xray, I was a hospital porter at the time, as soon the elevator began to move I flopped to the floor out cold, turns out it was an inner ear infection that screwed up my Equilibrioception.

I've had that, many years ago on a club ride, I felt unwell and left the group to return home, riding through Coleshill I went down like a sack of spuds, world spinning vomiting everywhere, couldn't stand' fortunetly a passing jogger called an ambulance and I got treated a George Elliot Hospital.

If I was trying to lose weigh as drastically you seem to be then wouldn't be snacking on fruit pastels

Seriously, this could be a genuine medical condition, but my money would be on the cause being down to the starvation diet. If so then your stupidity will have wasted the time of a lot of medical professionals, not to mention the cost to the NHS.

+1 on that, it sounds like inadequate fuelling more than anything anything else. If it was summer and hot I would suspect poor Hydration as well, but from what you have said it sounds like you didn't eat enough to do what you were doing.

 

[LarryDuff]

Never skip lunch or breakfast.

 

[fossyant]

This sounds like diet. I know when I have not eaten enough when commuting home - and my acupuncturist still thinks I'm not eating enough for my exercise level. I do eat lots though, but the OP post...no way - I'd have the shakes by lunch on that. You got the 'bonk' but bad. You hit the "system" with sugar in the afternoon then extra insulin was produced that levels stuff off, but the tank was empty . Simple sugars don't work well with exercise really - instant high, instant massive low as insulin kicks in.

Sort your diet, before you panic about being diabetic.

 

[guitarpete247]

Our diet consultant, yesterday, told GF and I that too much exercise on a low calorie diet does not have the desired weight loss you would expect. She told us the body tries to hold onto the fat but burns off muscle. I cannot wait till next week when we move up to 1000 calories. By then we hope to have lost 2.5 stone each.
If you drop the calorie intake then take the exercise steady and don't push it or the results will be light headedness and fainting. Plus If you push your heart rate over 2x resting rate damage to heart muscles (from what I've read up).

 

[MattHB]

Gotta fuel the body if you're going to expect it to work. I'm struggling to eat enough at the moment!

 

[Dan_h]

I had something similar on a couple of training rides, didn't blackout but my energy levels bottomed-out and I had to stop and sit down for half-an-hour. Managed to crawl home. Both happened on hot days and I put it down to (a) lack of proper food and (b) lack of proper hydration. I had also been on a low-carb diet and upped my exercise. Not saying that's what happened to you but I doubt the cold was the main cause. I think we tend to under-estimate the link between what we are putting in and what we are burning off, especially when overweight (like myself...)

That sounds like a classic "Bonk"! Low carb diets do not really go too well with endurance sports. The hot day certainly does not help with that and consuming water AND electrolyte is important. Same with the OP, going to the docs is a good idea, but from the evidence in the initial post it sounds like a case of running out of fuel.

The cold may have a bearing, there is a theory that your body burns a few more calories in the cold in order to stay warm. If this is the case then that could bring on the bonk a bit sooner. There seems to be some debate about how much effect this actually has though.

 

[astrocan]

If I was trying to lose weigh as drastically you seem to be then wouldn't be snacking on fruit pastels

Seriously, this could be a genuine medical condition, but my money would be on the cause being down to the starvation diet. If so then your stupidity will have wasted the time of a lot of medical professionals, not to mention the cost to the NHS.

I have to confess that I am a very lucky boy to be a cotributor to the NHS whose services are available to anyone who needs it and not just the chronically self-righteous and terminally indignant.

 

[The Jogger]

I have to confess that I am a very lucky boy to be a cotributor to the NHS whose services are available to anyone who needs it and not just the chronically self-righteous and terminally indignant.

astrocan, how are you doing, did you get to the bottom of it yet and just ignore that silly statement you quoted, not worth the hand movements on the keyboard.

 

[lulubel]

I have to confess that I am a very lucky boy to be a cotributor to the NHS whose services are available to anyone who needs it and not just the chronically self-righteous and terminally indignant.

Have the doctors come up with any definite answer to what happened yet?

I had an incident years ago when I passed out from the cold. I was doing the first part of my motorbike CBT training, just riding the bike round a deserted car park on a Sunday morning. It was -2C, and I wasn't anywhere close to being dressed for the conditions. Throughout the session, I was gradually getting colder and colder until I couldn't feel my hands or feet, but I hung on because I was really keen to get my certificate and I was hoping to do it in 2 Sunday morning sessions.

Towards the end of the session, I started feeling a bit dizzy, so I put the bike on its stand and sat down on a wall. I explained to my trainer what had happened, and he and the other blokes there agreed it was probably the cold. We decided to end the session there, and I sat for a while until I felt better, and got up to head to my car. Next thing I knew, someone was sitting me up and putting my head between my knees.

They got me to my car, the heater warmed me up after a while, and I got home safely. Apart from sore fingers for the rest of the day, there were no other ill effects.

One of the blokes there was from the Driving Standards Agency. He happened to be there that day monitoring the training being provided, and he contacted the DVLA, which resulted in me being told to go for a checkup with one of their doctors. (He was a very nice doctor, with a private practice in a big house in Sonning on Thames, and my experience of that checkup is why I now see a private doctor whenever I can.)

The doctor said I had been flagged as possibly epileptic because I "convulsed" when I passed out. (I suspect I flailed around with my arms to try and catch hold of something as I fell.) Anyway, there was nothing else to suggest epilepsy, so we had a nice chat, and he told me it wasn't uncommon for people to convulse when they lose consciousness suddenly. He told me about a study on fighter pilots that found the vast majority convulse when they pass out under high g. And that was the end of it.

I don't know if this helps at all, but I thought I'd share it in case it's useful.