Anyone ever heard this one?

[Guest GayleP]

I just saw a little blurb on CNN , you know the writing under the news about a woman fainting during a mammogram, hitting her head and getting brain damage. It then said "fainting is a risk of getting a mammogram".

Why would a mammogram cause one to faint? Anyone know? I have one once a year since turning 40 and have never felt faint during one.

GayleP

[briarrose]

Probably the severe pain of getting squished

[Dawg Tired]

I agree with briarrose . I'm a DDD cup (sorry if that's more info than you wanted!) but everytime I go for a mammo the tech pulls and tugs then squishes - they always say that the plates have to be so tight to get a good picture . I have felt lightheaded while going through all of that. And usually swollen for 3 or 4 days after... Like I need THAT!!

[geneva]

I have never heard that before but strangely I have wondered about that possibilty. Although I am not a fainter, I do make sure that each year when I have my mammogram done, I explain to the tech a little about my condition in advance. I always sit down between the right and left side pictures. When I stand legs together straight I get much higher tachy so I don't take chances!

A friend of mine is opposed to the "roughness" of mammograms and has a test instead that I believe is called a thermal scan. I haven't checked into it so no more information.

scary stuff...that poor woman.

[michiganjan]

You can have a mammogram sitting down. I had my last one that way. This is how they do them for women in wheelchairs. I don't use a wheelchair, but I was concerned about what if I fainted and there I would be held by the boob in the machine! So I said, I want mine sitting down and sure enough, they could do it.

Michigan Jan

[Guest GayleP]

I didn't know you could have it sitting down. I'm definitely going to ask for that next time, although I also have fainted while seated in the past.

It is a rather painful test and I would sure hate to faint with my boob trapped in the machine with no one in the room.

Boy, another thing to worry about.

GayleP

[geneva]

Jan, I have learned something new tonight! Had no idea they could do sitting down. The machines I have been hooked up to don't look like they go down that far...but I guess they must. Hey, thanks for sharing that. The number of requests for seated mammograms is going to shoot up if the news run a story letting women i on the secret!

[Guest tearose]

I too just learned a lot. Sit down during the mamo, not just in between left and right! And I agree, woman probably pass out cause of the pain!!! You know this machine was not designed by women. tearose

[blackwolf]

I'm afraid I'm with Dawg Tired, I'm a H/I cup and that pinch is a little much, I sewll too. I also sit through mine. I di faint once and now the techs ask me to sit.

Blackwolf

[briarrose]

Here it is

Jury Awards $3 Million To Woman After Mammogram Fainting

Woman Sustained Brain Damage After Hitting Head

POSTED: 8:43 am EST December 13, 2004

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- A jury awarded $3 million Friday to a woman who hit her head after falling during a breast exam and now needs constant medical care.

The Cape Fear Valley Health System plans to appeal the judgment, said its lawyer, Charles George of Raleigh.

Cynthia Taylor, 50, of Linden, suffered extensive brain damage in the fall. The incident put the former school teacher in a coma for six weeks, led to a stroke and left one side of her body paralyzed. In rehabilitation, she had to learn to talk and walk again "as much as her limited, injured, brain would allow," Byrd has said.

Her husband, Randy Dalley, said he plans to use the money to pay for Taylor's rehabilitation.

"I'm glad we won," Dalley said. "We've got something to work with, anyway. We started with nothing. We didn't have anything to lose."

One of Taylor's lawyers, Wade Byrd, had asked for $7.6 million to compensate Taylor for lost income, medical bills and nursing care for the rest of her life. He asked for additional money for pain and suffering.

According to her lawyers, Taylor found a lump in her left breast and underwent the exam in November 2000. She fainted during the exam and hit her head on the floor.

Fainting is a known risk of the machine used for the examination, Byrd said.

Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press

[Ernie]

Thanks Gayle and Steph for bringing this up.

I never had one done but I will surely ask to be sitting down. Like someone else said, I would not want to be "traped" in the machine while I faint! What an experience. The poor lady also got severe injuries. Maybe she had some kind of NCS or the pain triggered the faint.

Ernie

[morgan617]

I'm a -aaa, so if I had a lump, i'd see it... har. Never had a problem except finding enough to get on the plate and it's not hard to hold your breath when you are being squashed. But seriously, it's beem my experience as a nurse that some people just don't handle the stress of anything medical well, and have a tendency to faint. It's not a psych thing, it's just a body reacting to something it doesn't like thing. Like, having a pea squashed to the size of a walnut. morgan

[Joyce T]

I almost fainted twice during my annual mammogram yesterday.  I have mammograms every 6 months due to having breast cancer 3 years ago. I am 71 & have been getting annual mammograms since age 50.  I have never fainted previously.  Why was yesterday different?

[Pistol]

@Joyce T - it could be anything really - we all respond differently at different times. It can be being upright or getting too warm or cold, or even just becoming anxious. It all can make us faint. But it is always best to make an appointment with your doctor first, to get your heart and BP checked! I would probaaly go to the ER if I were you.