Does Your Presyncope Symptoms Feel Like Presyncope?

[statesof]

I was wondering what everyone elses' "presyncope" symptoms are like? I remember nearly fainting when I was younger and the experience was pretty distinct in my mind; strong stomach nausea, feeling really flushed/ hot, and that sort of panic attack like anxiety, and every step felt heavy like I was going to pass out. However my POTS reaction from exercise/ physical exertion which my doctors have labeled as "presyncope symptoms" are not similiar to my above experiences at all, now my vision starts to feel hazy/ foggy, not really much nausea, no panic feelings, no flushed feelings, I do start to feel like my arms and legs feel weird like I'm loosing connection with them a bit (hard symptom to describe) and my brain just feels awful, like I'm really detached/ mentally in a dark cloud, and idk how to describe it but it's like my brain feels like its been through a car crash. And these symptoms aren't really helped by laying down, drinking water, pretty much anything except time and not exerting myself phsyically much for the next few days. Just interested to hear other peoples' experiences.

[E Soskis]

For me, profound weakness and tiredness signals my blood pressure is low. When I begin to pass out, I will get even weaker, my head begins to spin, I can't put a thought together or talk right, nausea, abd pain, then if I don't go ahead and get on the ground on my terms, I will end up on the ground anyway and maybe not in a flattering position!

[Katybug]

I have 2 different symptom scenarios that can be presyncopal for me. I have no idea why the 2 different scenarios as I'm never near or well enough to get to a bp/hr monitor to figure out the difference. I suspect that one might be from high hr and the other from low bp but that's just a guess.

Scenario 1 is that I break out in a cold sweat, feel dizzy/have the spins, feel tingly all over my body, peripheral vision starts to go dark, and there may or may not be nausea and sudden diarrhea with bowel urgency.

Scenario 2 starts with becoming ice cold, then I feel overwhelming fatigue like my body is saying "you're going to sleep willingly or your knees are gonna buckle and you're going to sleep the hard way", my limbs feel heavy as does my chest making it feel like I have to make a conscious effort to breathe, I feel like I slur my words and it is great effort to speak, I also become quite cross with anyone that gets in the way of me doing whatever I need to do to rescue myself....I'm definitely in survival mode in this scenario.

[Goschi]

Hi guys!

It's exactely the same with me! I once experienced a kind of typical presyncope after exhausting myself to much at sports (running a half marathon without proper training before) when I was in my late teens. That was a presyncope feeling as you can read about it in medicine books.

But what I experienced with dysautonomia was something completely different! The symptoms are a kind of "nice" mixture of what statesof, Soskis and Katy reported!

But to my understanding, this isn't presyncope in it's medical defined way! I would rather call it a "pre-POTS-crash" feeling. Needless to say, I never had a real syncope! If that, what we experience, isn't actual presyncope, it will logically not lead to syncope! The latter would be a temporary collapse of blood circulation.

What we get, seems to be much more complex!

[JenniferInOhio]

I've had POTS for more than half my life and I've only had pre syncope twice. The only reason I didn't faint was that I got myself down and my feet elevated. Both times, I was sitting down and my head felt really "wavy" or "floaty." After a few moments of those sensations, I got up out of my chair. Then, I had a warm/tingly feeling throughout my body - almost like a rush of something. I knew something was happening, but at this time, I had no idea what. I remember telling my husband, "Something is happening. Something is wrong." He told me to GET DOWN. So, luckily I was close to the couch, and was able to save myself from a faint. We took my bp about a minute after the episode and it was very low and my hr was 39!! After explaining the scenario to my Dr., he was sure is was a vasovagal response from blood pooling in my legs.

[Loulou]

I begin with clammy hands, if I ignore my hands, then I will flush and sometimes become nauseated. I always have Tachycardia, but I can feel my heart pounding in my ears and I feel like my heart could come out of my chest when I am close to syncope. My lower back will begin to hurt. The rest is all like over heating, if I wait this long to stop then I end up getting cozy with the floor. I really just have to pay attention to the clammy hands. One really weird thing that happens is that my bra feels like it begin to tighten around me like a vise and a my chest feels so heavy that I can not fill my lungs with air.

[Kkb1216]

Oh, this has been fascinating to read! Makes me feel a little less nutty

My first sign is sweat. Typically I notice it on my face after its already started everywhere else. Then I am nauseous. If I have managed to ignore both signs, I get black dots. I've got about a minute to get down.

I'm lucky to have signs I, and others around me, can see before I lay down.

As an aside, when I heard people talk about black dots in their eyes, I always imagined them to be one big black dot. It's not for me. It's a speckled mess in my eyeballs vision.

-K

[Katybug]

Oh yeah... thanks for the reminder... I do get all kinds of floaters and tracers in my vision when I'm presyncopal. I also go from my always there low tone tinnitus to very loud high pitched tinnitus. It makes me struggle to here anything when I get close to passing out.

[statesof]

Hey thanks for the replies this has been interesting for me to read, Kaybug your "2 scenario" thing is almost what I feel like when I get my POTS "presyncope" feelings, and I too notice once this starts I get immediatlly extremely irratable. But its weird I don't see it as a passing out or fainting type feeling, its just like my whole brain is crashing, I explain it to my doctors as though my brain feels like I just got out of a bad car crash. Do all of your "presyncope" symptoms get better quickly after sitting/ laying down, or do they extend longer than that? Because with mine its like once I push myself to where I get these symptoms I'm recovering for days, as though the experience is really hard on my brain.

[chococat159]

I first experience dizziness, feeling hot, feeling weak, and my vision going black. If it's bad, I get a huge feeling of nausea, and my vision goes completely black. I have to sit down for a couple of minutes or I'll pass out. I've never actually passed out, but I'm assuming that's where it would lead to. I've always managed to sit down in time if I have to.