Those Of You Who Don't Faint

[Jacquie802]

Hey,

Just curious on some people's opinions I guess. I don't know about you guys out there who are also non fainters, but I think because I don't faint people don't understand how crappy I feel..Does anyone else out there feel the same way???

Sometimes I wonder if they saw me faint they would at least sympathize more...

Jacquie

[nikigrl8883]

ya i knwo what u mean i havent fainted either yet but once i cam too close everything went black but i sat down just in time before it happned

[futurehope]

Jacquie,

I understand and can empathize with all you've said. I'm not a fainter, but I feel poorly. Sitting or standing causes me problems, as does laying around too much.

The truth is, people who do not have this cannot understand how we can look "relatively" okay, but feel like we want to go crawl in a hole in a reclining position.

In the mornings or after a nap, I can look like death warmed over because of the low blood pressure, I assume. But on other occasions, like out shopping, I can look fine.

Looks are deceiving. No doubt about it. Sometimes I think only people with the same ailment and God Himself understand my every day life and its difficulties.

I hear ya! Hugs your way.... At least we can understand each other.

[Maxine]

I'm not a fainter, but there are times I feel so horrible---------- I feel I might collapse.

I usually look just fine---there is no look I have that makes me look ill. There is only one time I think someone thought I may be in trouble. I was at MUO (where Dr. Grubb works) hospital. I had gone to the library to help a friend find some ANS research.

I got terrible brain fog and crashed pretty severely. I got so weak I got lost on my way to the parking lot----I was on the verge of collapse---and the woman walking towards could see I was in trouble. I gave her a faint smile---and she walked by with a rather concerned look. I know my face must have looked funny---or very pale, as this lady looked like she was sure I was going to pass out. It was about 90 degrees that day.

I get sick of people not understanding how bad I feel---I just get disgusted.

Maxine

[the_dancer_grl]

Hey I feel the same way. I almost faint and get all the pre-fainting syptoms but don't actually pass out and it does sometimes seem that ppl don't take you seriously unless you do. My sister doesn't understand especially (if we're ignoring several doctors... annoying really) because I've been getting worse but because I'm at college now she doesn't have to deal with me all the time so doesn't realize it? (giving her the benifit of the doubt because she's my sister and younger than me). But anywayz, yeah, I totally get what you're talking about, we can feel pretty bad and nobody gets it (no I can not run upstairs and get the laundry at the moment... or the fabulous "are you okay?" in passing from strangers as they continue along). Sidetracked again, been like that all week- yes, I understand where you are comming from.

[Kimberley]

Hello, I am not a Fainter either But I always feel like I am on the Verge of it. People just do not understand at all.

[briarrose]

I spend so much time trying to cover my illness up that it would be nearly impossible to impress upon people how bad I really feel, even if they wanted to hear about it and they don?t. I work in a hospital and believe it or not, that?s the last place that co-workers want to hear about your chronic illness and ongoing problems.

There are days when I?m at work that I nearly pass out but I cover it so well that people would be stunned to hear that. One night a few months back I was feeling so poorly that I grabbed one of the nurses to take my blood pressure, she was shocked to see that it was 85, I wasn?t even sure if I could make it home that night.

One time I was sitting next to a nurse and I told him that I thought I was going to pass out, he laughed because he thought that I was just kidding around with him. I kept saying no I?m serious.

I wouldn?t want the attention of a full onset faint. If I feel that coming I run for a closet, empty room or store room.

[cardiactec]

briarrose, that is sad that you work in a hospital where people dont want to hear about your illness. yes, i too work in a hospital and though there are some that i would never approach with my ailments because i know they could care less, there are many that APPROACH ME to ask how i'm doing or what the latest and greatest is with my condition.

you tell the truth though, seems like a hospital or medical facility should be the first place where you'd find a compassionate heart or listening ear to someone, especially regarding your own employees, that are dealing with medical problems - and unfortunately most of the time, you dont. pretty sad to think that even medical personnel/employees get frowned on for having to deal with a med problem - you can just imagine what the actual patients go through.......

i rarely feel like i'm going to faint unless i have to stand still for too long, which isnt daily. sometimes at work though, i am required to. just yesterday, i felt so bad, i did an ekg on a patient, and she seemed like such a sweetheart - she kept talking and talking long after i was done with my test, and out of pure respect and compassion for her, i tried to intently listen with a compassionate ear, all while standing. she went on for a good 15 minutes and i thought that was it for me. i was sweaty, nauseous, my vision was screwed up, but i stuck it out, continued to shine a smile at the patient (even though i felt like death) and thankfully didnt end up on the floor - never have thankfully. it is hard though. , i tried to remain focused on her and her needs instead of my own. granted, this isnt always possible, as the body will do what it is going to do and you have no control over it............so.........anyway, enough of the ramble!

i know what you mean jacquie. it's tough not feeling like you are being taken seriously cuz you dont faint.. but i bet there are those who feel as we do, who DO faint. depends on what doc your dealing with, whether compassionate and knowledgable, heh, or not. sometimes i wish i would just faint so someone would look further into this problem, but my thoughts are that they probably wouldnt.......

hang in there.

[Jacquie802]

There was one time while I was driving I blacked out for a few seconds...not sure if that is the same as fainting..but boy did I feel very dizzy, etc. after that....I stopped driving for a few months after that happened.

[Tessa]

I have been a fainter before but it has been a while now that I do not faint anymore (some years by now).

I feel that I will pass out, but I do not.

Therefore I can tell you both experiences.

I can assure that people really react when you faint. Everyone tries to help and worries about it.

In fact, on the last day I fainted, I was at the Hospital and was rushed to the ER... Though they had no idea what the problem was... (It was a reaction to a local aenesthetic, because of POTS. Now I know).

When I explain my symptoms, doctors always insist asking If I faint or not... It has to be important for them.

But I do not faint anymore... And they do not care if they cannot find anything to show them what is going on.

I agree with you. At the ER last week they said it was anxiety...

Yes, they do not understand us.

[bttrflyamby1981]

Thanks for posting this!! I don't faint either and it's so frustrating to feel that your going to all the time. What makes it worse is that people around you don't believe that you feel that your going to faint because they can't SEE the symptoms. If we fainted, at least then others would SEE how bad we feel.

I understand!!

[Guest dionna]

i am a fainter and i am jealous of all of you non fainters. though i do understand all of you. sometimes i wanted to faint just to prove to others that i really was sick. i wish there was something you all could do as well for people to see. on the other hand if you all wanted to hide it, it would be easier. fainting is what kicked me out of the marine corps. i hate it so much.

i do understand that it is frustrating. just try to think positively though. to me fainting adds more pain. it took away my driving, my job, and ability to stand for more than a few minutes. i use a wheel chair most of the time. people in public get really scared and think i am dead or that i am a drunk or something. fainting isn't all that it is cracked up to be. be happy

dionna

[Aprilmarie52]

I dont faint, but only because I can feel it coming on and usually lay down or do something to try and prevent it.

[Gena]

Hi Jacquie,

I do not faint and I am so GLAD that I don't (knock on wood!) I have come close to it a couple of times when I first got sick a couple of years ago. It's an awful feeling that's for sure.

I agree that people might understand our illness better if we did faint, but I'm thankful that I don't. My worst times are always at night after sleeping and trying to go to the bathroom (I have to use a wheelchair to do this, or otherwise I probably would faint or have a raging case of tachycardia and dizziness).

I remember a post from a member a long time ago that said her husband became much more concerned and understanding about her illness when she started wearing a heart monitor...as it would alert her when her heart rate got high. Her husband could hear the monitor going off, so I think it made the invisible symptom of tachycardia visible to him.

That's what is hard about so many chronic illnesses is that they are invisible most of the time. But the more I think about, the more I'm thankful for that too, b/c when an illness become visible you have an entirely different set of problems to deal with especially in public and the workplace.

Hugs to all fainters and non-fainters!

Gena

[jenwclark]

I'm a non-fainter, and I think I would take my own health problems more seriously if I did faint. I also might have gotten diagnosed sooner, just because I would have realized there was something wrong with me. I was 14 when I found out that most people don't gray out multiple times a day. Nobody else could tell anything was going on, and I didn't know to tell anyone because I assumed it was normal. I still don't really know how sick I am, because I don't know what healthy feels like, and I can't tell how often "normal" people have the same invisible symptoms I do.

I am grateful that I can hide my condition when I want to. It doesn't have to affect casual interactions with strangers or classmates. But I do sometimes wish people close to me could grasp what it's like. I like the story about the heart moniter making tachycardia a visible symptom. I want people to know that I'm not just whining!

[morgan617]

I was sick for a long time and a non fainter, and now I'm a fainter.

So, have been on both sides. Personally for me, it doesn't seem to matter much. If people are not going to care, they are not going to care whether you faint or not.

Personally I find it humiliating to faint in public...People wig out and then just want to get rid of you. I know it has affected my desire and ability to go out much. If you are out and faint, they call an ambulance, and then the ER blows you off, so I find I stay home a LOT.

I used to be able to have a little more of life. But then people never believed i was sick either. Of course I have been told my faints are all in my head too, so sometimes it just doesn't matter...

BTW, my pcp does say they ARE all in my head, it's called lack of perfusion to the brain.....at least HE gets it....

[bttrflyamby1981]

I guess maybe I feel the way I do is because I have NOT been dx. I feel that it would be helpful in that sense. If I fainted with the TTT maybe then it would have been positive rather then negative!

[jhjd]

I'm a non-fainter, and I think I would take my own health problems more seriously if I did faint. I also might have gotten diagnosed sooner, just because I would have realized there was something wrong with me. I was 14 when I found out that most people don't gray out multiple times a day. Nobody else could tell anything was going on, and I didn't know to tell anyone because I assumed it was normal. I still don't really know how sick I am, because I don't know what healthy feels like, and I can't tell how often "normal" people have the same invisible symptoms I do.

I am grateful that I can hide my condition when I want to. It doesn't have to affect casual interactions with strangers or classmates. But I do sometimes wish people close to me could grasp what it's like. I like the story about the heart moniter making tachycardia a visible symptom. I want people to know that I'm not just whining!

PRECISELY, Quiet Spike, et. al.! I know I'm lucky in that fainting is a serious stress-onset mechanism for me. And yes, I hit that stress point sooner then 'normal,' but still in plenty of time (generally) to do something about it beforehand. But there have been times when I felt so bad-so dizzy- so sick- just on a normal day at work that I wish I could just faint and be picked up and carried to a cool, dark place. And I think most people on this board (fainters and nonfainters ) struggle with the pull between not wanting anybody to know but really kind of needing people to help.

[Ernie]

Hi,

People that see me faint freak out the first time and are not interested to see me faint again. Most of the time they are irritated at me because it takes to much time for me to recuperate and they have to re-organise their day.

I have lost many friends and doctors because of the fainting. I don't get more compassion because I faint. I get rejected. So now when I go to the hospital I use my wheelchair and I watch all my triggers. Even then I still faint and upset my doctors. I am like a hot potato!

[Guest dionna]

you know thinking about it, i have to agree with ernie 100% on that. more people are annoyed than anything else. they don't think i deserve a recovery period because i am interferring with their schedules. if i faint once i am going to keep fainting until i get atleast half a day of rest afterwards. if someone doesn't want to believe you, they just won't believe you no matter what you do.

dionna

[Jacquie802]

Personally I have had doctors, friends, etc. ask if I have ever fainted. Once I say no they move away from the subject or the fact that anything could possibly be wrong with me. I feel so horrible at times I don't know how I don't faint..

[Ernie]

Hi Jacquie,

Fainting is not something to wish upon yourself. You loose much more by fainting than by not fainting. For example, you may loose: friends, your drivers licence, job, autonomy, have injuries when you fall, dignoty, freedom, etc. Also, you always live with the fear of when the next faint is going to hit you and where it is going to happen. You don't have a life anymore. You can't organize a life anymore. No, it's not worth it!

[cardiactec]

some people live with the fear of just the gerneral sensation that they are going to black out as well, not just FROM actually passing out so. there is fear in both having passed out and FEELING like you are about to but dont actually ever truly pass out. neither is fun, OBVIOUSLY and both are life altering.

[lthomas521]

For a long time, I have suspected that the brain can use a little bit of anaerobic metabolism, and maybe some people's brains are better at it than others. This may explain why I don't pass out even when I was standing up with a blood pressure of 48 over undetectable. My doctor, a nephrologist, was stunned. "Why don't you pass out?" he asked. Of course, the aftereffects of using anaerobic respiration in the brain could be pretty bad. So maybe you'd feel better if you did faint than if you had presyncope (as long as you don't hit your head on the way down). At least you'd get circulation to your brain more quickly.

The other thing is that some people develop habits, almost as automatic as a reflex, that help compensate for the hypotension. For example, I automatically flex my neck (chin down to chest) or bend over at the waist. A nurse taught me to do that, and it really helps me keep my footing.

[bttrflyamby1981]

I don't think any of us non fainters actually wish upon ourselves to faint. It's just frustrating to feel that your going to but because you don't people think your full of it. I think that's what it is more then anything. A visual symptom.