Alyssa

Today I decided to get some much needed cleaning done since I had some extra energy. I had my HR monitor on so that I could watch what it was doing. For the first hour, my HR stayed above 140bpm. Then it stabilized(!) and went to 90, and then I suddenly felt very weak and my HR was at 49. I sat down and it went to 30bmp. I stayed conscious, which i found weird. I took my BP and it was at 150/100, and HR at that time was 50bpm. It keeps doing this. One minute my HR is really high, then it slows down drastically, followed by a period of tachycardia again. Blood pressure is also going up and down. The only med I am on currently is 10mg midodrine 4x per day. What's going on? I'm very confused and a bit worried. Wondering how possible it is that my heart has been dropping randomly all the time...perhaps contributing the large number of faints I experience per day? Thoughts? Should I consider going to the ER, or wait it out?

Thanks everyone! I feel a lot better about it today. I don't wear it around my house, but do everywhere else I go. Good thing too, took a fall today right on the sidewalk, could've been bad without the helmet! It's definitely an adjustment. I noticed that it's more people around my age that are saying rude things and snickering as I walk by. I noticed that I wasn't nearly as embarrassed today, I almost forgot that I even had it on.

After a long discussion with my doctor, I decided to break down and get a helmet. I couldn't afford one made specifically for medical purposes, so I got a hockey helmet and modified it so that it would fit my needs. I went out to dinner with it on and was surprised at the number of nasty comments people whispered to themselves. I thought they'd be too distracted by my service dog to notice the helmet, but no such luck. I'm a little gun shy about wearing it out among my friends. It's been a long running joke that I should get one. I guess this was one of those pointless posts Just wanted to let everyone know that I finally took the plunge.

I can't pinpoint a time. For me it's been really gradual, I don't notice it getting worse until I look back a few months every so often.

I'm going to try to explain this as best I can without sounding ridiculous. As I've mentioned before, I'm in the "frequent fainters" club - in other words, I'm one of the ones that faints out of nowhere several times per day (upwards 30). I've gotten used to it -for lack of better words- and at this point I know exactly what's going on when I wake up and tend to just laugh it off. Every now and then, I'll full out collapse, stay conscious, but be unable to make myself do anything to prevent the fall. I've been known to laugh if someone catches me while I go down or even when I hit the ground. Not because it's funny, more because I feel awkward and it's out of nervousness. Once I'm lying flat, I can get back up. I'm dizzy, but I never lost consciousness, so it's not exactly the same feeling. Does this make any sense? I call it my half-faint. Feel like I'm going to faint, body goes limp, aware of what's going on, fall, laugh, get back up again. I think these are the ones that really catch people off guard and make some of the people that don't really know me doubt if it's real or not - likely because I'm laughing afterwards. I can't help it, I've always been one to laugh at everything.

I know exactly what you mean! I have those days as well. No real advice, just wanted to let you know you aren't alone!

I am 21 and in Greenville, SC - not too far from Charlotte.

I do enjoy drawing/painting portraits. Perhaps I should give it a try! Thanks for the idea.

Hey guys, I'm doing a lot better now. Took a couple shots of whiskey and woke up the next morning with no more strep throat haha. Anyways, my appetite is gone again. It was short lived. Now it's more like I'm really hungry, but the thought of eating anything at all is repulsing. I've been thinking about going gluten free lately since I've heard how many people are doing well on it. Don't know that I have an intolerance to it, but it's definitely possible. Have not had a gastric emptying study, but I will mention it to my doctors.

Where are your jerks most prominent? For me it's mostly in my arms and face, and then also occasionally my legs. Do you ever jerk while fainted? Tonight I passed out for several minutes and apparently I was "spazzing out" (according to my friend). I'm assuming I was just getting a lot of myoclonic jerks, it's never been mentioned to me before so I don't know how often it actually happens. Also, has anyone been diagnosed with actual myoclonic seizures? Doctor says this is what they are looking for at the next neuro appointment. He said they may just be jerks, or they could be seizure related. How do they tell the difference? I'm completely confused and frustrated on the subject.

Thanks for the help guys! Currently I work as a dog trainer, and I absolutely love my job! The downside is the amount of standing and running around that it requires me to do and I fear that I might have to give it all up. I've worked for years to get to the position I am in, so throwing it all away is a bit depressing. I'm hoping I can find something I can do at home (anything really!) to bring in some income, and then continue my current job on good days.

I'm reaching the point where I'm starting to realize that I may never be able to drive again. I can live with that, but I can't live without a job. My current job has been very supportive and they are helping me in every way they can (arranging documents for me to work on online, arranging transportation, giving me at home projects). However, even with them doing all they can, I'm only averaging 5 or so total hours per week.. ie: NOT enough to live off of. Money is getting tighter and bills are getting higher and I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and hard place. Does anyone have job suggestions? I'm just thinking in terms of work that I can do from home, but I don't even know where to start. I don't have a college degree yet as I had to drop out my first semester due to health. There has to be something out there!!

Thanks Mack's Mom. As it turns out, I have a pretty severe case of strep throat right now, so I have a feeling that this contributed a good bit to the loss of appetite. Now I'm getting hungry, but it hurts too much to swallow

I'm in Greenville, SC which is only about 2.5hrs from Atlanta. Oliver and I would love to come meet some of you!

Not sure what's going on here. I always lose my appetite the day before my period starts (sorry guys!). This time around was no different. What was different is that a few days in and I still did not have my appetite back. It's been almost 2 weeks now and I still have almost no appetite. I can go the whole day without eating and the thought to eat never even crosses my mind. I'm having to force feed myself, but every time I eat just a few bites of something, I'm instantly nauseated and feeling full. The thought of eating at this point seems completely disgusting. Has this happened to anyone else? I'm dropping weight that I can't afford to lose. I know I have to eat, but it's hard to make myself. I'm being scheduled with a new GI doctor to see if we can find the root to the constant vomiting that has plagued me for 2yrs. I have my doubts that anything will turn up. Over 2 years, every test has been ran again and again. I plan on mentioning my loss of appetite to see if they have any ideas. Just thought I'd check here first =) Anyone know of anything that might help stimulate my appetite to come back?

I sit on the floor. By the time I realize that I am going to faint, I have only seconds. I've tried to push through it to get somewhere safe and so far that has resulted in: - fainting onto someone's table at a restaurant - knocking items off shelves - accidentally fainting onto an elderly lady and knocking her over. It's definitely less embarrassing to sit on the floor for a minute as opposed to all of the other stuff that has happened. You can always pretend to be fixing your shoe, looking at something on a lower shelf, etc. When I do have episodes in which I don't get much presyncope, I'll faint, wake up, laugh it off, and keep walking. This usually results in a lot of odd looks, but unless I get seriously injured, I tend to just laugh.

I presented this to my doctor 2 days ago and she brushed it off. I see a neuologist on the 16th and hopefully he will look into it.

I have very severe asthma. Last year I was in the ER on average several times per weeks because rescue inhalers were not working to open my airways. I take Dulera daily, and use a ventolin inhaler for rescue. Last month, I was put on atenolol (cardioselective beta blocker). It caused a lot of breathing problems for me. I was finally at a good place with only having a few attacks per week, but this put me at several per day again. My dr took me off of it, and it took a week for me to go back to "normal". I think that if your asthma is easily controlled, it may be worth a try. However, if it is really bad, I wouldn't chance it.

Jen, do you have another doctor appointment coming up? I second that you need to find a specialist asap. I would really suggest talking with them about it, and also seeing if you maybe up your meds or try something else. There needs to be some sort of long term plan. I don't doubt that you fainted so quickly upon standing if you haven't been doing any standing/walking for awhile. Even just a few days of not standing/walking can cause you to have problems standing. The less you stand, the less your body will tolerate it. I know it's hard, I'm in the same situation with fainting all the time, but yet I still have to find ways to get up and get moving. Maybe you could ask about having standing "sessions" with the help of another person?

Jen, I'm in the same boat as you. I faint anywhere from 1 - 30 times per day, with my highest being somewhere around 60. I am currently looking into getting a helmet (the kind they make for people with epilepsy and special needs), and I think you should look into it as well. I've had several concussions, bloody noses, broken fingers, black eyes, etc. I also get little to no warning, but I have learned how to feel for the very subtle signs: nausea, feeling hot, trouble focusing my eyes, chattering of my teeth, and a few other things. These signs generally happen just seconds before I faint, and while I also have trouble staying focused enough to sit down, I have learned to lean sideways so that I fall on my hip and then shoulder - this has resulted in many less injuries, though I must add a disclaimer that you CAN still get hurt. What kind of meds have you tried? My doctors have told me the exact opposite - try to be up and moving as much as my body will allow so that it doesn't decondition itself. The more you lay around, the more often you will faint. I find that on the days in which every time I stand I faint, that it's better to sit around as opposed to laying around. I have only fainted once or twice while sitting. ps: I hope you aren't driving! I haven't been allowed to drive for 2 months now.

Naomi - to be honest, I can't really feel much difference (other than the heart beating itself) between whether my HR is in the 120s or the 200s. Though I do think the higher it goes, the more tired I feel and those are possibly the days that I faint more - haven't paid enough attention to really come to a conclusion. I'm with you on the flaring/not flaring. I just take it as the "better" days (ie the lower HR days) to be the non flaring days. But I think it's more of every day is a flare up, some are just worse than others.

I'm not sure that I fully understand all of the types of tachy. My docs told me that I have Supraventricular Tachycardia and have told me in the ER that I had AV reentrant tachycardia. My monitor showed times of SVT critical and Sinus Tachycardia stable. As far as what all of this means, I don't have a clue haha. Not Flaring: laying: 70s - 80s sitting: 80s - 100 standing: 115 - 130s Flaring laying: still 70s - 80s sitting: 80s -110 standing: 150s - 220s

I don't think IV fluids are going to do much, they certainly didn't last time. For me, a HR at 210 is normal for a really bad day. It's not always quite that high, but will regularly go above 210 with any exercise.

Rich - my asthma doesn't really have a time that it's at it's worst. It is triggered by cold food, hot food, allergies, exercise, coughing, strong scents, humidity, singing, etc. Basically, my airways are just over reactive. They tried a long list of different inhalers and this is so far the only combo that has worked. I believe it is the fact that Dulera is a combination that makes it work as it seems that each on it's own doesn't do much.

PotsGirl - my doctor is still trying to help me find the right med combo. I've tried florinef and I'm allergic. Then we tried Midodrine and it didn't help, so she doubled it and paired it with atenolol. So far the combo has done nothing and the atenolol is doing more harm than good with my asthma. Next appointment is on the 7th I believe. I think we're going to go the helmet route until we can find the right med combo. And nope, no driving for me. I haven't driven in a couple months, and I am currently at my mom's house so she can watch me. Naomi - normally movies don't cause me to feel as bad as they did last night. I'm feeling a bit better today, but haven't actually gotten brave enough to get out of bed longer than a few minutes.