I get light headed fairly regulary, standing up to fast etc. Typically no where near passing out.

The only time I came close to passing out was on a roller coaster. It was a double loop. The first loop my vision went tunnel, the second one almost made me go out.

Strange thing was I had no comprehension about what was going on until the ride was over. I didn't even strike me that I was passing out until I was walking away from the ride.

~Matt

Funny thing you should mention the roller coaster Matt. Same thing happened to me on the Incredible Hulk at Universal Studios last year. I went black and could only see shapes for the duration of the ride. I was so dis-oriented i couldn't tell up from down. It was only a few minutes but felt like an hour. I actually remember wondering if I was going to die on this thing. I am by no means a religious guy, but actually prayed the ride would end.

Needless to say the rest of the day sucked as I roamed the park feeling sick. What really seemed odd to me was how a healthy 37 year old had an experience like this when I see lots of seemingly un-healthy people ride these things over and over.

One thing for sure, I will never ride another.



Dennis

I had several "spells" over a couple years, two close together that led me to go to the doctor. Various tests ruled out just about everything and I was left with the diagnosis of Vaso-vegal <sp?> syncope. It would always happen just after a heavy exertion, and usually when I was doing too much on too little sleep. I'd go down for just a few seconds, then come around. Usually I had a feeling of "I need to get on the ground in a controlled manner ASAP" before I passed out.

As I understand it, there are systems that increase cardiac output and systems that decrease it. In my case, the decreasing system just got carried away. Once the exertion was over, my HR and BP slowed down, which is normal. Except they kept slowing down...not normal.

As for a valsalva sort of thing, that is probably what caused the above-mentioned episode while using the bathroom. It does increase BP, but decreases heartrate. All my episodes come with the post-exertion thumping in my ears slowing and stopping. Further decrease of HR would not be helpful, (if possible) whatever happens to the pressure.

My experience may not be extremely relevant though for this reason: this all happened during a relatively inactive period for me. I was active, but in a recreational, hiking/skiing on weekends sort of way. Since I've gotten fairly serious over the last year, these episodes have not occured. My doctor mentioned beta-blocking type drugs to sort of cut the extremes out of the cardiac ups and downs, but that didn't sound like any fun. I knew/know when it is likely to happen and could feel it coming on. Kayaking was the only really dangerous time, but I don't do that much any more.

Andy