Survey about Passing Out

 Great responses, guys!  Sounds like water, good food and taking precautions in certain situations are the Rx.

Best Wishes,

Dave

I have never passed out but like most of the others, I have had light headdedness and dizzy spells.  It is usually at the gym when I am doing something where my head is even with or below my waist and I get up too quickly.

I have never passed out in my life.  I do have a bit of experience with passing out as it runs in my wife's family.  Not sure if it is genetic in their case but my wife, her brother, her father, and I have heard some of her other siblings pass out when they are sick quite easily.  Any time my wife is ill (and this includes all 10 of her pregnancies) she will pass out cold and usually with only a second's warning.  I have witnessed my brother-in-law pass out cold on the sidewalk when he was feeling ill.  I have heard stories of my father-in-law doing it as well.  They have always been told it was a blood pressure issue - which really follows what a lot of people are saying about hydration. 

A few months ago I was having vertigo that made me pretty dizzy (even laying down) but that was caused by my quad accident and it seems to have cleared up. 

It's interesting to see the number of guys that get light-headed or dizzy. I get it all the time too when I'm at the gym doing stretches where my head goes down and I lift it up too quickly. I've since learned to go slowly and I keep my eyes closed for a few seconds until after I'm back in the full upright position.

I also get like that when I'm on the treadmill for a while or running at a fast pace for too long. I can usually only run for 4 or 5 minutes at a time before I slow down to a walk and recover. If not my heart pounds so hard it hurts and I start getting light-headed.

Russ' thoughts on our vein size is an interesting take on it. I think it makes a lot of sense. I would love to read more research on this whole subject.

Hey Dave,
I fell on the ice in Ottawa on a business trip a few weeks ago and knocked myself out. Does that count? Some nice locals helped in to a pub to warm up and let my brain reboot. My hands were jammed in my pockets and I could not get them out in time to break my fall backwards, so my head took a wicked bounce off the sidewalk. Fortunately, I had one of those "Elmer Fudd" hats on, which probably saved me from a skull fracture.
I remember telling the ER doc that I couldn't  remember the last time I had hit my head so hard. He said, "If you are lucky, then you won't remember this time either".
Other than putting my shoes on the wrong feet the next morning, no lasting effects,..other than a nasty headache that lasted almost a week. I think I pulled every muscle in my neck, too.

On the passing out side, I got light-headed quit a few times during the rapid weight loss phase. I am sure due to either dehyrdation, lower blood sugar or a combo of both. Usually happened when standing up quickly to walk somewhere after sitting for a while. Never took a Greg Louganis though.

Take care.

JP

I hanen't passed out, as of yet, but as of late I've had several incidents when I feel like I could have.  I attribute mine to blood sugar.  I've checked mine (usually with the wife's assistance) during several of the episodes and they have been in the 50's.  Not extemely low, but like someone above said, I guess I'm used to walking around with it being in the 200's.  I get the horrible "mental fog" that I got often, oddly enough, with HIGH blood sugar.  I was working in the yard just the other day and almost didn't make it back to the house.  I was dizzy, sweating, and "blacked out" vision.  The wife had to help me to the chair and spoon feed me a spoon of peanut butter. 

I plan on mentioning it to the doc next week when I got for my nine month appointment.  I have now started carrying hard candy in my pocket just in case. 

I was having problems with dizziness last week, which seemed to be made much worse on days when I'd been to the gym.

Thinking it might be a dehydration issue even thought I've been getting all my liquids in, I picked up a crystal light sports drink mix ("Rehydrate") from the supermarket and starting having one serving of that per day.  The dizziness went away a day or two later, so I guess it's doing the trick.

I guess the moral I'm going with is that sometimes water isn't enough - maybe there's a little something extra I've been losing at the gym that I haven't been getting in.

Dehydration may be a large part of the dizziness and light-headedness that many of us seem to experience from time to time. I believe that post-op WL patients can be dehydrated enough to cause a problem and not really realize it.

I got this from MedicineNet.com:



What causes dehydration? Dehydration occurs because there is too much water lost, not enough water taken in, or most often a combination of the two.        Diarrhea: Diarrhea is the most common reason a person loses excess water. A significant amount of water can be lost with each bowel movement. Worldwide, more than four million children die each year because of dehydration from diarrhea.      

Vomiting: Vomiting can also be a cause of fluid loss; as well, it makes it difficult to replace water by drinking it.        Sweat: The body can lose significant amounts of water when it tries to cool itself by sweating. Whether the body is hot because of the environment (for example, working in a warm environment), intense exercising in a hot environment, or because a fever is present due to an infection, the body uses a significant amount of water in the form of sweat to cool itself. Depending upon weather conditions, a brisk walk will generate up to 16 ounces of sweat (a pound of water).        Diabetes: In people with diabetes, elevated blood sugar levels cause sugar to spill into the urine and water then follows. Significant dehydration can occur. For this reason, frequent urination and excessive thirst are among the symptoms of diabetes.        Burns: Burn victims become dehydrated because water seeps into the damaged skin. Other inflammatory diseases of the skin are also associated with fluid loss.        Inability to drink fluids: The inability to drink adequately is the other potential cause of dehydration. Whether it is the lack of availability of water or the lack of strength to drink adequate amounts, this, coupled with routine or extraordinary water losses, can compound the degree of dehydration.
What are the signs and symptoms of dehydration? The body's initial responses to dehydration are:             1. thirst to increase water intake along with
2.       decreased urine output to try to conserve water. The urine will become concentrated and more yellow in color. As the level of water loss increases, more symptoms can become apparent. The following are further signs and symptoms of dehydration:
       dry mouth        the eyes stop making tears        sweating may stop        muscle cramps        nausea and vomiting        lightheadedness (especially when standing).
The body tries to maintain cardiac output (the amount of blood that is pumped by the heart to the body); and if the amount of fluid in the intravascular space is decreased, the body has to increase the heart rate, which causes blood vessels to constrict to maintain blood pressure. This coping mechanism begins to fail as the level of dehydration increases. With severe dehydration, confusion and weakness will occur as the brain and other body organs receive less blood. Finally, coma and organ failure will occur if the dehydration remains untreated.