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From: Jeff in Alabama
Sounds familiar. I have worked for an airline for 25 years. I periodically see the same symtoms in passengers. I myself experienced this 3 yrs ago on a flight. The same, sweating, light-headedness, nausea and feeling that my equiliberium is off. I usually can keep from blacking out if I keep ice on my neck & drink water. Afterwards, I usually vomit and empty my bowels. The rest of the day my energy level is spent and I have a headache. Now, more than not, I experience anxiety before air travel and sometimes even stepping on the aircraft on the job I feel it! I do feel better when I hydrate, carrying water and Gatorade or Propel with me when I travel. I refrain from too much coffee or any alcohol when traveling. During the first episode I went into a seizure with syncope for about 30 seconds with flailing my arms around and the experience of dropping down a deep well at a fast speed. Paramedics found all my vital signs normal. A trip to the doctor, including several tests at the hospital covinced my doctor that I was healthy and perhaps suffering from a Vaso-Vagal syncope. He precribed me some Meclizine 25mg to use when I travel, which affects me very little if any. A friend that works with me that has experienced the same event is trying a type of medicine that helps epileptic patients battle the "fear of seizure". I am waiting to hear back from him on how that works. My wife feels much of it is in my head, which I am inclined to agree, but it wasn't in my head the first episode I had!