|
On Sabbatical |
|
|
|
Vaso-Vagal Discussion[ Home | Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ] vasovagalFrom: ky CommentsI first fainted at twelve while on a ski trip with my school. I was standing in line and started feeling kind of sick and then fell over. I was not sure what happened and I thought I had somehow fallen asleep while I was standing up. I didn't realize until years later that I had fainted. In recent years, I've pass out frequently. The worst was when in the middle of a conversation with my then-boyfriend I started feeling dizzy and my ears started to buzz. It never dawned on me that I was going to pass out. When I started losing my vision I remember thinking, I wonder if I'm fainting right now. The next thing I knew I was lying on the concrete and my boyfriend was yelling my name. He said later, "I thought you had died." Even though I had fainted several times before I had only gone to the doctor one time because I considered fainting to be too "girly" and I didn't want the doctor to think I was just another "hysterical woman". The first doctor I eventually saw wasn't very helpful. The second time I fainted when I was with my boyfriend he insisted that I see a physician. I went to a cardiologist and was taken seriously. I think this was because my boyfriend and I are physicians and we were able to explain my fainting in a scientific and nonemotional way. He ran some tests and told me I was fainting because of vasovagal (neurocardiogenic) syncope or because of an arrhythmia. I told him to make my diagnosis vasovagal because it is a less serious diagnosis than arrhythmia and it would make my getting medical insurance easier. I had always assumed that fainting was a common thing that eventually happened to everyone at some time, but an informal survey of my friends revealed that none of them had ever passed out before. [../../_private/Vaso-Vagal1_aftr.htm] |
|
Copyright 1998-2007 John J. Herr, Ph.D. Please send comments to jjherr@clinicalpsychologist.com |
