Insane Fainting Episode (update vasovagal attack)

[CarliBear]

hello ladies. i wanted to throw this out there because i'm a bit distraught about what happened to me last night and wanted some opinions as you all are pretty much becoming experts with medical care. i am also not sure if this has happened to anyone else or could be HG related?

my husband is out of town, so i am home alone.
last night, i was laying in bed and was thinking about heading to the bathroom when i suddenly got the craziest sensation that i was about to pass out (in bed!!) and desperately needed to drink or eat something.
i stood up really slowly and held on to the desk and walls on my way into the kitchen- i was feeling insanely woozy and kept reminding myself to get down on my knees if i was going to fall- there was no way i was able to make myself something to eat so i managed to get some water. as soon as i finished i knew i had to sit down, so i sat and things went black for a while.

i woke up and took a deep breath, sat on the floor for a while and then finally slowly stood up as i had to pee and wandered into the bathroom. after getting myself cleaned up and was thinking about how to stand up when i fell onto the carpet and drifted unconscious for a while. i woke up to see my cats staring at me, looking worried and i then passed out another time.

i was very delirious at this point and could hardly make out anything or stay conscious- but my body went into survival mode and i just knew i had to get that water and get to bed.

so i crawled a bit and then stood up, leaning on the wall and went to the kitchen to get the water i had made, i got the water and had to stand for a while, barely conscious- i walked a few steps and saw my cat looking at me extremely scared- next thing i knew i woke up with my head hurting and my knee bloody from the kitchen tile. i took a hard fall. i tried desperately to stay awake but my body took hostage of me again and i passed out again in the same spot.
i woke up this time to see my cat absolutely TERRIFIED and it really made me realize how scary the situation was and that i was unable to control myself from passing out over and over. i was completely alone and i didn't have my phone with me, so i pressed on and crawled on the floor to my bed and laid down, unable to breathe and going in and out for about 15 minutes before i could find my phone. once i got my phone i called my husband and he called a cab to take me to the hospital.

before getting in the cab i started getting severe pain in my kidney's, i told the driver to drive faster and was really glad i was on the way to the ER! my kidneys have been bothering me for a few weeks and i had made my OB check me for a UTI several times with no results but this pain was much more severe and unmanageable.

once i get to the hospital the ER labeled me a fall risk, yet didn't even walk with me, get me a wheelchair, or anything else i would think you would do with someone who fainted a bunch? they were more focused on the pain and they did urine samples, which showed up negative for anything- so the doctor came in and asked me "why are you here? what do you think we can do for you?"

i was kinda... confused... so i asked "anytime a pregnant woman faints she should come to the hospital right?" and he said "i guess". now it would be one thing if i fainted once, but i am telling you what happened was REALLY scary, i had no control over my body and PASSED OUT AT LEAST 6 TIMES IN 15 MINUTES. it was unlike any other time i've fainted.

they ran a EKG which was normal and then came in and told me to go home and take tylenol and that the pain was muscular and that fainting in pregnancy is normal and i should stand up slower?
problem is, it wasn't normal! i fainted laying down, more than once. i have been to the hospital a lot for HG related things and pancreatitis which is maybe why they took me less seriously?

i have never experienced anything like that and am confused because the doctors seemed annoyed that i had come in at all?

[katiediloreto]

If you told that story to the doc in ER and he had that reaction, he's not properly trained. That is more than just a regular fainting (oops I got up to quick and fell to my knees). Combined with the pain that you were having and the fact that you fainted several times, I would absolutely get a second opinion on the topic.

I am NOT a doctor, but those symptoms sound like severe dehydration to me? Like what you hear about happening to people in the desert or something. And your cats even sensed that something was wrong (cats are amazing ;D).

Have you contacted your OB yet? When I was in the middle of my first trimester and my HG was the worst, I would sometimes get dizzy lying down (I usually didn't get up, or I would just crawl to the bathroom if I had to pee)- I was always told it was because of being dehydrated... but I never blacked out completely several times in a row.

[MichellevsHG]

If you faint again, I want you to call an ambulance. In the meantime, call your Ob and tell him/her exactly what happened. You could be fainting from low blood sugar, dehydration, low blood pressure, anything.


Please do keep us posted.

[Cin]

OK, this is NOT normal pg fainting (syncope.)

Please call your doc right now, as you read this, and insist on speaking to the actual physician. Tell the nurses you are blacking out over and over.

If you feel this way again, call an ambulamce -- Michelle is right.

I am very, very, very worried about you. Please call your doc and update us when you can!!

[AnneCan]

I totally agree with PP....this could be serious. No matter if it is dehydration and low blood pressure, the severity of the symptoms indicate that your body is in serious distress. I've had severe faintness/blackouts this pregnancy too, from low blood pressure/sugars/dehydration, but I don't usually pass out over and over again like you described. If you're having kidney pain for weeks on end, on top of the symptoms, get things thoroughly checked out!

Call your OB immediately to get yourself probed-over, and if that fainting starts happens again, call 911.

[krsweetpea]

I'm here to chime in with these other ladies! Not normal-not ok. Praying you get real care!

[gremlinsmummy]

Me too - please get a second opinion! Do you have a regular doc monitoring your HG? I only faint when I'm severely dehydrated. I hear you on some docs not listening, I had a midwife ask me yesterday how I know I'm dehydrated - i was like after 22 weeks of llivimg with this, I think I know my own body. Sure enough, ketones galore.

Can you go to the maternity ward instead of the ER? At our local hospital you go thru ER up to 20 weeks, but after 20 weeks you go straight to the maternity assessment unit and get admitted from there which means instead of seeing ER docs, you see an OB/GYN straight away.

Best of luck xx

[CarliBear]

thank you guys! i'll be making an appointment with my OB tomorrow and will thoroughly explain everything to her. she works with the hospital and birth center, so the complaint will be made to the hospital. my husband is home, so i at least have some supervision now if anything were to happen.

i have chronically low blood pressure and i also know my iron was a little bit low on my bloodwork a few weeks ago, which i'm sure massively contributed. but the fainting episode was unlike anything i've ever experienced and what was so alarming to me was how repetitive it was. it felt like my brain couldn't get enough oxygen, by the end i was in serious survival mode and was quite scared for me and especially my baby.

i definitely did consider calling an ambulance, but after the way i was treated in the hospital i'm glad i didn't waste a thousand bucks to get to that doctor.
when i first got released from the ER i was really confused because they had made me feel so dumb for going in. but the more i've thought about it, the care was absolutely ridiculous! they didn't even do bloodwork? a sonogram on my kidneys? they checked my blood pressure (which i'm guessing was elevated from the pain) but they didn't even get me a wheelchair or walk by my side as i zigzagged down the hallway, dizzy and lightheaded. as usual i should have said something but i was too distracted by feeling horrible and just wanted to get to a solution. it was so hard to advocate for myself while i was alone in the ER as i'm sure many of you have experienced.

interestingly enough, my mother has had a very similar experience with the fainting over and over when she was younger. the doctors had trouble diagnosing it but ultimately decided it was anaphylaxis shock.

i'm not sure what's going on with me but i feel like my body is fighting some massive infection or something? i have pain in my kidneys, yet no UTI's or infections, i get intense fainting spells and have had a low grade fever for three weeks along with extreme fatigue and almost a feeling of doom, as if my body wont last much longer?
are any of these things possible symptoms from HG? is this malnutrition? chronic dehydration?

i'll be having a full work up asap, thanks again.

[gremlinsmummy]

I'd say all those symptoms could definitely be HG related, but good on you getting a second opinion from your OB to be certain. My BP is usually low too, but the past couple of weeks it's been up a bit cos my kidneys are grumbly from the dehydration. Are you on meds at home for the HG?

Good luck!

[eliana1300]

Okay, to answer your first questions more, my mother did not have HG but she did have quite a few fainting, dizziness spells when she was pg with me. No one explained it partly because she did not go to the hospital for it.

My father had a bad fall a year or so ago, from passing out, for reasons we aren't quite sure about still. He has a very bad heart, and it is possible he had a stroke, but we aren't sure. He was labelled a fall risk, and they did absolutely nothing about it either. He actually was repeating himself quite a bit to me (I was the first family member to arrive at the hospital), and had a taken a really bad fall, with a bad bump to the face. But although they kept in overnight for tests, they removed the fall risk after he was moved to a room. He was really angry that they labelled him that, so he asked for it to be removed.

Now, given all that I said, I would go to the OB's office and sit in the waiting room until they squeeze you in. Those fainting spells you had are NOT okay, like everyone else said. Whatever the reason(s) for passing out, you could have seriously hurt yourself, baby, or both. That ER dr was WAAAAAY off in saying it is normal to faint during pg, or at least make you feel crazy for thinking it was off. I really hope you get some answers today!

[CarliBear]

hey ladies, thank you for all your quick responses and insights. the more i thought about it the more i realized that ER doc was a quack! i managed to get a case manager who will be working with me and the hospital from now on. she did an investigation of the ER event and i was apologized to and thankfully they took it much more seriously the second time. it happened AGAIN a few days later but this time my husband was here so he being extremely alarmed (i was shocked at how scared he seemed, it really must have looked scary) took me to the ER and helped advocate for my treatment.

i was going in and out for a really long time, had trouble speaking, a severe headache, couldn't breathe- some scary signs. they did a CT scan on me and found nothing to serious besides a bad sinus infection (which i had been on antibiotics for a week prior).

i was admitted to the hospital and then monitored in the ICU after it was noticed that my blood pressure and heart rate were dropping when i felt bad. after a few days in the ICU they diagnosed me with having vasovagal attacks- basically a nervous system malfunction. unfortunately, there isn't much i can do about the discomfort when the episodes happen except manage the symptoms that feel somewhat similar to death. thankfully it's very much an uncomfortable thing not a dangerous thing (as long as i don't fall). additionally a lot of the triggers for this nerve malfunction are things that are staples of HG so it makes it even harder to manage. i've had a few other episodes since getting out of the ER but am starting to feel a bit better this past week.

so at least i got out of the hospital for a while... but i ended up having to go back in a few days later and had to have my old PICC line pulled out and a new one placed in my left arm. it had been hurting me pretty badly for a few days and i had a low grade fever for a while and i just knew it needed to be pulled.

i tested positive for signs of a blood clot and they also found a "possible blood clot" on a sonogram, so i am having another sonogram soon. they also took a culture ( only at my request!!) and i tested positive for a blood infection. the one thing i was really afraid of happening with my PICC. i know it's treatable but it's still very serious and i'm not excited about the heavy duty antibiotics. my doctor is trying to get me IV antibiotics so that i am not throwing up the pills constantly but even so antibiotics just tend to make me feel awful...

i wish i could say that at least my hyperemesis was getting better. but no, it is in fact seeming to get worse. i am at least getting the IV hydration still everyday but have barely managed a protein shake these past few weeks and i know i am getting far less than 500 calories a day at a time where baby's development is important...

this is of course only one worry in a giant sea of uknown and endless ocean. i'm sort've getting tired of this whole half dead thing.

it just seems like one thing after another. i am really sick of this crap!! screw you HG you are such a @#$%*!

/rant.

[Kalanit]

I'm surprised they put the second picc in despite the possible clot. It's no fun having to deal with other complications in addition to the HG. It doesn't seem like much of help having a diasgosis, when it doesn't help much with the symptoms. I'm glad though that they finally took you seriously and you are getting proper treatment. Please keep us updated. I'll be praying for you.

[AnneCan]

That's a lot of physical trauma in a short amount of time. I'm sorry it's been so rough. I had antibiotics for 10 days a few weeks back too (bad chest/sinus infection), and they made me feel really sick too, especially on top of the infections. It did improve slightly by the time I was getting to the end of them, but I felt SO MUCH better once they were done. Hopefully if they can get the sinus and blood infection under control, you'll actually feel a significant improvement.

It really sucks that you can't do anything about the vasovagel nerve problem. I've read about them before (when I wasn't pregnant but was having some similar symptoms). It's pretty scary, but I'm glad there are no real risks apart from falling, etc. I'm sure your body is really confused right now, and it's obviously working so hard to regulate itself. I hope that your PICC infection/clots and sinus infection all settle down, and I'm sure you'll feel better enough to manage a few more calories everyday once you stop antibiotics. Just make sure to get probiotics if you can handle taking them so you can ward off additional sinus/yeast infections. The improvement may come shortly..hang in there!

[teddi]

I almost wonder if the infection wasn't TRYING to brew for a while but didn't fully manifest from the sinus antibiotics you were on and/or was contributing to the vaso-vagal episodes. I'm sure you and now THEY know for sure you have to keep really on top of A) hydration and B) blood sugar levels. You are so right- just about everything HG causes can make vasovagal episodes worse. I dealt with this post partum (due to anemia, decondition, POTS, arrythmias) for months. If you have more episodes, please try to remember these things: get help (phone/person), get close to the floor immediately, focus on your breathing- slower, deep full breaths, dont panic and focus.

Also, fluids alone are not enough. Are you getting/doing iv vitamins too? Can you mention at your next appoint to your Dr and ask if your Thiamine levels were checked, and if not, should they be? Fluids are great, but are not enough. Your body needs calories and nutrtion. The overall picture your posts and experiences are saying to me that you are getting a little more fragile. Can friends/family stay with you during the day/while DH is gone while you are recovering from the PICC infection?

[gremlinsmummy]

Hugs xx Glad to hear there's a name for it, wish there was more they could do to help you tho