Reflex syncope is a brief loss of consciousness due to a neurologically induced drop in blood pressure and/or a decrease in heart rate. Before an affected person passes out, there may be sweating, a decreased ability to see, or ringing in the ears. Occasionally, the person may twitch while unconscious.
Dizziness, muffled hearing and visual changes (such as “blacking out”) often happen before fainting. Many patients complain of these symptoms without syncope. It is more common to have these symptoms when it is hot or when changing positions from sitting or lying down to standing.
Before fainting, it's common to experience some of the following: dizziness. lightheadedness. sweating.
Symptoms of Vasovagal fainting
As the vasovagal fainting reaction begins, there is often light headedness, ringing in the ears, and feeling sweaty and nauseous.
Tinnitus may be a sign of high or low blood pressure. If you have tinnitus and think blood pressure could be an issue, see a doctor to monitor and control it.
Ménière's disease is a disorder of the inner ear that causes severe dizziness (vertigo), ringing in the ears (tinnitus), hearing loss, and a feeling of fullness or congestion in the ear. Ménière's disease usually affects only one ear.
Reflex syncope is the result of a reflex response to some trigger, in which the heart slows or blood vessels dilate (widen). This causes blood pressure to drop, so less blood flows to the brain and fainting (syncope) or near-fainting (pre-syncope) occurs. Reflex syncope is the most frequent cause of fainting.
' If you have fainted, you should see a physician or visit an emergency room right away to identify the cause of your fainting and to ensure you do not have a serious underlying condition. Generally, fainting indicates a drop in blood pressure resulting in too little blood (and, hence, oxygen) reaching your brain.
Most often, there is a warning prodrome, consisting of nausea, sweating, pallor, feeling of warmth, tingling of extremities, “graying out” and/or tunnel vision. This prodrome usually affords the patient a warning, allowing time to brace for a fall, thereby preventing serious injury.
Before fainting, you may have sweaty palms, dizziness, lightheadedness, problems seeing, or nausea. In young people, the problem usually has no serious cause, though falls related to fainting can lead to injury. But in some cases, it can be due to an underlying heart problem that is more concerning.
Common causes of fainting include heat, pain, distress, the sight of blood, anxiety and hyperventilating. Lying the person down will often improve the person's condition. Frequent fainting spells need to be medically investigated to check for underlying causes.
Some people know when they are going to faint because they have symptoms beforehand, such as feeling weak, nauseated, hot or dizzy. After they regain consciousness, they may feel confused, dizzy or ill for a while but recover fairly soon. A person who faints usually will not suffer any long-term health effects.
Typically in a benign fainting spell, someone will have some recall just prior to passing out. But when someone has no memory of the event whatsoever, it can suggest than an arrhythmia was the culprit. Your doctor will test your heart's electrical system with an electrocardiogram in the office.
If someone faints:
Lay them down. Kneel by them. Raise their legs. Give them fresh air and monitor them.
Prop up the person's legs about 12 inches (30 centimeters). Loosen belts, collars or other tight clothing. To reduce the chance of fainting again, don't get the person up too fast. If the person doesn't regain consciousness within one minute, call 911 or your local emergency number.
Fainting is a brief loss of consciousness. Normal awareness returns in less than 1 minute if the person is allowed to lie down.
Usually, the person who has fainted will wake up within 20 seconds.
Many different conditions can cause fainting. These include heart problems such as irregular heart beats, seizures, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), anemia (a deficiency in healthy oxygen carrying cells), and problems with how the nervous system regulates blood pressure.
Dehydration can cause many hearing related symptoms, including: Ringing in the ears or tinnitus. Loss of balance. Dizziness.
In people with high blood pressure, tinnitus is a commonly reported complaint. Research published in the NCBI found that 44.4% of people with tinnitus also had hypertension. The connection between the two conditions relates to the delicate network of vessels in your auditory system.
Tinnitus is sometimes known as 'ringing in the ears', but if you have the condition you might hear humming sounds, or hissing, whistling, clicking, roaring, whooshing or buzzing. The noise can be faint or loud, and it can occur in one or both ears. Sometimes the noise may feel like a sensation inside the head.
However, if blood pressure is low enough, brain damage can still occur. Also, fainting can result in serious injuries to the head or other parts of the body. Low blood pressure occasionally causes shortness of breath or chest pain due to an inadequate blood supply to the heart muscle (a condition called angina.