Passed out after standing up - General Health Message Board

effektz · 10-02-2008, 02:34 PM

I was laying down yesterday and had a little pain in my chest. I've been known to have panic attacks before, but I wasn't scared of this pain I just wanted to figure out what it was.

So I stood up and started walking around my bed when everything started getting black and cloudy. I just stood there for a second but things got worse instead of better (like the usually do after a few seconds). I finally found my way out to the living room where my aunt was at, and she told me

"You're burning up" and I was sweating everywhere on my body. My vision was extremely blurry and my hearing was muffled, like when your ears are clogged after swimming or when you're sick. I never actually lost consciousness. I was ready to go to the Emergency Room, but I laid down and put a cold cloth on my head for a few minutes. My vision finally returned to normal but the ringing in my ears, and the muffled sounds continued. About 5 minutes after the initial incident, I was freezing cold and my entire body was shivering, it felt like extreme muscle spasms.

I talked to a few people and was told it might be HYPOglycemia because of low blood sugar, or maybe the medication i took over 2 weeks ago was still finding its way out of my body. My lifestyle isn't very healthy overall, especially this last 2 weeks I've been laying around trying to rest from my previous health problem.

This all happened at 2pm, and by 5pm I was sooooo tired I just wanted to go to bed. I finally fell asleep at 9pm and slept until 8am this morning. I've been eating all day today (not meals, just healthy snacks) but it's only 2pm today and I'm very tired again.

I'm 23 year old, 6 feet tall and currently weight 109 pounds. I' have eaten fast food at least once a day for the past three years. My aunt thinks it could possibly be something more serious like clogged arteries or something. (On a side-note, my feet are usually always colder than the rest of my body, which indicates poor blood circulation). I am also a smoker.

This was extremely scary for me because normally when everything gets cloudy and i feel like I'm going to pass out, I either pass out or things start getting "normal" after just a minute, but this was way more intense and lasted a lot longer that normal.

Any thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated from anybody, thanks.

AuntieLeela · 10-02-2008, 04:00 PM

Sounds like orthtostatic hypotension, also known as postural hypotension because it tends to happen when you stand up too quickly.

It begins when something stops the body's regular way of counteracting gravity induced low blood pressure - pushing the blood (thru high BP) up the legs and into the heart to be recirculated, esp up into the brain. In hypotension your blood just pools in your legs and can't make it back up. Many of the symptoms come from lack of oxygen to the brain. If you hadn't laid down (restoring normal blood flow) you might have passed out or even had an anoxic seizure. Anoxic means "no oxygen".

Many things can cause postural hypotension. Dehydration, pregnancy, too much heat - sun or water, lot's of different Rx medications, heart problems including low heart rate (bradycardia), diabetes, hypoglycemia and nervous system disorders like the dysautonomias.

Because of the chest pain though, you should get an evaluation from your primary doc or a cardiologist - just in case. If you were 20 years older I'd be worried about stroke.