Fainting

[kelden]

Has anyone ever fainted from a panic attack? Never happened to me, but I knew people regarded as mentally "healthy" that fainted after a shocking experience. Since our panic triggers can be certainly a shocking experience, It might happen to any of us. Thereby, I'm curious about the prospective responses.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Fainted from a panic attack? No, not me. Not that I can remember. The only time I ever remember having fainted was after an accident. The only thing I remembered was having lunch on that day. The next thing I remembered was that I woke up in hospital with a broken arm at 3am the next day. What happened in the meantime is a total blank to me. So I must have fainted. Perhaps the shock of the accident knocked me out.

 

[hades_leae]

I have never fainted, or ever seen anyone faint because of it. I have seen some people start crying when the attack comes on, and I just comfort them. I feel weird, and also normal that when I saw this one sweet beautiful woman admitting that she was about to have a panic attack because she was about to speak in front of a lot of people, while it was happening I was thinking about how attractive she was and wanted to kiss and hold her like she was my woman, but I didn't.


Yes I'm normal, but whatever to others who got something to say about that. Anyways, I don't know if it's that serious to where people are fainting.

 

[John Snort]

One of my neighbor's kids suffers from a panic disorder and occasionally when she has an attack she comes close to fainting. She feels all woozy and has fallen and injured herself many times. Her sister, a good friend of mine told me that the reason she never wanted her little sister in her apartment is because of this. She's never fainted though.

 

[kgord]

I haven't ever fainted, but I can see how it could happen. I did almost faint one time, but it wasn't due to panic. I was waiting for a flight, and it was extremely hot and humid, for some reason we were outside the airport instead of inside. It was very early in the AM and I hadn't slept the night before. I smoked a cigarette making me feel lightheaded. I felt myself graying out, but someone had a vacant wheelchair there. I sat in it briefly, and felt better. It was very fortutious, or I think I might have ended up on the ground.

 

[fuzyon]

I had a couple of rough panic attacks but I never fainted, most of the time I lay down in bed and try to get a hold of myself while keeping my phone close in case something bad happens. I also try to get things out of the way like knives in case I trip and fall on top of them. I do know people that fainted from panic attacks though, they told me it was due to fear.

 

[Panic57]

I've never fainted from a panic attack.  I have a friend who has fainting spells because she's anemic but other than that I don't know many who do that.  That would be terrifying to worry about fainting in a public area and being vulnerable to strangers.  Personally, my panic attacks are so painful I don't think I could faint unless my asthma was also acting up and I passed out from lack of oxygen.  But that hasn't happened yet. I feel bad for anyone that has to worry about that on top of having a panic attack, that's just to much.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Although I don't remember having fainted in a very long time, I do have dizzy spells. There's the usual kind which happens when I get up too quickly after sitting for a long while. It's worse if I have been sitting cross-legged on the floor. This problem I usually overcome by remembering to get up slowly to allow my blood to not suddenly drain from my head. There's another kind of dizzy spells which are more alarming. I would suddenly feel like I am short of air and everything goes spinning in front of my eyes. Luckily, this doesn't happen very often. Maybe it's something to do with my respiratory system. I am not sure.

 

[amy88]

I used to faint fairly regularly as a teen (when I say regularly, perhaps every 6 months or so) but I never really attributed it to anything other than perhaps low blood sugar. I'd never even considered it being anxiety/panic attack induced, but I guess now you've got me curious about whether or not that could have been the case. Interestingly, my doctor did blood tests and other tests to see if it was associated with any other illnesses and couldn't find a correlation. So perhaps, it could have been, and I just wasn't aware it was anxiety at the time.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Faint regularly? That sounds bad. Do you get any warning before you faint? Like, for example, do you feel dizzy first? Or, is it something which comes totally out of the blue? I really fear falling, so if I suffer from fainting spells, I would be really worried.

 

[joshposh]

I've never fainted and in times of panic.  I can't say that I have met anyone that did either.  From my experience those that do panic usually freeze up and is almost immobilized. 

 

[CT422]

I've never fainted from an anxiety attack (or a panic attack) but I have felt like I would faint. I also once almost fainted from standing in the heat for too long. 

 

[kelden]

I see. It seems that is pretty rare people suffering from harsh episodes of panics attacks. I've hyperventilated (  Excessive breathing creates low levels of carbon dioxide in your blood.  )  in the past, as the worst thing I had experienced so far. But nowhere as bad as actually fainting.

 

[clair02]

I've had situations where it felt like I was going to pass out and although I never did, it was pretty traumatic. It once happened while I was driving on the highway and I was so scared because I really felt that 'fainting feeling' coming over me at that speed and that made me panic even more. I now have breathing exercises and other techniques I use whenever that feeling comes over me. And it helps to know that even when it does, I won't really pass out. 

 

[explorerX7]

I have never ever fainted. But I have seen people fainting on numerous occasions. I believe that some had fainted because of fatigue but I now remember one of my daughters had fainted previously because of experiencing a panic attack.

 

[pwarbi]

Fainting and becoming disorientated and dizzy are quite common side effects for a lot of people who have panic attacks. While I'm lucky enough never to have had one, in the past I have been out with people who have had them and they are scary to witness, so can't imagine what they're actually like for the person themselves. Fainting, dizziness and even being sick are quite common and I think that these are just the normal reactions that a body will produce when it gets overwhelmed by what's happening, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise because that is simply speaking, what a panic attack is, the body and mind becoming overwhelmed by it's surroundings at that time.

 

[Novelangel]

I fainted, or passed out, only once in my entire life, and that was due to the stomach flu. I got physically sick, then a few seconds passed... just long enough for me to wonder if I was going to get sick again... and then I woke up on the bathroom floor with a broken tooth that I got fixed two days later. I've never fainted from a panic attack, although they do leave me feeling pretty weird. I don't know why some people are more sensitive to fainting "spells" than others, but it's probably something that they are used to and prepared for, if it has happened often. 

 

[DDNatureLover]

Hmm, this is an interesting question. I can only think of a few times I've fainted, and it never occurred to me to correlate them with panic attacks, but they were related to anxiety and medical procedures. Maybe that's how my panic manifested itself back then. My family was very restricted, and any sort of acting out was a no no, to the extent that there would be consequences later. Maybe because of that, my mind just shut down and I fainted, rather than crying or yelling. One time I was undergoing allergy testing, and they'd put something like 44 needles in my back (the scratch tests), and I just rolled onto the floor in a faint. Another time I was getting some other sort of medical procedure and felt faint. I went to the bathroom and promptly passed out. I can recall feeling very faint when I'd get a needle in the arm, but I don't recall actually fainting on those occasions, although I know I came pretty close. These days, I use diaphragmatic breathing and visual imagery to manage my stress during those types of events.