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Anyone have vasovagal nerve syndrome???

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Posted 6/9/2009 3:04 PM (GMT 0)
Sometimes when I have stomach cramping from IBS I get very lightheaded and have to lay down as soon as I can to keep from passing out and my BP drops. Normally, soon after laying down I start getting better but on the Fri night of Memorial weekend I started cramping went to use bathroom and started feeling lightheaded so called DH in as I normally do but I passed out, thankfully our bed isn't too far from the toilet and he got me to the bed. I was out for several minutes and then started trying to vomit, which I can't do. Poor hubby gets his cellphone and the cordless phone in our bedroom and is calling youngest son on cellphone, he was on duty for the coroner's office and his dad didn't want him to hear the 911 call from our address without knowing what was going on and he is calling 911 on the house phone at the same time. The only thing I really remember about the whole ambulance thing is trying to vomit every time they hit a little bump and there were plenty of them. I didn't have a choice in hospitals and had to go to the one here in town instead of where we normally go. I hope I never have to go back there cause they were the most inapt group of medical people I have ever seen. My DH kept telling them to call my doc which they never did, the nurse had never heard of the surgery I had for GERD and couldn't understand why I couldn't vomit because of the surgery about all they did was take my BP which was fine by then but I still wasn't myself. I did finally stop trying to vomit and I did come around and felt normal, no thanks to anything they did. By the time the doc finally came in I was pretty much back to normal which was probably two hours later. Our son has to deal with these people everyday so he didn't want to raise too much of a stink about the lack of treatment but he was not happy. I'm almost 59 and I passed out and come to trying to vomit and they didn't do an EKG or even blood work. mad

 

So we go see my doc and he wanted to do a 24 hr heart monitor which we did and it came back okay. He is going to change my PB meds but he is thinking that it is vasovagal nerve syndrome. I get lightheaded sometimes but the only times I get to the point of passing out is when I get stomach cramping and it doesn't seem to be how bad the cramps are but where in my colon the cramps are.

 

Since we have so many with IBS I was wondering if anyone else had this problem???

 

Thanks

luv and hugs

Marlee

Posted 6/9/2009 4:02 PM (GMT 0)
{{{{HUGS}}}}
I'm sorry Marlee, that sounds awful. I personally haven't had that problem. But, I do, every big once and awhile get to the point of getting really lightheaded and start sweating while being in a crampy state in the bathroom. It does scare me...haven't brought it up to the doc, though. Maybe I should.

I hope your feeling better soon.

Glad to hear that your dh thought of your son when calling 911. I know it would freak the you know whats out of my daughter.

Lots of soft hugs,
Posted 6/9/2009 4:07 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Marlee. I don't have IBS or vasovagal nerve syndrome but reading your post reminded me of something. When I worked in a hospital occasionally I worked in the cardiac care unit. If someone was having trouble with high bp they would ask the person to bare down like they were having a bowel movement and it would sometimes drop their bp due to stimulation of the vasovagal nerve. It sounds like when you are cramping that you are experiencing something similar causing the drop in bp and the lightheadedness so the dr might be onto something. I don't have any words of wisdom but thought I would pass that along to you. I hope they find a good answer for you. Lisa
Posted 6/9/2009 4:40 PM (GMT 0)
I've had this before, about 5 yrs ago, my husband (now ex) took me to the hosp, by the time we arrived at the hosp, after about 2 hrs, I was well enough to get mad at him for some stupid remark and went home. The following week I saw a cardiologist and wore a Holter monitor, the results of that caused me to be hospitalized for a couple of days, which is when we found out it was due to my bp dropping and I also found out I have mitral and tricuspid valve prolapse. Not sure if it is related, but that was around the time I had my second heart attack.

I checked webmd and this came up under fainting.
WebMd.com: "The vasovagal reflex, which causes the heart rate to slow and the blood vessels to widen, or dilate. As a result, blood pools in the lower body and less blood goes to the brain. This reflex can be triggered by many things, including stress, pain, fear, coughing, holding your breath, and urinating."
The only refrences I could find related to vasovagal had to do with fainting spells.
I hope they find the cause of yours w/o it being something serious.

((((((((hugs)))))))
I know how scary this stuff can be. Best of luck hun
Posted 6/9/2009 5:59 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry to hear about that! I hate the hospital!

When my IBS is real bad it feels like a knife is going straight up me. I cant sit or barely stand. I just hunch over and I do get woozy but I always figured it was from the pain. Nothing as serious as you described.
It is a good thing your doc is looking at you BP meds but dont forget to address the IBS too ....maybe it wont get you to that place again for a long awhile!

Hope you are feeling better,
Posted 6/9/2009 7:27 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for all of your concern. It doesn't happen that often maybe every couple of months and like I said I normally recover very quickly depending on how low the BP has dropped. It is usually after I haven't gone for a couple of days. This has been going on for the past couple of years but the doc chalked it up to the horrible pain and put me on donnatol for the cramping.

 

Lisa, all three of my sons are in emergency medicine so they had all told me about the bearing down thing to get BP down. The one close by also is a deputy coroner, if he can't save you he will investigate your death. He found out that people get a little nervous when a deputy coroner is standing around the ER. turn

 

My poor hubby told our doc he had to find out what was going on cause I scared the crap out of him this time. I know I have had a lot more anxiety since then and I'm afraid to eat anything unless hubby is home cause that is when the IBS acts up. Of course the whole time I had the monitor on I didn't feel the least bit lightheaded. I don't go back to the doc til the end of the month unless I have more problems. He did mention doing an EEG and MRI of my brain to rule out anything going on up there.

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Posted 6/9/2009 7:49 PM (GMT 0)
Boy, Marlee, that had to be quite frightening...not only for you but for your husband!  I think I'd want someone around when I ate, too...at least until you really know what is going on.  I hope you get some answers soon.

 

Sherrine

Posted 6/10/2009 1:03 PM (GMT 0)
Jeesh Marlee, how scary that had to have been!

 

I know you have a good Dr. and he will get this figured out. Until then, yes, have Ken be around when you eat. I tell you, you need this like a hole in the head. Ken went through his health issues, and I guess it's your turn now-

 

We are here for you and keep us posted on what is going on!

 

Jill

 

 

Posted 6/10/2009 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
I am sooo thankful we have youngest son close by. He worries about his dad too so he was here by the time they got me in ambulance cause I do remember him talking to me and the EMTs, he drove his dad to the hospital. I kept telling Ken how sorry I was for scaring him cause I still worry about his heart.

 

I need a whole new digestive system from throat on down, that would solve a lot of problems. yeah

 

luv and hugs

Marlee

Posted 6/10/2009 3:32 PM (GMT 0)
Dear Marlee2: I am so sorry you had to go through all that. Those ER's are getting worse at finding out about complete medical histories, and seem to want to get you on your feet as quick as possible, w/o even trying to find out what's going on, then out the revolving door. The last experience I had was in a small town ER and they almost killed me by giving a medicine that caused my blood pressure to spike, sky high, telling me it was a "muscle relaxer", which it wasn't. What is wrong with these people? Is it that the inept at managing a practice get jobs in these places? A complete medical history should be encoded on a medical alert bracelet, in a microchip, and they should be able to scan it quickly and get a summary of all that precedes the episode landing a person in an er. They got em for dogs, why not people. Probably cause it would set off alarms at the airport and everybody would end up on the "no-fly" list, the airlines would go bankrupt, Chrysler and GM would rally, and the whole economy would improve. Can't be having that now, can we ?lol.
Posted 6/15/2011 1:35 PM (GMT 0)
I know this post is a few years old but I was wondering how you are now doing Marlee2?

I have the same problem with getting extremely dizzy and have passed out while having a bm and understand being in a terrbile hospital and them doing anything to fix the problem.

I would appreciate any new information you may have concerning this illness. I know you are not a medical professional but I like talking to people who understand and don't think it is just in my head.

I have been getting worse over the last 2 years (I'm dizzy every day now) and I am unable to work. I have tried the halter, cardio catheterization, tilt table, MRI, lime test, eating more salt, eating less salt, stop taking all medication, eating more little meals etc and have no solutions yet and was hoping to talk to you. I also have been recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and may have diabetic neuropathy.

Thank you, in advance
Posted 6/15/2011 3:07 PM (GMT 0)
I have pure autonomic failure. It's a type of dysautonomia. Many people with dysautonomia also have fibromyalgia. I am a fainter, but it's so much more than fainting. Google dysautonomia and do some research. It is diagnosed by a tilt table test. I can only stand ten minutes before I become faint, so I use a scooter if I know I'll be on my feet very long. I also have tachycardia. Fibromyalgia is discussed on the dysautonomia forum. There must be a connection somewhere.
Posted 6/15/2011 3:21 PM (GMT 0)
Dear Lit-teacher,

Sorry to hear of your conditions. Thank you for the Google reference. I have had a tilt table test that did not cause me to pass out but at the time cold was the one thing that kept me from passing out and the place when they did the tilt table test was freezing. Unfortunately now even extreme cold can cause me to get dizzy. Something that sometimes helps with me when I get over heated and dizzy is to put a frozen water body under armpits, behind my neck or between my legs to help cool me down fast.

It took a long time to convince my Primary doctor that it was not just me having panic attacks so now he is sending me for a barrage of tests.

Thank you again! And I wish you well.
Posted 6/15/2011 3:31 PM (GMT 0)
You are welcome. I also have heat and cold intolerance. I hope you find out what is going on when they run tests.
Posted 6/15/2011 8:59 PM (GMT 0)
I've had a Nissen, so I know it's important to not vomit. I keep paregoric on hand to stop the vomiting that sometimes gets triggered by foods I don't tolerate, or the time I got a diverticulitis attack. The trigger foods and the diverticulitis all can cause me to have tachycardia. It's all because everything's connected by the vagus nerve.

Paregoric will stop the gut in an instant, while swallowing it. Other meds just don't work fast enough. The only trick is finding a pharmacy that still carries it. It's an old generic, so companies don't make much profit.

You might want to try to find out if you have specific food triggers affecting your IBS. When I eat foods I don't tolerate it can trigger my esophagus, stomach and gut, any of which can make my heart unhappy too. Recently I've started having gut trouble when I eat bread, especially French. Keeping a food journal is cheap and easy.

I don't know about lowering BP, but Valsalva (bearing down) or a good cough can often stop tachycardia. I also have on hand Atenolol, but that takes a little while to work, although it's faster than most betas.
Posted 6/15/2011 10:12 PM (GMT 0)
Oh boy! I have suffered from this over 20 yrs. Yes I know what causes it. It exactly what you said I vagal out. It happens 2-3 times a yr. It's always when my gut has severe cramps and I am in bathroom. After many times I now know what to do when it starts. I hit the bathroom floor or I will pass out. I got so scared for some time and was so afraid without a phone in bathroom. I even checked on the emergency buttons you wear. It so scary when it starts because I know what might happen. If someone home I will get them to put cold water on me and fan me. My husband doesn't even call 911 anymore, saves thousands of dollars. Get me to bed and in about 2 hrs. I am able to get up.
Posted 6/16/2011 10:24 PM (GMT 0)
Marlee, I have IBS too. I can't beleive you had to be rushed to the hospital. I get it so bad I want to vomit too. But the worse thing is the pain is so bad I feel like I will pass out. My fear is my husband would find me by the toliet and that would be so embrassing. I went to my gastro. and told them this could not be IBS, because I have not heard anybody with IBS say this happens to them.
I don't know what that (vascular nerve thing is) but sure would like to know what you found out.
Now I know for sure stress causes mine.
Hope you are better today and let us know if you found out anything.
Marilyn
Posted 6/17/2011 1:31 PM (GMT 0)
Marilyn -
It's not "vascular nerve", it's "vagus nerve". Vagus for wandering, meaning it goes to esophagus, stomach, heart, gut, all sorts of places. A trigger in any one of the places can cause a reaction in another.

For example: If I eat a trigger food, or have an attack of diverticulosis or even bad gas, I regularly get tachycardia. I've had to go to the ER a few times when I couldn't get it stopped myself. Once it was so bad it gave me a heart attack (caused a coronary artery to pinch shut).

You can google "cardioesophageal reflex" (not reflUx), or "linked angina" to read more on how this works.

I get gas from eating a slice of white bread which is enough to trigger tach within an hour. Eating a little gelatin will do it too. My problem is a sensitive gut (maybe this is IBS?) and also sensitivity to sulfites, which I have tested thoroughly with my allergist (food challenges). Keeping a good food diary was key to finding my triggers.
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