Syncope after Nissan fundiplication

I am 2 weeks post nissen fundiplication. Two days ago I had an episode of unconciousness that lasted off and on for 1 1/2 hours. I was with my husband and he said I told him I didn't feel well and I was very hungry but also nauseous. From that point on I do not remember anything for about 1 1/2 hours. He said I went limp while he was getting me to the car, (we were at the movies) and then went in and out of consciousness in the car. I was answering his questions appropriately and told him I just needed some food. He took me home and I drank an ensure. Then I went unconscious again. He then called for an ambulance and I went to the ER. My blood sugar was 100, BP was elevated, pulse was elevated. Medical staff thought it was dehydration. When I "came to" (again, I was answering questions but I don't remember) I told them I had drank at least 2 liters of water that day and my urine had been clear. My labs were all normal and showed no sign of dehydration. I did fail a orthostatic BP and was given a liter of fluids and I immediately gave them a liter of very light yellow urine back. My question is....has anyone had a problem with the decrease caloric intake and having a similar incident? I am a retired nurse and none of this makes sense. I would not think a decrease in caloric intake would make this last for 1 1/2 hours.

Hi Alice,

Thanks for the reply. My primary care is scheduling me to have a 24 hour monitor done and that should get done this week. I had a full cardiac work up less then a year ago in the hospital because of severe esophageal inflammation. I am scheduled to see a neurologist Sept. 13. I am guessing I will have another episode by then or not need to see him becasue I haven't had another episode. Being in the medical field, I am going to talk to some colleges about getting into a neurologist sooner if I have another episode. I agree, this is serious. I am not sure my primary feels the same but she is sending me for testing. I hope this is a weird fluke.

Thanks again,
Jennikate

WOW!!!! I wondered if this might have something to do with my Vagal nerve...inflammation around it or being nicked. I worked in the operating room 20+ yrs ago in a teaching hospital and that was always a big concern as the attending taught the residents/fellows how to do that surgery. Thank you so much for all this information!! I will do some research to see what way I need to push my health care. I am happy to hear it probably is not neurologically related.

In between episodes I still have what I call "micro" episodes where I feel fatigued and/or weak but drinking some V8 or coffee provides almost immediate relief without having to lay down. This is just about on a daily basis. It is not disabling and since it is easy to deal with I don't worry about those as much.

Prior to my PM and self-management of diet these micro episodes also did occur but the big episodes were happening at a frequency of more than once/week and they were very hard on me both physically (pretty much worn out until the next day) as well as mentally and I didn't even realize I was also having micro episodes. It also worried my wife who was afraid to leave me alone in case I had a bad episode. Since I was also still recovering from the surgery I felt about as fine as one would expect in between.

I too try to eat - even if not hungry - every 2 hrs or so and also make sure that I have plenty of fluids but try to minimize fluids 15-30 minutes before and after eating to allow my digestive system to work on the food a bit. Part of my vagus nerve damage has affected my motility so I need to manage consumption and timing as well. In addition, with all of these issues is that if I don't consume the right foods I will get constipated which will cause me strain possibly impacting the wrap.

Complicating things is that due to radiation treatment for my prostate is that I also developed urinary retention.

I'm going to eventually do a complete write-up but one thing that I would strongly recommend is to keep a detailed journal of date, time, what you eat/drink, bowel movements and episodes. For the episodes be sure to identify the duration and symptoms as well as what you were doing at the time. For example, severe episodes for me would include heavy sweating and blurred vision. My detailed journal helped my Cardiologist and reduced the number of tests I needed to undergo prior to the PM and it also helped me to visualize what was going on with regard to cause and effect and the timing.

It also may not hurt to regularly - perhaps every couple of hours - check your pulse and record the date/time, rate and what you were doing. If it is cardio or BP related this information will help your Dr's. You can take the pulse manually or with an inexpensive pulse oximeter (finger tip device).

Glad I could help.

Know what you mean about having to chew food longer. Hard to describe to people who haven't been through it that you had a problem because you didn't chew your cottage cheese enough!

BTW, you will feel better as you get further along in your recovery from the surgery. Best advice for recovery that I can offer is to get enough rest and walk as much as possible - I used to do a lot of slow laps around the inside of the house.