Fainting

[brittany-foster]

Hi Terry,
I have had episodes of near syncope (which is a feeling as if I am going to pas s out ) This occured during some of the breathing tests because of how hard I was pushing myself. Were they monitoring your oxygen levels at the time? For me, the fainting occurs when my vessels constrict when there is extra stress on my body or when I am doing too much activity. The constriction leads to limited bloodflow to the brain and I see black spots and feel very weak. I am so sorry this happened to you. Was a doctor notified? I would give your doctor a call if they don’t know about this incident. Better to be safe and seek the advice of a medical professional !

[terry-d-blissett]

They referred me to the ER. ER ran tests and radiology on my head, legs and chest. Tests came back normal. They suspect the PH. Doing a cath this week.

[brittany-foster]

I’m glad that the doctors are on top of this ! All the best wishes for your cath!

[amy-peeples]

Terry,

I also fainted during my initial pulmonary breathing test . I hit my head, it was kind of embarrassing .

I am on a three med combo and doing so much better .

[brittany-foster]

Amy,
I’m sorry that has happened to you! I also have hit my head pretty hard with fainting before. Not necessarily during a breathing test, but just from feeling weak. It is not a good feeling! I hope you were evaluated after to be safe!

[azebraman]

Hi all,

Fainting during PFTs might be due to the fact you’re doing the Valsalva maneuver (pushing air against nothing, or straining while pushing nothing against nothing). This maneuver can possibly make even healthy people (without PHTN and with normal lung capacity) faint.

Re/source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5090888/

[brittany-foster]

Thank you for the link to this VK that is very informative. Even bearing down for me makes me very light headed ! During one of my tests I had done to check autonomic function, they actually had my purposely overbreathe and I passed out within seconds !