Vaso-vagal attack

Vaso-vagal Attack

In 1979, I was in my kitchen with my wife, drinking a glass of water. Something funny was said and I started laughing while the water I was still swallowing the water. The next thing I know, I am on the floor and Cindy is saying, “I’m calling 911.”

I get up and tell her to put the phone down. She is still holding the phone and looks like she has just seen her husband pass out.

She asks, “Are you sure?” I wasn’t feeling too bad and told her I was okay. I was almost correct. For many years, I thought I had just choked on the water. I was wrong.

What really happened was I triggered an inappropriate response of my vagus nerve. This nerve’s job is to send more blood to the stomach or bowels as these organs need a greater supply of oxygen, such as when you have just ate or you are on the toilet. In some people, this nerve can be triggered to send too much blood to the lower part of the body and not enough blood to the brain. Dizziness can occur and the person, such as yours truly, can faint. This is called a “vaso-vagal episode or vaso-vagal response or vaso-vagal attack.” The trigger can be caused by laughing very hard, trying too hard on the toilet, or swallowing something wrong.

A did faint one morning while using the toilet. I had no idea why at the time but I did see a doctor the next day. When the nurse took my blood pressure, it was about 90 over about 50. That is a tad on the low side all right. When I acknowledged that I was avoiding salty food because of a family history of hypertension, he told me to eat all the salt I wanted. True, my blood pressure was low, but I now believe it was due to a vaso-vagal episode.

Swallowing something wrong and getting a dizzy sensation happens to me so frequently, I thought it happened to everyone. Last November, with dinner guests present no less, I actually passed out for a few seconds. I shook it off and didn’t do much about it.

I did do some googling and found that same thing happened to President George W. Bush when he was eating pretzels. That was the first time I ever heard of the Vagus nerve. I know that self-diagnosis is dangerous, but the article explaining what happened to President Bush and the descriptions of the symptoms exactly matched what happened to me.

It turns out that uncontrolled, gut wrenching laughter can also trigger a vaso-vagal attack. I am watching a funny skit on television last night. A gym instructor is doing a workout with his two partners behind him. The girl is just sitting or standing, and eventually takes out a blanket and pillow and lies on the floor to take a nap. Meanwhile, the other guy in the back works himself so hard, he collapses. I laughed really, really hard...

Suddenly I was dreaming something weird and Cindy was tapping on my shoulder, asking me if I was all right. I am startled awake and startled by the sight of my wife. She is trembling, holding the telephone, and talking with the 911 dispatcher. She doesn't like the way I am looking and tells them to send the paramedics.

I do not like the way I am feeling so I do not object. I feel like all of the energy went out of me. By 8:30 p.m. I am taking a ride in the ambulance to the Emergency Room.

The Emergency Room personnel see these events all of the time. The only thing to do is to conduct tests to rule out other causes of the fainting. They drew blood, conducted an EKG, and took a chest x-ray. Everyone, including myself, suspected it was a malfunction of my vagus nerve. I was feeling better by 10 pm. The doctor came in about 10:30 and told me all of the tests came back with normal results. He handed me some literature about vaso-vagal episodes and sent me on my way. I walked out of there on my own two feet, although I was still tired. Cindy drove us home.

I was still feeling tired this morning. Evan had a music practice in Atascadero from 11:30 to 1 pm. Cindy and I had a picnic lunch at Atascadero Lake and then we planned on going for a walk. I decided I would walk as fast as I normally do and see what happened. No, I didn’t faint. I actually felt better and better.

I’m cured, until next time. But now I know what to do next time, just lie down before gravity takes me down.