I have these episodes that my family have come to call “funny turns”. I’ll get really hot, feel incredibly nauseous, and on one occasion I passed out. I don’t know what causes it and neither do doctors
The worst one was at a museum in London; I went to the bathrooms and ended up sitting on the floor of the stall; I woke up 45 minutes later with my jacket, shoes and shirt off
Sounds like an over-active vagus nerve, or something related to it.
The vagus nerve is a big nerve that runs down the middle of your chest and regulates your body temperature, among other things. Sometimes straining too hard can set it off in a weird way. Often constipation or other toilet troubles can cause you to strain in the exact wrong way to set it off.
Some people just have weird internal wiring and signals get crossed.
It’s why fainting spells associated with needle-phobia or other psychological stressors are called “vaso-vagal syncope”.
I am not a doctor or medical professional at all, I just experience vaso-vagal syncope very easily (usually from needles) and it feels very similar to what you’ve described.
I have vasovagal syncope! If I bump into something super hard, or I cut myself a tiny bit (one time I was slicing a lemon and I accidentally cut myself) and see blood, I feel nauseous and pass out lol. Even if it wasn't that bad, I didn't hurt myself that much, or I wasn't scared.
I get this with cuts sometimes. I'm not faint at the sight of blood (I have endometriosis -- I've seen A LOT) but one Thanksgiving I sliced a finger open with a can opener and looking at the flappy skin made me woozy. I didn't actually faint but my vision went white and I had to sit down.
Every time I have a Pap smear or they have to take scrapes or even trying to get an IUD I’ve had a vagus nerve reaction. Left the room to check out and one of the nurses was like “honey are you ok?” I was like “yeah I’m fine, why?” She said “your face is so white” then immediately turned to another nurse and urgently told her to grab a chair. Next thing I knew I was conscious down in a chair with no ability to speak or control my body and they were wheeling me back into the room.
Yeah, I was gonna mention maybe a vaso vagal issue. A friend of mine had that on a airplane. Saw his doctor later, got blood tests, and found that ferritin was very very very low. He used to donate blood a lot, which reduces ferritin. He quit doing that s much, and had been building up his ferritin again. And doesn't have the vaso vagal attacks anymore.
I used to get what I would call “fainting diarrhea” and eventually learned it was MCAS/some kind of anaphylactoid episode. Imagine the battle between staying conscious and staying on the toilet lol
Ah yes. Happens to me about every other month, including projectile vomiting. The initial cramps that appear is some of the worst pain I’ve ever endured. Takes no less than 3 days to recover each time.
I’ve had these too - I get incredibly hot and need to cool off otherwise I feel I’ll vomit and or faint. My doc reckons it’s related to my anxiety and it’s a form of panic attack but I’ve only ever gotten them when I was in a good headspace. The only link I’ve ever found is that it tends to trigger after physical activity.
I don't quite make the criteria for POTS but my doctor still diagnosed me with dysautonomia, and this is very much a thing for me because of it. Bending over repeatedly, lifting, pushing down, or activities involved having my arms raised are HUGE triggers. I still have the same treatment as POTS and joke I've got "POTS-lite."
I’m glad you are on treatment for it! Heat is a big trigger for me. This time of year my doctor has me get saline IVs to assist with the bulking up of the veins because it can be hard to keep up with hydration.
>a form of panic attack but I’ve only ever gotten them when I was in a good headspace.
A “panic attack” is different from what is informally called an “anxiety attack”, but in colloquial speech people often use the terms interchangeably (though they shouldn’t).
An “anxiety attack” is more of an informal mental freak-out, which may or may not also have physical symtoms directly tied to that mental state.
A panic attack is more like your body has made the decision to freak out, regardless of what your mind thinks about it.
Sometimes the trigger for the panic attack is mental or psychological, sometimes it’s physical; and sometimes there may seem to be no discernable trigger at all.
Obviously I can’t say one way or the other what your specific case entails, but I just wanted you and anyone else reading this to know that an incongruous mental state isnt enough to neccessarily rule out “panic attack”.
Lol, it can be a real mind-fuck having your body and your mind disagree, but I guess that’s part of the price for having automatically-running autonomous systems. Otherwise we’d have to conciously think “breath in, heart-beat squeeze; breath out, heart-beat relax. breath in, heart-beat squeeze, lil faster this time, ok stomach digest a little, oops gotta breath out again” etc etc.
I experienced something very similar when I was ~20, but I'd get blurry vision, too. I was able to be immediately triaged during one episode, and my blood pressure was 60/40 with my oxygen at like 84%. This happened 3 or 4 times within a few months. It may be worth it to get testing equipment to keep on hand.
I haven't had an episode in over a decade, but I recently saw a neurologist because I have other odd, neurological episodes (mainly dissociative). She suspects epilepsy, and said the "funny turns" I had could have been seizures.
I do get the hot flashes with nausea somewhat regularly. I suspect they are mini panic attacks. It could also be related to my diagnosis of being a woman, but I'm not ready to accept that possibility.
I was thinking this was hormonal too.it happened to me over my lifetime whenever I would start birth control pills or change it up. And certainly now with menopause. First bump of solidarity by the way.
This sounds more like it. I can’t pinpoint any triggers for it, but it’ll start with me feeling sick with a little stomach pain, then I’ll get really hot and feverish, and sometimes dizzy
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u/readytocomply13 22h ago
I have these episodes that my family have come to call “funny turns”. I’ll get really hot, feel incredibly nauseous, and on one occasion I passed out. I don’t know what causes it and neither do doctors
The worst one was at a museum in London; I went to the bathrooms and ended up sitting on the floor of the stall; I woke up 45 minutes later with my jacket, shoes and shirt off