Passing out with shock

Hello everyone, a different thread reminded me of this.

Whenever (and I mean whenever) I get a bleeding injury that puts me in pain, I reliably come close to the point of fainting.

I know it's a mental thing. When I had my course of injections last October I was absolutely fine with the pain - I just didn't look. But when I thought about it afterwards I had to sit down on a chair.

Similarly, I've had my eyebrow pierced twice (in the past). Predictably I almost passed out after it both times, to the point of having to sit down in the street. Unusually I was ok and coherent til a couple of minutes after.
The latest time, I actually went into a local shop and bought a couple of bottles of water for when the 'inevitable' happened (it did when I got outside..).

Recently too, I took my computer apart and managed to slice the little knuckle on one of my fingers. the pain wasn't even there, but the thought made me have to sit down.



This dates back all the way to an incident where I was chasing my [overweight] friend around the classroom with a sharp pencil, at the age of 10. Predictably I speared my hand with it, and it went underneath the skin on my palm. Not enough to bleed though, but it hurt a bit.

The odd thing is, I was fine until the teacher told me to have it seen to. She sent me to the headmaster's office. The fear (I presume) of having to go inside this place caused me to feel lightheaded, and whilst I was talking to him I fainted (I took out a plantpot too, +10 points).

this was the first time i'd ever felt like this, and naturally it was un-nerving. I had my head on the desk for about 40mins afterwards until I felt better. Randomly though (at points) afterwards this odd feeling of 'lightheadedness' would appear - and obviously it was a catalyst for itself. I've mainly grown out of it, but under pressure it can slip in sometimes, for instance on my first dual-carriageway driving lesson. Needless to say I felt safe enough to continue.

I've actually seen the doctor about it, and descrived it to him as feeling the same way 'you do before a fight'. I told him that it can't be healthy to just 'work through it' if it occurrs, but he said it was, and that was the right thing to do.


Now for those of you thinking it's just a case of being scared at the sight of my own blood, hear this. I was on a flight back from a holiday to Greece, and reading a book written by a guy who used to be a soldier. He recounted an incident that happened to him in Northern Ireland when he climbed over a fence;

What happened was he caught his hand on the barbed wire, and it 'degloved' his hand. He had to be airlifted out, and than an antibiotic injection had to be administered to the area of raw flesh that had been exposed.

Anyway on this flight i read through it, and then had to stop, I nearly passed out again!


Any thoughts?
Cheers, Mike

"Shock is the inadequate perfusion of bodily tissue with blood and oxygen. In a very real way, shock is what kills people. Either the various organs dont get enough blood or the blood they do get has inadequate oxygen. Bleeding to death is hemorrhagic shock. Heart attack is cardiogenic shock. Fainting is psychogenic shock."

Your not alone mike.

I get blackouts, fainting spells regularly because of my height, sometimes the blood pressure is low and I dont get enough oxygenated blood to my brain, In those instances I rarely go unconscious but lose sight & hearing. This happens often enough it is one of the reasons I dont drive.

When I was a kid, I got blackouts if I cut myself.

Thanks for the support, that must be such a ballache for you mate.

It just life, mate. Always sounds like I'm moaning on here, doesnt it?

I'm a happy chappy in real life, my friend. No worries

More interested to see if it affects anyone else with any regularity.

I find this interesting, considering your Avatar...........

Mike2010,

Here's the explanation for your condition, even mentions your problem at the bottom of the trigger list, and it is very common according to the doctors/nurses I got to know in the Cardiac Care Unit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_episode


A trick that can help is after the trigger event occurs you concentrate on keeping your head down with your chin pressed to your chest for a minute or two. This helps particularly when you stand up from a reclined or seated position.


Keep safe and train hard/smart, Mark H

Thanks a lot Mark.

I remember doing a search but it didn't turn much up, and as i've just accepted it, it has ceased to be unusual for me - Hence nothing else being done since now (posting here).

Very helpful post.


Blackops, please can I ask if it influences fighting for you?

Same thing for me mate.

I was once told I may have a rumbling appendix (turned out I didnt). So I did some research on the appendectomy procedure. Big mistake. Saw a video of the surgery and the moment I started to 'feel' it in my self, I went all funny and almost fainted lol. Started sweating, blood drained from my face etc.

Another time I cut my finger and caught a little glimpse of bone. Same thing happened - but almost fell down the stairs hahaha.

And ANOTHER time, I saw some footage of an operation being done on some bloke's willy! Same thing happened again. Didn't feel sick though, just faint.

But I only get this when I mentally apply the wound to my self. There was a time when I had to be the first-aider for my sister who was having an epileptic fit. She had bit her tongue and there was blood EVERYWHERE like she'd been shot. And I was totally fine. There have been a few times where I've helped people who had had accidents, and I'm as cool as a cucumber.

But my own body? Forgedaboudit.


I've known several people (all men) who have the same thing. I think it's very normal. As you can tell, i'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.

PS - It seems I can overide it though. I recently had to pull out my stitches which didn't disolve after having a wisdom tooth extracted. BUT i'm still slightly traumatized from looking in my mouth with a torch after the surgery and seeing a massive gaping hole in my jaw. Fucking hell, I'm starting to sweat again. Seriously lol. I'm getting out of here...

Big wimps eh?

For me it does happen when I apply the wound myself mentally. That's true. But that's what I almost always do when I see a wound.

'Don't think about penguins'

yeppers we are all in the same boat!

It used to happen a lot when I was a kid. Funny how we've mostly had the same experiences when watching operations on TV lol. I caught a glimpse of an operation on TV that someone else was watching being done on someone's knee...had the camera on a small hose going inside and all... and as I'm standing there watching this everything starts to go black around me and my ears start ringing .... lol.

I used to work as a cook and one day I cut my finger pretty bad (down to the bone too)... I pretty much pased out while holding it shut in the break room.

Now that I think about it, I haven't experienced this in a long time... since I was in a bad car accident. Broken hand, broken nose, concussion. from my broken nose, there was blood everywhere, I went into full out shock (shaking, shivering, losing consciousness). The paramedics put a surgical tube attached to a "vacuum" to such out the massive amounts of blood going down my throat since it would end up pooling in my stomach and I'd have to puke it all up. (sorry if anyone's feeling faint reading this )

The blood clot that formed in my nasal/nose area where the break was, was huge. A couple weeks later at home, on T3's constantly and barely being able to walk,, I stumbled to the bathroom and pulled the clot out as it was bothering me. It felt like I was having to pull a golf ball out of my nose lol.

My point is, that since then, I haven't had a problem with feeling faint when seeing the same things that used to bother me. Seeing pseudo injuries used to provoke feelings of dizzyness and black out like symptoms... but since I experienced a real serious injury, well no problem with the little stuff anymore I guess.

I think the key to this is the example Sharif mentioned. (maybe not but I'll take a stab here lol.) I think the mind makes things out to be worse than they really are sometimes. However, when Sharif had to administer first aid to someone else (despite a large amount of blood) it was switch on, get down to work and help someone.

It all negins and ends in our heads it seem

Cheers all!

That's a helluva anecdote DMB. Glad you're ok now.

Like Wesley Snipes says, Roadkill. "Always bet on Blak.........ops ."

Good stories fellas.

Nothing to add. Nice to know it's not an unusual occurence though.