JUSTIN C.K. DAVIS, M.D.: Hi, my name is Dr. Justin Davis and today I'd like to tell you a little bit about fainting. Now, there's a lot of reasons why people may lose consciousness, but fainting is a particular term that we also call in the medical field syncope, or sometimes you'll it termed vasovagal syncope. Now what exactly is fainting? Well, fainting is a loss of consciousness and it occurs when there's a quick reduction of blood flow to the brain and since the brain is no longer getting enough blood to it, it shuts off for a short period of time. The most common cause of loss of consciousness for people is fainting or syncope, and usually this will occur when some kind of trigger, for example perhaps a big surprise to someone or the sight of blood, causes an inappropriate response by the nervous system and when this happens, the heart rate slows down inappropriately or perhaps the blood vessels expand, lowering the blood pressure inappropriately, and the brain, no longer receiving enough oxygen, passes out for usually only a few minutes. So what are the symptoms when you're going to faint? Well usually, unlike other problems that may cause a loss of consciousness, there are some warning signs before you faint. This isn't always the case. The common warning signs might be feeling dizzy or sometimes your vision narrows, and you feel like you're looking down a dark hole that's closing in. Sometimes, it's also will happen with hearing and you'll hear ringing in the ears or things seem to fade away, or sometimes just lightheadedness or a loss of balance will precede fainting. But most commonly, there is some kind of warning sign before it happens. Also, with syncope or fainting, typically it only lasts for a very short period of time, so someone may only be unconscious for a very short time, often perhaps 1 second up to a minute but not more that that. Usually, the treatment involved avoiding things that might make you faint. For example, people tend to faint when stressed or surprised; again, sometimes with the sight of blood. Also, certain kinds of bodily functions may inappropriately trigger fainting as well, such as urinating or having a bowel movement can even be associated with fainting at times for certain people. So, by avoiding these triggers, if you know that these may cause fainting in you, is the best way to treat fainting or to prevent it. But typically, because it's a harmless condition and doesn't mean anything more
serious, we don't need to treat it at all. Usually, however, especially if this is your first time fainting, you will need to see a doctor and the doctor will need to work up the cause of the fainting, and make sure that it only is due to a syncopal event. Why is that? Well, there are certain other things that can cause you to faint or lose consciousness that are more serious. For example, sometimes people with certain kinds of heart dysrhythmias, that means your regular heart beat, can also faint or lose consciousness, and it's important to know if fainting is nearly from a syncopal or a vasovagal event, or if it's something more serious. So if you fainted or your feel faint, which we call presyncope, and that means almost fainting, there's a few simple rules to follow. First of all, avoid any common triggers, make sure that you've eaten enough and had enough to drink, make sure that you're rising slowly because if you rise too quickly that may make the condition worse and finally, make sure that you let a doctor know right away, especially if this is your first time fainting, because again, most times, it's a harmless event that really doesn't meant anything too serious but occasionally, because there are more serious reasons that can cause fainting, it's very important to let a health professional know and to evaluate you properly.
