Why did I faint?!


Question:

Why did I faint?

I was out to dinner with my family last night, had two drinks with dinner, and went outside of the retaurant to smoke a cigarette. I put out my cigarette and stood with my family for a moment, and before I knew it , I fainted! I was out cold, and collapsed on the ground. It's a good thing my mom was holding on to me or I would have hit my head. I woke up for a brief minute and vomitted. On the ride home, i still felt extremely dizzy and lethargic. I remained tired for a few hours after that. (I wasn't drunk and I'm not pregnant) I feel fine today. Any ideas on what could have happened to me?

Additional Details

1 week ago
My blood pressure is almost always normal. If not, it tends to be low. I had a head injury 11 years ago from a car accident which would not apply here. I had an MRI on my entire head last year because I had facial paralysis for 2 months. Everything came back normal, and the paralysis dissapeared. I am 33 years old.
What is transient ischaemic attack?


Answers:

There are a lot of really going possibilities mentioned in the other answers . . . head injuries, diabetes, epilepsy. . . but, I'm going to go with those who suggest a blood-pressure issue.

Smoking and alcohol both alter your blood pressure, a change in the environment from being inside to being outside (temperature change, air quality change) could also mess with your blood pressure . . . it would explain the lethargia and dizziness. . . if our blood-pressure is out of whack, it can throw everything off.

There's also another possibility. Smoking and alcohol can modify the heart rate -- that, with the moving around to get up, wiggle in and out of the aisles to get outside could have raised your heart rate. The higher the heart rate, the greater the risk of arrythmias. You could have experienced one of a number of cardiac arrhythmias (some of which are common and benign, and others which are uncommon and dangerous).

Monitor the way you feel and your heart-rate for the next several days. When you're doing things that are particularly strenuous such as bringing groceries in, cleaning house, or going up and down stairs, stop and focus on your heart, and how it's beating.

When I had my first PVC (which is an abnormal heart beat, that's most often harmless) I passed out . . . I was at work, in the dining room. I turned around to ask for something from the kitchen -- I got dizzy, sweaty, and down I went. I woke up about 3 minutes later, feeling like somebody had worked me over with a crow-bar.




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