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Fainting
September 7, 2007
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A fainting episode may be completely harmless but it can also be a symptom of a
more serious underlying disorder.
A sudden drop in your blood pressure can cause you to faint. Sometimes your heart
rate and blood vessels can't react fast enough when your body’s need for oxygen
changes. Cardiac electrophysiologist Carlos Cuello explains, “Passing out is an
enormous event, particularly in the elderly.”
Dr. Cuello says that if you’re fainting from a cardiac cause such as an abnormal
heart rhythm, there are treatment options to prevent fainting that you should discuss
with your doctor. It’s important that fainting not be ignored – no matter what the
cause. “A patient may not suspect that it’s a slow heartbeat. Such as extreme tiredness,
extreme fatigue, dizzy spells.”
Dr. Cuello also says that if you’re fainting frequently you’re putting yourself
at risk for other problems-it can even have an effect on your joints and bones.
“Usually they present with bone fractures, hip fractures. And there is nothing you
can
do if it is a slow heartbeat except to have a pacemaker. The problem is that
they break one hip, you replace it and then they go home without the pacemaker and
they come back with the other hip broken.”
Educating yourself on your well-rounded health needs can reduce the risk for future
episodes. In most cases, fainting is not serious. As soon as the underlying pain
or stress passes, the danger of repeated episodes is also eliminated.
Physicians advise you to be evaluated after your first fainting episode.
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