# Shaking/seizing while fainting?



## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

This is mostly for my own curiosity's sake, nothing earthshattering. 

I had blood drawn today and passed out. ;_; This is nothing new, in fact, it's usually the norm for me; I would have warned the person taking my blood, but I'd gotten rather used to blood draws and hadn't passed out because of it the past several times, so figured I was used to it. Not so; I fainted today. Vasovagal syncope seems to be an issue of mine. Fortunately, I find it more curious than anxiety inducing, though I do feel sorry for the people I freak out because of it.

Today when the nurse(?) left the room I overheard her speaking with another nurse she'd called in to help, since she'd been afraid to leave me on my own while it was happening. I heard her say that I'd started shaking, so she was worried I was going to have a "big seizure," to which the other nurse agreed, "Yeah, she did seize a little bit."

This is news to me. :shock No wonder they were so rattled! I'm always so curious about what exactly I look like when I'm passing out but this is the first I've heard of it looking anything like a seizure.

I don't have any seizure conditions that I'm aware of and I'm not worried that I might be getting one. I think I simply fainted. But has anyone else heard of such a thing, of shaking or seizing while merely fainting? :?


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## applesauce5482 (Apr 26, 2012)

I don't think that I shake when fainting.

The last two times I fainted were in doctors offices where I laid sprawled across the lobby with everyone watching lol. I don't think I shaked or anything. My parents said I just collapsed.


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

Yes, from what others have said I believe I tend to just collapse as well. While passing out in a restaurant once my legs went straight out in front of me (I was seated), but I think that was because I was starting to sag down into my seat. Hence why this incident strikes me as so odd. :?

Sometimes I think I should get a medical tag that tells people I pass out, and for them not to freak out when I do! :blush


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## odd_one_out (Aug 22, 2006)

I nearly pass out or do a lot these days. When having them take blood I always make sure I'm lying on a bed or have the chair reclining. It's only asking for trouble otherwise because who knows when it'll be a bad day? Each time is different. Sometimes they need to fill more vials. Some are nervous and take more than 1 or 2 attempts to stick it in.

I looked it up and brief convulsive jerks are common with syncope. It's frequently misdiagnosed as epilepsy. Here's a detailed document explaining the differences http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/70/suppl_2/ii9.full.pdf+html. There's a handy table listing the characteristics of each.

If you can't read pdfs it can be seen here.


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

*"A witness may describe pallor, sweating, and cold skin. Muscle tone is flaccid sometimes with a few uncoordinated clonic jerks occurring after the fall. A common error is to label syncope as a seizure, given a witness account of shaking (convulsive syncope).2 Incontinence and injury are uncommon and lateral tongue biting rare. Recovery is usually rapid and without confusion."*

Fascinating! This is the first I've ever heard of this.

Thank you very much for the link!


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## g3mini (Jun 21, 2017)

odd_one_out said:


> I nearly pass out or do a lot these days. When having them take blood I always make sure I'm lying on a bed or have the chair reclining. It's only asking for trouble otherwise because who knows when it'll be a bad day? Each time is different. Sometimes they need to fill more vials. Some are nervous and take more than 1 or 2 attempts to stick it in.
> 
> I looked it up and brief convulsive jerks are common with syncope. It's frequently misdiagnosed as epilepsy. Here's a detailed document explaining the differences http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/70/suppl_2/ii9.full.pdf+html. There's a handy table listing the characteristics of each.
> 
> If you can't read pdfs it can be seen here.


THANK YOU for posting this article!!

I passed out recently and my mother said I had my eyes open and my hands and feet were shaking slightly but only for a few seconds and then I came to. The nurse in the OR said it was perfectly normal for that to happen when fainting - they were not concerned about any of my results. 
However, I am prone to worry and getting myself worked up over health related issues, and I have been having frequent episodes of that adrenaline rush feeling (light headed, tingle in the head feeling) before you have a panic attack ( I used to suffer from panic attacks and generalized anxiety about 20 years ago - this hasn't happened in a looooong time).
I can talk myself down, however I am getting this feeling several times a day. My dr has rx'd lorazepam for me while i deal with what is causing my anxiety (lots of stuff going on right now). 
Anyways, I've been searching the internet to find out if this truly is normal (for some reason the OR nurse wasn't enough for me lol) and I'm SO RELIEVED you posted this! It's exactly what happened to me, so this is one thing i can STOP worrying about! 
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!


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