I was at my daughter's swimteam practice the other morning, when I overheard a conversation between two moms about one of their sons who had passed out during a painful office procedure at a doctor's office the previous day. He was fine, but it sounded pretty scary.
About 3 weeks ago, I made a houescall to a sweet little 8 year old girl who had passed out while playing miniature golf with her family. She, too, was fine, but as you can imagine, the family was more than a little distressed over the event.
While at a monthly bunco girls' night gathering a while back, one of my friends passed out. Granted, we had been enjoying an awesome bottle of red wine (okay, and someone also brought a pitcher of margaritas), but trust me...the half a glass of wine that she had sipped on at that point in the night certainly had nothing to do with her passing out. (Although we laughed later that to a casual observer, seeing a bunch of women flittering about in a panic, one passed out on the couch, another knocking over her wine, some in tears, and another rushing off to call her husband the surgeon on his cell phone, the scene probably would have looked like something off of Housewives!)
Just last night, while having a conversation with some running buddies, I learned that one of them had a tendency to pass out for no apparent reason. His doctor had told him he had some "condition" but he couldn't remember the name of it.
"Vasovagal syndrome" I exclaimed! "That's it!" he said.
And so....since it seems like every friend, child's playmate, patient, or neighbor I know has had some experience with this, I figured that it might be a worthwhile topic to post about! If you have a child that has had something like this happen and can relate, or if you know of someone who has, feel free to chime in with your own input!
The term, "vasovagal syndrome" comes from the vagus nerve, which is a large nerve running the length of the body, that when stimulated, causes a person's blood vessels to suddenly relax, and good-old-fashioned gravity takes over, pulling blood downward, away from a person's brain, and presto, they are on the floor! Often children will describe "tunnel vision" right before they pass out. They usually "come to" within a matter of seconds, but the alarming part is that sometimes as their nervous system is "re-setting", they will have little twitches and eye movements, that can be mistaken for a seizure. With vasovagal syndrome, the person awakens pretty quickly, and other than feeling a little tired, they're usually feeling fine a short time later.
If it happens, the most important thing for observers to do, is to remain calm. Once the child begins to wake up, ask them if they are hurt anywhere, and have them lie on their left side for a few minutes before they try to sit up. Contact your pediatrician, to let them know that it happened, but most likely, there won't be any need for testing unless it starts to happen fairly frequently. Vasovagal syndrome is not serious and is extremely common. Sometimes it can occur if children haven't been drinking enough in the summer heat, and their blood pressure drops a little. My oldest daughter had it happen in the middle of Harris Teeter, right after she accidentally pinched her finger in the cart. (Pain is often a trigger). Sometimes extreme emotion will trigger a person to pass out. (Think Scarlet O'Hara). And sometimes, it happens for no good reason, which is the most frustrating scenario of all! The bottom line, however, is that scary as it may be to witness, it isn't dangerous, and it's certainly no cause for panic.
Happy 4th to everyone!!
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