Fainting...and other unexplained conditions and food for thought
Hi all and FullhamPC,
first of all to say I AM NOT a doctor, but in my daytime I work s a Hypnotherapist, having taking specialisations in stress, pain and fear reduction and I have extensive experience in helping pilots as well as myself in many issues that medically the doctors have lifted their hands up and there is nothing on the medical tests that appears out of the ordinary...or the doctors come to the conclusion that the issue is psychosomatic..I am also a PPL and aerobatic pilot with few hundred aerobatic hours...end of introduction..
So, everything I say, is applicable AFTER or in PARALLEL with all the appropriate medical tests and examinations. If the medical tests cannot offer any explanations then there are other routes that can be followed.
To cut the long story short, you may have heard stories about pilots drop dead in the cockpit (happened to Greece a month ago to an airline Captain still on the ground during the checks), or very fit footballers that drop dead in the pitch..these were fit people with no medical history and no heart problems..The coroner though, finds that they died from heart attack..
To find out why this happens, a test was devised called HRV test (Heart Rate Variability Test). This test is used to measure the effects of stress on the body (i.e. stress affects the Autonomous Nervous System (ANS) that controls most of the 'automatic' functions such as breathing, the moving of blood through the heart , e.t.c.
The ANS is divided into Sympathetic (adrenaline state - go, go, go state as I call it) and the Parasympathetic (the system that return us back to a relaxed state). The Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic have to be in Balance (most of the time) for our body to be ok. If they are not, the body is in a stressed state. The test shows if they are in balance, but also shows how random the time between the heart beats is - the variability (HRV). The more random they are the better condition we are in. This is measured by an ECG machine like the one we use to pass our ECG test, but the software used measures also the HRV and the frequencies of the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic.
This test is approved by the Cardiological societies of Europe and US and if can be done every few weeks, we can keep tabs on ourselves. It is a test that we can do every so often to see how well our body is on top of our annual check-up. If the HRV reading is too low over three consecutive reading, it is recommended that we go to do a check up. This test could have also detected if there was a condition for concern that a simple ECG could not detect. My own experience shown that stress, or the lack of it, is the major that pushes the HRV value up or down.
Google HRV test and read more about it. I am now living in Greece and I am unable to help you out with it (unless you want to pop to Athens for a coffee)..but we can find somebody in the UK if you are interested.
Something else about the fainting. There is something that we need to keep in mind at all times. The relationship between blood sugar and how and what we eat.
When we eat, blood sugar goes up. We feel good. After 2-3 hours the blood sugar drops low again and we need to eat something to get the blood sugar high again. In extreme cases if we keep the blood sugar very low we can faint, particularly if we have a history of low blood sugar (or we can 'establish' a fear or phobia of something bad that happened to us when the blood sugar was low (i.e. we are low in blood sugar, we have an accident in the car, a fear of going out may be established in the subconscious mind).So, eat well too.
All in all, what I would like to say is, please look at the stress factor and your eating habit. Both play a very big part in our well being.
We are like a barel that is half full. Then our body can fight infection, can resist to stress without becoming ill.
Add more stress and the barell gets full. Add more stress and will make it overflow. Just sit in a draft and it becomes a cold, you don't eat very well and you faint...as an example...
I had a guy here two days ago that has arrhythmia (Doing medical tests at the same time) and came to do the HRV test. When he was plugged in, the Heart Rate was jumping all over the place...from 77 to 140, to 65 then back up. After a while, I asked him to think of something relaxing. He thought about his holidays. Within seconds the heart rate stabilised to about 77 to 79..to within three beats...where before it was jumping all over the place..he thought of everyday chores...heart rate started jumping again..we did the test twice, with identical results.
Moral of the story. Before you go to your doctor, or go for your medical, find your own way of relaxing (it can be 7-8 minutes of deep breathing every day thinking of something nice for you. Then keep reasonably fit and eat 3 meals a day every 3-4 hours and a health snack in between). Do this for couple of months and you may find that your body starting to find it's own balance.
Just food for thought(forgive the pun)...and to start a discussion...