Thread: How to avoid fainting?

This may be a dense question, but are you referring to your dreaming or waking life, or both?

Waking life, as in a movies, people in real life falling and bleeding, myself bleeding etc.

The worst time of all was in July when I was in Drivers Ed with that movie they show.

I guess my first thought would be to talk with a doctor or therapist, it might have to do with anxiety/fear (of injury, or something).. what kinds of emotions accompany the physiological responses?

Originally Posted by toucantango

I guess my first thought would be to talk with a doctor or therapist, it might have to do with anxiety/fear (of injury, or something).. what kinds of emotions accompany the physiological responses?

I'm not sure, the first time this happened was when I was going into third grade, this old lady fell at the airport and she was bleeding from her mouth.

But the emotions I can only recall was disgust I guess. It grossed me out.

I don't know if this is sound advice, but I think you should try confronting the fear by looking at pictures.

I get extremely depressed and upset when I see real gore, especially human (as opposed to animal), but I can certainly deal with it and change my feelings, still whilst looking. Maybe the same is true with your fainting.

I actually have tried that earlier today, no luck. I started to get all sweaty.


If it's quick scenes like a stab or gun shot, I can handle it. Surgery I can handle. It's when they have blood running down their face and screaming/crying.. it's terrible.

I wouldn't consider the avoidance of gore as being equal to "living under a
rock", as you put it. You can avoid it, which would be fine (and probably leave
you with a cleaner mind), or desensitize yourself to it by watching as much of it
as you can. I'd advise the former, but the choice is yours.

Generally, when I feel faint, I try to think to myself that I need to get control of my body, and go somewhere with a cool breeze, drink some water, and concentrate on my breathing.

wow lucky you werent there or werent there when i was hit in the face with a drainpipe. blood was gushing from my face then, i mean a lot of blood.

but about the fainting, maybe try to pretend to yourself that you dont care about the blood. i pretend i dont care about things that make me feel bad in some way

Despite the fact that your issue effects almost everybody on some level, it is unfortunately you experience such a great deal of stress from such a small amount of bother. I experience extreme amounts of anxiety when in large crowds such as at clubs, and I find that it normally makes all the symptoms far worse when you let it get to you.

Whenever you are in a situation where you feel you may loose yourself, just relax and understand that it's a chance to overcome your problem rather than a problem which you need to solve. Although it doesn't comepletely relate to this, practice DOES make perfect, it may take you a while to get used to it.

I've had the same experience twice in relation to giving blood. Once, at a high school assembly when we were being told about giving blood, with no pictures or anything, I just went kind of numb and clammy with a ringing in my ears and everything seemed very far away and unreal for about ten minutes. The one time I actually tried to give blood, almost as soon as the needle was in my arm, I turned to the nurse and asked, "Should I be this dizz-" and the next thing I knew I was on my back with my feet in the air and people standing around me. Blood in other contexts doesn't bother me, nor do needles, nor was I all that emotionally anxious in either of these situations--something just tripped a breaker and I went into a shock state, somewhat similar to experiencing vertigo.

What I would suggest is a technique I use for vertigo and hiccups (I've cured someone else's hiccups by talking them through this method, too). It seems to be effective with pretty much any involuntary response that's getting out of control. When you feel the response coming on, close your eyes and breathe normally--let your breath do whatever it wants to, whether fast or slow, deep or shallow, whatever. Observe the sensations of feeling feint; experience them fully, but you don't have to analyze them or try to stop them--you know trying to stop them doesn't work, so why would you bother? Just see what happens.

Obviously the technique derives from meditation, and maybe it's easier for a practiced meditator, but I've walked a non-meditator through it to cure a tenacious case of hiccups and it worked just fine. Both my blood-giving incidents came before I'd picked up mindfulness meditation, so I haven't tried it on this particular problem. Maybe I'll attempt to give blood again and try it out.

Originally Posted by Invader

I wouldn't consider the avoidance of gore as being equal to "living under a
rock", as you put it. You can avoid it, which would be fine (and probably leave
you with a cleaner mind), or desensitize yourself to it by watching as much of it
as you can. I'd advise the former, but the choice is yours.

I try too as much as possible but some things can't be avoided like having to go see my grandpa who is in the hospital and having blood drawn.

Originally Posted by slash112

wow lucky you werent there or werent there when i was hit in the face with a drainpipe. blood was gushing from my face then, i mean a lot of blood.

but about the fainting, maybe try to pretend to yourself that you dont care about the blood. i pretend i dont care about things that make me feel bad in some way

I wouldn't be in good shape there. I have also tried laughing at it too, no luck yet

Originally Posted by Jimmehboi

Despite the fact that your issue effects almost everybody on some level, it is unfortunately you experience such a great deal of stress from such a small amount of bother. I experience extreme amounts of anxiety when in large crowds such as at clubs, and I find that it normally makes all the symptoms far worse when you let it get to you.

Whenever you are in a situation where you feel you may loose yourself, just relax and understand that it's a chance to overcome your problem rather than a problem which you need to solve. Although it doesn't comepletely relate to this, practice DOES make perfect, it may take you a while to get used to it.

Yeah hopefully it won't phase me later in the years.

Originally Posted by sunshineDaydream

Generally, when I feel faint, I try to think to myself that I need to get control of my body, and go somewhere with a cool breeze, drink some water, and concentrate on my breathing.

Water does help, sometimes I can't always get it though. I can try to imagine myself somewhere else because most of the time it hits without warning and if I get up it gets 3x as bad :l

Originally Posted by Taosaur

I've had the same experience twice in relation to giving blood. Once, at a high school assembly when we were being told about giving blood, with no pictures or anything, I just went kind of numb and clammy with a ringing in my ears and everything seemed very far away and unreal for about ten minutes. The one time I actually tried to give blood, almost as soon as the needle was in my arm, I turned to the nurse and asked, "Should I be this dizz-" and the next thing I knew I was on my back with my feet in the air and people standing around me. Blood in other contexts doesn't bother me, nor do needles, nor was I all that emotionally anxious in either of these situations--something just tripped a breaker and I went into a shock state, somewhat similar to experiencing vertigo.

What I would suggest is a technique I use for vertigo and hiccups (I've cured someone else's hiccups by talking them through this method, too). It seems to be effective with pretty much any involuntary response that's getting out of control. When you feel the response coming on, close your eyes and breathe normally--let your breath do whatever it wants to, whether fast or slow, deep or shallow, whatever. Observe the sensations of feeling feint; experience them fully, but you don't have to analyze them or try to stop them--you know trying to stop them doesn't work, so why would you bother? Just see what happens.

Obviously the technique derives from meditation, and maybe it's easier for a practiced meditator, but I've walked a non-meditator through it to cure a tenacious case of hiccups and it worked just fine. Both my blood-giving incidents came before I'd picked up mindfulness meditation, so I haven't tried it on this particular problem. Maybe I'll attempt to give blood again and try it out.

I'll definitely give this a go as well. This is a win-win for me because I also experience vertigo and some major hiccups.




-
I remembered if there isn't pictures I get like to some extent, but nothing like the others... I was listening to 911 calls and then I started getting dizzy so I turned it off right away.

---
I'm just writing when I passed out/almost passed out and maybe someone can confirm that it is what I saw and not something else.

1. 2nd grade, I jarred my thumb playing tether ball. I was walking and then I was very dizzy. They saw me and noticed my face was very pale and took me to get some water.. I layed down and I think I lost consciousness for about a few seconds.

2. 2nd grade, going into third. An old lady tripped at she knocked some teeth out and there was blood on the ground, I told my dad I was dizzy and he took me outside.

3. 6th grade, I went to get my blood drawn and I passed out.

4. 7th grade, movie they showed about drunk driving, I knew it was fake but I still couldn't take it.

5. My grandpa in the hospital, although he wasn't bloody.

6. 8th grade, same movie, same problem.

7. Going into 10th grade (This summer) Drivers Ed

8. Same

9. Final Destination trailer. I started to feel clammy after.

10. Bill O' Reilly showed that commercial where teens gotten in a car accident.

11. Yesterday, I tried to go back and watch that accident thing again.

Originally Posted by hellohihello

I would of been out.

did you mean would have been?

seeing blood has no physical repercussions. -- it can have a psychological effect however. the best medicine is exposure. the more you see, the less you care. just like hihello's grammar. zing.

-jacob

i'm going to expand on that answer here...

fainting is generally caused by a drop in blood pressure, low/high blood sugar or low spo2 levels.

seeing blood cannot cause any of these. grow a pair.

Originally Posted by jacobo

did you mean would have been?

seeing blood has no physical repercussions. -- it can have a psychological effect however. the best medicine is exposure. the more you see, the less you care. just like hihello's grammar. zing.

-jacob

Originally Posted by jacobo

i'm going to expand on that answer here...

fainting is generally caused by a drop in blood pressure, low/high blood sugar or low spo2 levels.

seeing blood cannot cause any of these. grow a pair.

Wow, that's a really thorough analysis except for one minor gap: for a minority of the population, seeing blood DOES lead to a drop in blood pressure that can result in fainting. Hmm, now let's really stretch here and consider how a drop in blood pressure might be of evolutionary advantage if one is bleeding... Or, for that matter, how involuntarily playing dead might be of use in the face of a bloodletting...

Let me know if you need a diagram.

I've never had much success with not getting creeped out by blood/needles/etc, but here are some ways you can keep yourself from fainting.
-Sit/lie down
-Put your head between your knees
-Drink juice, or water if there isn't any
-Close your eyes
Most of those are... less than inconspicuous, but they've worked for me a couple times.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

Wow, that's a really thorough analysis except for one minor gap: for a minority of the population, seeing blood DOES lead to a drop in blood pressure that can result in fainting. Hmm, now let's really stretch here and consider how a drop in blood pressure might be of evolutionary advantage if one is bleeding... Or, for that matter, how involuntarily playing dead might be of use in the face of a bloodletting...

Let me know if you need a diagram.

Zing!

Your first post was decent, too, nice idea for overcoming loads of recurring involuntarily problems.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

Wow, that's a really thorough analysis except for one minor gap: for a minority of the population, seeing blood DOES lead to a drop in blood pressure that can result in fainting. Hmm, now let's really stretch here and consider how a drop in blood pressure might be of evolutionary advantage if one is bleeding... Or, for that matter, how involuntarily playing dead might be of use in the face of a bloodletting...

Let me know if you need a diagram.

i would like a diagram please... and if you could get it from an accredited source that would be super.

the only possible argument you can have is psychogenic shock... and my answer to that was and still is... "the best medicine is exposure."

a fun fact...

have you ever stood up and become light headed? that's because your blood pressure is changing.

POST SCRIPT: seeing blood has no physical effect on your blood pressure.

fun fact number two...

fainting was more formally know as 'the vapors' -- it was common to, but not limited to, privileged classes of women.

Can we get a mod in here for a triple-post clean-up on aisle two? Clean-up on aisle two.

Originally Posted by jacobo

i would like a diagram please... and if you could get it from an accredited source that would be super.

the only possible argument you can have is psychogenic shock... and my answer to that was and still is... "the best medicine is exposure."

Originally Posted by jacobo

a fun fact...

have you ever stood up and become light headed? that's because your blood pressure is changing.

POST SCRIPT: seeing blood has no physical effect on your blood pressure.

Originally Posted by jacobo

fun fact number two...

fainting was more formally know as 'the vapors' -- it was common to, but not limited to, privileged classes of women.

The impact of sensory stimuli on the central nervous system is a physical effect. Low level shock is precisely how I'd describe my experiences; the one time I experienced shock due to injury, it was essentially identical: ringing in the ears, weakness of the limbs, cold sweat, slowed cognition, and a sense of distance from people and events around me. Shock is a physiological response, which in some individuals is tied to specific sensory stimuli.

I really don't see what kind of point you're trying to make with, "seeing blood has no physical effect on your blood pressure." We know this phenomenon takes place and the physiological response is pretty damned distinct from squeamishness.

I agree that exposure--conscious experience of the condition under controlled conditions--is probably the best way to get a handle on it. It's your dismissiveness that suggests you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

Originally Posted by Taosaur

It's your dismissiveness that suggests you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

and the fact that you think there's a clinically defined low level of shock tells the same story.

shock is shock. shock is the shunting of blood from the extremities to feed the core organs.

yes i'm dismissive... but you earned it.

Originally Posted by jacobo

and the fact that you think there's a clinically defined low level of shock tells the same story.

shock is shock. shock is the shunting of blood from the extremities to feed the core organs.

yes i'm dismissive... but you earned it.

He never said there was a "clinically defined" low level of shock. If you think there's only one level of shock, you need to do a bit (coughLOT) of rethinking. Shock can be mild, severe, or anywhere in the middle.

Originally Posted by Hidden

He never said there was a "clinically defined" low level of shock. If you think there's only one level of shock, you need to do a bit (coughLOT) of rethinking. Shock can be mild, severe, or anywhere in the middle.

no.

shock is a (rigidly defined) medical term kiddo.