Don't try to diagnose yourself; seek immediate medical attention if you lose consciousness. Fainting can be alarming, and it should be. While often the cause of fainting is something minor, fainting also can be a sign of a serious underlying medical concern.
This can be caused by a variety of conditions, some of which are very serious. If you faint, even for a few seconds, you should visit one of Emergency Hospital System's emergency rooms as soon as possible to be evaluated by one of our physicians.
Most fainting spells are nothing to worry about. But talk to a healthcare provider if you lose consciousness repeatedly or have any other symptoms. Finding the cause can help you take action to prevent future fainting spells.
More often fainting does not necessarily need emergency care if a patient regains consciousness within a minute. But you can opt for emergency care if you are seeing any symptoms that can be life-threatening or you are already in some critical condition and fainted while in it.
Most unexplained blackouts are caused by syncope
Many people, including doctors, assume that blackouts are due to epileptic seizures, but much more commonly they are due to syncope (pronounced sin-co-pee) – a type of blackout which is caused by a problem in the regulation of blood pressure or sometimes with the heart.
Often there is prolonged fatigue after a faint. Symptoms that are more worrying, and suggest the collapse may not be just a simple faint are: Chest pain, severe breathlessness or severe headache before collapsing. Fitting with stiffness and/or jerky movements immediately on collapsing.
Immediate action required: Call 999 if:
Someone faints and they: are not breathing.
If someone else faints
Loosen belts, collars or other tight clothing. To reduce the chance of fainting again, don't get the person up too fast. If the person doesn't regain consciousness within one minute, call 911 or your local emergency number. Check for breathing.
In addition to these immediate dangers and possible trauma, there are also long-term health consequences from blacking out. Heavy drinking to the point of blacking out can cause degenerative problems and have lasting effects on the brain.
Some people use the terms blackout and fainting interchangeably, but they are different things. A blackout is a loss of memory. Fainting, also called passing out, is a loss of consciousness. Both of these can have several different causes.
Before fainting, you may have sweaty palms, dizziness, lightheadedness, problems seeing, or nausea. In young people, the problem usually has no serious cause, though falls related to fainting can lead to injury. But in some cases, it can be due to an underlying heart problem that is more concerning.
Most fainting will pass quickly and won't be serious. Usually, a fainting episode will only last a few seconds, although it will make the person feel unwell and recovery may take several minutes. If a person doesn't recover quickly, always seek urgent medical attention.
Fainting results from a lack of oxygen to the brain, while shock is caused by an inadequate supply of both oxygen and blood to organs and tissues throughout the body.
lightheadedness. sweating. changes to your breathing, such as breathing faster and deeply.
When a person does faint, lying down restores blood flow to the brain. Consciousness should return fairly quickly. You might not feel normal for a little while after you faint. You might feel depressed or fatigued for a short time.
A blackout is not the same as “passing out,” which means either falling asleep or losing consciousness from drinking too much. During a blackout, a person is still awake but their brain is not creating new memories.
A blackout generally does not mean that you have damaged your brain. However, long-term brain damage is a side effect of alcohol use. If a person builds a tolerance to alcohol and blacks out often from drinking, this can be harmful. They may show symptoms that mimic memory loss with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
Syncope (SINK-a-pee) is another word for fainting or passing out. Someone is considered to have syncope if they become unconscious and go limp, then soon recover. For most people, syncope occurs once in a great while, if ever, and is not a sign of serious illness.
Medically reviewed by Marilyn Folk, BScN. Feel like passing out, including feeling faint or that you might suddenly blackout is a common symptom of anxiety disorder, including generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and others.
A blackout, or transient loss of consciousness (T‐LOC) occurs because there is: a disorder of the circulation—syncope; a disorder of the brain—epilepsy (or other rare neurological condition); a disorder of the psyche—psychogenic seizures.
If you have a blackout, you lose consciousness temporarily. Before that, you may: fall down. have blurred vision.