Fainting

[prettyballerina]

Hi, I am 11+5 with my first and am really struggling with dizziness and fainting.

I have been extremely dizzy since I was very first pregnant, it was what prompted me to take a test in the first place. This is ok and I recognise that it is a common symptom of pregnancy so it doesn't worry me too much.

But I have also been fainting at least once a week and I am petrified that I will fall and bang my head or the bump. I can normally feel it coming on, loss of vision etc, so when I am at home I make sure to sit down and put my head between my legs and I usually come round quite quickly. Yesterday I fainted very embarrassingly in the bank. Luckily I fell straight into a pot plant so I didn't hurt myself and a lovely lady got me a chair and a bottle of coke. Nonetheless I am still very worried.

I went to the doctors about a week ago and all he did was take my blood pressure and tell me it is a normal symptom of pregnancy and to increase my salt intake. I have had awful morning sickness as well so I know that low blood sugar could be a reason, but yesterday I felt better and had eaten a fry up before I left the house and almost half a packet of extra strong mints on the way to the bank. (I wouldn't normally do this but I was desperate to get as many calories as I could in whilst I didn't feel sick)

I just want to know if anybody else has had a similar experience to this, or any suggestions on how to avoid it.

[TishTosh21]

Hi ballerina,

I have felt dizzy like this as well. It is quite a common symptom i dont think there is all that much that can be done about it though unfortunately.
Its good to keep your blood sugar levels up and always eat something before leaving the house. It should ease off after a few weeks but if your still concerned go to the docs again and make sure they listen to you.
Dont stand up too quickly from sitting or laying as this makes the blood rush away from your head, also begin pg means the blood is directed to the baby so not as much will get to your head. Hope this helps!

[KembleTwins]

Hi
I had this too - my worst was in assembly at school (am secondary teacher) I just made sure I always had snacks to keep up my blood sugar, and that I used the "I'm pregant. I need to sit down" thing wherever I was if I had to queue or whatever. If it's any consolation, it didn't continue throughout the pregancy. I don't know if I just got better at dealing with it, or if it was exacerbated by morning sickness, but it defintely petered out by 15 weeks or so.

[KembleTwins]

Have just re-read and realised that you are 11+5 so maybe haven't told many people yet. Hopefully once you've "gone public" other people will be on hand to help more, doing the "let me carry that, here, have a seat" thing and so on.

[baby1onway]

i am with u on this 1!! during the 1st 20 wks or so i was fainting here there and everywhere- making the mistake of having somethin sugary each time-which apparently makes it worse!so dont grab 4the chocs. turns out i had low blood pressure and my iron levels were a little low.i fainted outside thorntons & got sum yummy chocs 4 it!!lol.only thing i can say is the min u start 2 feel slightly light headed-sit and take deep breaths, make sure ur eatin regular eg bfast, brunch,lunch,afternoon snack, tea etc.eat little and often as they say!! :D

[Dragonfly73]

i had terrible fainting episodes between 6 weeks and 10 weeks. i passed out in the middle of a pearl jam concert and on the bus plus various other near misses.

It seems to have resolved itself now (13 weeks) but the cause was very low blood pressure. My doctor gave me the same advice as you, increase salt intake which i tried to do but it didnt have that much of an effect.

My midwife suggested i try carrying dried mango around with me or a banana and if i started to feel woosy to have some. Low and behold IT WORKED!

I was extremely skeptial but it seems both mango and bananas have potassium in them which is a form of salt and will almost immediately bring you blood pressure up slightly.

also, i make sure i am not standing anywhere for more than about 5 minutes. That was always my trigger. If i was standing up for more than that then i would start to feel sick, then my vision would go and i would be on the floor.

For public transport i got a "Baby on Board" badge from TFL and i am not afraid to brandish it in peoples faces and ask them to give me a seat. I figure the alternative is them being delayed getting home while i am stretchered off the bus.

Hope that helps!

[Dragonfly73]

oooh also, if you get headspins when standing up after sitting down try to make a concious effort to cross your legs when you are seated.

It seems to stop the blood pooling in your legs and giving you headspins when you stand up.

[prettyballerina]

Thank You for all your replies very helpful, I will definitely look into buying some dried banana and mango.

Baby1 its interesting what you say about sugar, perhaps the extra strong mints were part of the problem yesterday.

Anyway its nice to know that I am not alone!

[echops]

I was dizzy and weak from 6 - 10 weeks - midwife thought it was due to my low blood pressure (I'm normally around 120 - it had dropped to 83). I was advised to drink lots of water and take it easy - infact my lovely doctor signed me off for a few weeks as I felt too strange to drive!

[katster37]

I had this too - it started at about 11 weeks and went on until about 25 ish, but was worst early on. My MW said it was a blood pressure / blood sugar thing, but mine definitely was worse when I was stood up but not walking, if you see what I mean. So queuing was a recipe for disaster. I twice fainted at the vets, and I'm sure the vet thought I was slightly odd - each time when I came round, I mumbled something about being pregnant, but I'm not sure she believed me! Try not to let yourself overheat as well, and stay sitting down where you can. I wouldn't worry too much about falling onto something, I think most of the time you would get adequate warning to crouch down or something first. I also remember standing outside Manchester Piccadilly station waiting for a friend to pick me up - I was crouching down so as not to faint, and also being sick at the same time - it was a Friday night at about 10pm and a 30 something year old bloke kindly said to me 'Oh dear... somebody's had too much - get yourself home love' I was too ill to shout 'I'm pregnant!!!' at him, but felt v embarrassed!!

[stressheaderic]

I've had this too, now 18 weeks and had very bad nausea until 15 weeks, plus lots of dizziness and feeling light headed, and a few actual fainting episodes. My blood pressure is quite low so I too was advised more salt and more sitting down.
I find it's worst when standing up in the shower, or in the stuffy and silent assembly hall (sec teacher like poster above).
I usually have a bottle of Coke or Lucozade and a bag of apple slices on my desk in school to top me up during (our stupidly long) lessons.
Thanks for the advice on bananas, I'm not mega keen on them but if it helps, I'll try it!

The best bit of advice I've read on Mumsnet is the poster who said "don't stand when you can sit, and don't sit when you can lie down" - have tried to stick to this!

[CantThinkofFunnyName]

Hi - interesting as I was about to post on this same subject, although I'm much further on. So, I'm 25+5 and my fainting started today. This is my third pg and I had the same with previous 2 DCs. It was fine in the early phases, but started in earnest in 2nd trimester - I thought I'd got away with it thus far! So - my extreme dizziness (ears going funny, cold sweats followed by complete faint if don't lie down with feet in air quickly) usually starts when I'm SITTING DOWN, hardly ever when I'm standing and has been known to come on when I'm lying down too. A most common occurrence is when Im on the loo (TMI) about to open bowels!! So that happened this morning, on the loo, husband had just left for an overseas business trip, 2 kids to get breakfasted, lunches made and off to school and I come around on the bathroom floor!!

As I say, I had this with previous pgs and every visit to GP/midwife resulted in the same "everything is fine" comments. Blood pressure always fine, sugar levels fine, iron levels fine. Not v helpful - but obviously just something my body does. And its bloody impractical, let me tell you. Got kids to school late today, and by bus as didn't trust myself to drive.

If anyone has experience of fainting this late - would appreciate their stories and whether there might be anything else I can do.

Have noted the mango and banana theories!!