to not have realised how scary it is to see/try to help someone in a fainting spell

Your right. From the description the OP gave it sounded like a simple faint and she confirmed that this was the case.
The majority of faints we see are either hypoglycaemia, patients not eating before treatment or through fear fight/flight type reaction.
We actually had a neighbour to the practice rush in yesterday asking for assistant. One of the dentists took off with the AED. Fortunately the neighbours wife was conscious when he arrived but was having a heart attack. He stayed with them until the paramedic arrived then came back. I was halfway through a treatment but would have joined him once I’d finished. We train as a team and the more hands available for CPR the better. I had already planned to join them with the oxygen and other resuss equipment. Thankfully it wasn’t needed. It’s the second time this month we’ve been called on to assist by a member of public.
With ambulance waiting times increasing it’s becoming a more common occurrence. All dental surgeries have defibrillators and oxygen. So if you are ever in need near an open dental surgery make use of it. GP surgeries also have them. They also usually come with members of staff who have been trained to use them although they are pretty straight forward mistakes can occur if you are not familiar with them.

Yes exactly this. Syncope without prodrome and while sitting needs investigation, especially with pre-existing renal issues where there may be medication which makes the BP slump.
definitely needs a trip to the GP and likely referral to TLOC clinic or whatever the equivalent is locally

It’s horrible! DS faints. And it’s really upsetting. But obviously I never show him that I’m upset!

I fainted a few times when younger and still have spells of being light-headed. Mainly down to low blood pressure and standing up too quickly. I fainted once in a nightclub when out with a group of work colleagues. I think it was the heat and being dehydrated. I could feel myself going and everything feeling fuzzy and then going black. I could hear muffled voices before I list consciousness and recognised one of my work colleagues so slightly moved in that direction and then landed on them! I think everyone around me thought I was drunk but I wasn’t

Another time I got up too quickly but managed to walk into the kitchen before collapsing on my poor mum whilst she was ironing. She desperately tried to catch me, get the dog out of the way and not manage to burn anyone with the iron!

I always felt okay afterwards and didn’t think it was a big deal and so didn’t realise how scary it must be for someone else to watch me collapse.

I’ve fainted a lot over the years but I always got a few seconds notice , enough to know I was going but not enough to do something about it . One particularly memorable occasion when I was very pregnant I was out with my late mother , fainted and in her wisdom she decided to bring me round by tipping a bottle of lemonade over my head . I have very low BP which doesn’t help .

I've fainted a handful of times, and it's scary to be the fainter too!

But I'm a bit worried he doesn't remember it at all? Did he know something had happened when he came round or did he not realise he'd missed anything? Because that sounds more like an absence seizure.

Every time I've fainted I've felt sick, then wobbly, then my vision has gone black and white then gone completely blind, my legs have lost all strength and I've felt myself start to fall, then I've woken up maybe 30 seconds later lying on the ground.

I used to be a fainter, started age 10 when the whole family had a stomach bug, woke up feeling ill, got up to tell my parents & fainted in their bedroom, then did it again 3 more times during the day. I once fainted on a school careers trip to the headquarters of a big bank, it was a hot day & I passed out as we were walking around their computer centre. Touch wood, I haven't done it for about 20 years.

I saw my mum have a heart related seizure 2 years ago, it only lasted less than 2 minutes but was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen, by the time she came around I had already been on the phone to 999 for a minute.

Another fainter here. Once on a bus in Spain which was highly embarrassing. Another time I fainted by the side of a busy road. Not a single car driver stopped to help, despite the fact that I had two very little children with me at the time.
Fainting usually happens when I'm sick or if I get a sudden intense pain like twisting an ankle or falling. It's always deeply unpleasant. You know it's going to happen but you can't stop it.

What I've observed repeatedly is that if you faint (or fall) in public other people want to get you back up on your feet immediately - which is the worst thing to do as you need to get oxygen to your brain.

You’re right it can be quite scary. It happened to an elderly person I know whilst sat down and for a brief moment we thought they’d died.

I'm a fainter too and its an awful sensation.

Cold water on forehead and when the fainter comes around, try to run wrists under very cold water. I don't know why but it helps to stop the shaking.

Heat/standing up too quickly/tiredness/dehydration/too much sugar/too much salt and during heavy periods are all things that have caused me to faint. I fainted a lot on public transport when I was pregnant and standing up. The seats reserved for pregnant women are there for a reason

If you think it's bad to witness , well it's just awful to experience !! I am a fainter and it's horrendous .
The feeling when you know it's going to happen yet you can't do anything .
Racing heart , sweating then feeling cold , feeling of being about to throw up , sometimes ringing in your ears / pins and needles and next I am on the ground !!! I recover consciousness immediately though.
I tend to remain shaky for the day .
Hope you all feel better soon . It's all quite dramatic really .
I have fainted twice on early morning EasyJet flights . Embarrassing .

Im a low BP fainter - not sure if that's the typical type? I have to get up v slowly in the morning and drink lots of fluids first. I have warning signs, I start to feel fuzzy and then get impending doom feelings and then I blackout, collapse and vomit. I go grey and sweat profusely and shake.

Mostly I can avoid it by laying down, feet up, if i fewl it starting, and preparation for mornings. Last time I fainted was 2 months ago after an enema (hospital for sigmoidoscopy), they had to give me IVs and the nasal oxygen. Its the feeling of dread that really bothers me the most.

I tend to feel nauseous before I faint, and am aware of feeling off beforehand- but I suppose he could have put these feelings down to being in a stuffy hot room.

PS I’m a fainter myself. It really is awful!

Yes, I’m a doctor and my reply was based on medical guidelines

The OP didn’t mention any symptoms preceding the collapse, hence my question ‘did he collapse without warning?

Someone who has collapsed without warning cannot drive for 6 months or until the problem is diagnosed and treated.

True vasovagal syncope aka ‘fainting’ is of course different. The subsequent OP post saying the room was very hot does make it being a faint more likely, but he’d need to have had prodromal symptoms for anyone to say it was that.

Oh yes that's another one I've done. Weirdly though I was the first of four or five people at that session to faint. No idea what they were doing that day

Has it happened to him before? I have fainted a small number of times, so not a regular fainter, but usually now I can recognise the feeling coming on so get myself in to a safe position or sit with my head down until the feeling wears off.

The worst for me was fainting at the top of the stairs and falling down them. I know that a trigger for me is if I am woken very suddenly in the night and jump out of bed to react. The faint doesn't happen straight away but can come on a minute or so later. That's how I fell down the stairs after getting up to see to DD who was ill in the night. Another time our burglar alarm went off and I ran down to investigate. Thankfully that time I was at the bottom of the stairs and recognised the feeling coming on so got myself on a safe sitting position to recover.

Another time for me I was overcome by heat in a restaurant in Spain. Fortunately the chef was an ex paramedic and he found me a nice couch under a fan and I lay there whole DH and DD finished their meal!

I'm glad he was okay! It is horrible to see though. I once saw a lady faint after giving blood and it's (very sadly) put me off donating again.

@Doctor1988 @Angrymum22 You're both kind of right. The DVLA distinguishes between syncope with prodrome and syncope without prodrome. Broadly speaking, if you have “warning signs” before you faint (feeling faint, dizzy, shaky etc), and so have enough time to pull over, then you can drive, while if you don’t you can’t. They also distinguish between syncope while sitting and standing, with sitting obviously being more dangerous while driving. This is the DVLA handbook for healthcare professionals which explains it in more detail-syncope is from p23. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66c8b0d0e39a8536eac052f4/assessing-fitness-to-drive-august-2024.pdf

One of my kids used to faint regularly from aged two to about 8 which was scary the first couple of times, but I got used to dealing with it. This summer DH and I were visiting a NT-type house and were up in the attics when he said he didn't feel well....and sat on a low wall. Then his eyes rolled up and he was out for the count. Fortunately he was sitting not standing as he's 15 stone and 6'2. I yelled "help" and people rallied round..... he was in and out of it for about half an hour..... But the passing doctor and staff were really good, presumably the staff train for such situations and eventually they evacuated us and we went and had a walk in the fresh air and some food (he'd had his breakfast so it wasn't low blood sugar) and although he didn't feel 100% for a while he's been fine since..... We reckon it was the heat and the enclosed space. But yes, op, it is absolutely terrifying to see your DH pass out.

I was a fainter from a child to my 40s. Now I have epilepsy so sometimes lose consciousness then too although it’s different.

With fainting I always knew I was going to faint and then passed out for maybe 30 seconds. Being out for 2 mins is a long time.

usually it was from standing up in school assembly, being ill, banging my funny bone, getting up quickly!!
You need your head lower than your heart so the blood goes back quickly to your brain. That’s why if you feel faint it’s sit on floor w head between your legs.

Utter rubbish. As a dentist I’ve seen hundreds of fainting episodes for all sorts of reasons. Not once has anyone had their licence taken off them.
I suspect you are confused with seizures.

It might be a good idea for your DH to be checked over by his GP OP. Particularly if he is not prone to fainting.

People faint if they have low blood sugar, low blood pressure, possibly anaemia. My DH was prone to postural hypotension, feeling faint when he stood up quickly, and when he started having mild TIAs he first thought that they were just dizzy spells from standing too quickly. He then had a full stroke. We don’t know if his blood pressure was high before hand since he’d had no symptoms, but it’s possible. It did happen a few months after having Covid and it does appear to be a risk factor albeit rare.

When he started having dizzy spells I did urge him to see his GP and suggested it could be early signs of something more serious, but despite my qualifications he generally dismisses my concerns. He tends to take more notice now funnily enough.

Your GP will be happy to check him out. Make he writes down an account of what led up to it. Better to be cautious.

As for fainting it can be very alarming. Occasionally sudden lack of oxygen to the brain can cause non-epileptic seizures. I had one patient who had such violent seizures he pull a load of muscles in his back. We had to call an ambulance because everytime he came round and tried to move the pain caused him to faint again. It took over an hour for the paramedics to move him and they had to give him gas and air to try and get him to relax. My DSis, also a dentist, was taking a tooth out of a child and their DF fainted, cut his head open on the corner of the work surface and needed several stitches. I now check all parents before we start and we discourage people accompanying adult patients unless absolutely necessary.

The first thing you should do is lie them flat and raise the legs. Holding them up just slows recovery. It’s easy in a dental chair but not so easy in other situations.