Daughter feeling faint all the time

[Shitshower]

So, DD (18) has always been healthy. This situation has started with 6th form, and for some reason she is getting anxious over school (she doesn’t know why)
School have put her in touch with mental health team etc.

She feels faint/light headed all the time, including when sitting down. She saw the Dr without me and was basically fobbed off, but did have a blood test, which showed a very slight raised white blood cells count and nothing else, in fact she appears bloodwork wise to be very healthy. The Dr told her that her BP did drop sightly when she stood, but nothing major

Explained to the Dr on the phone when getting results that she still feels faint all the time and got the equivalent of a shrug.

This is now impacting her a lot, so I am going to get her back to the Dr but with me in tow this time, so she can’t be fobbed off with “make sure you’re having salt and try to relax”

I suspect a lot of this is anxiety, but she is now saying she’s getting pains in her chest when she’s laying bed, which is a new thing (again I appreciate it’s likely a symptom of anxiety) but I just want take sure I ask for the right things to be checked before they suggest ADs or similar, I assume a ECG may be sensible, but anything else I can ask to be looked at?

Just to add, she is ill all the time at the minute, one cough/cold after another for months.

I hoped her bloods would give a clue, but they don’t

It could be Pots?
Has her blood pressure been measured?
Also do you have her blood results to check yourself rather than just relying on the Doctors interpretation.

It doesn't sound like she was fobbed off, she's had blood tests which have shown signs of infection which you already knew from her being ill all the time. How normal were her results? If she's the low end of normal for iron etc she may still benefit a lot from a supplement.

Anaemia or borderline? Underweight? Anxiety can make you feel faint and cause chest pains (panic attacks).

OP my very healthy teen had this gor a few weeks. She felt light-headed and near faint all the time and couldn't do anything. She even spent a night in hospital because she became so weak. It was some form of a chest infection that caused it, although the doctors were very unclear about it. Two courses of antibiotics cured it and she's back to normal.

POTS?

So, she’s not underweight at all.
I don’t know what POTS is.
Dr said (to her) her BP was fine.
Bloods wise I don’t have the results but I did query if she was borderline anaemic and Dr said she actually had very good results.
Her white blood cells were slightly raised (ie if 10 is right then hers were 11)

Unfortunately this has been going on for about 3 months now, and over the last few days she’s been getting unwell again, today she was messaging from school that she constantly felt faint.

I do feel she was fobbed off, she listed all the anxiety she has and got told to organise herself better and not avoid things. DD is quite anal at the best of times, and told the Dr it wasn’t a case of not being organised, but Dr ignored her.

She also looks unwell.

Blood pressure drops when she stands?

Does she drink enough? - 3 litres every day, most of it in the morning
Does she eat enough salt? Like a lot of salt?

https://stopfainting.com/

I saw the consultant who created this info resource, having 2 teaspoons of salt every morning was transformational, I actually felt well for the first time in years.

Dr said it dropped a tiny bit when standing, but not much. She feels faint when sitting/standing/lying down, it’s almost constant.

We do use salt, I cook with it etc, the Dr advised her to have enough salt when she was there, but I don’t know how much they mean? We aren’t salt free by any means

I’m sure it’s not but worth checking Addisons Disease. My daughter felt faint all the time, lost weight and was generally very unwell. It took ages to diagnose and the first thing the doctor said was anxiety. It should show on a blood test but worth checking.

It took me all of 5 seconds to Google POTS and find out what it was.
If you're going to ask for advice, at least do the bare minimum when people have taken the time to reply.

Sounds like she's pregnant

Thanks for the uncalled rudeness.

Yes it does take 5 minutes, and I will look it up but currently I’m on here. I didn’t say anything shitty, just that I don’t know what it is. But thanks for your help 👍

@Raynexxbow definitely not pregnant.

Can you take her to a private provider for a full health check up? Her symptoms could well be anxiety but it would be helpful to rule out any physical cause.

You could also get the Calm App on her phone, there are really good meditations on there that help with anxiety, stress, panic and sleep. It teaches you really helpful breathing exercises which calm the nervous system and can make a real difference.

If it is anxiety, the physical symptoms are very real and can be debilitating. It's not acceptable for the GP to fob her off. You can ask for a referral to a mental health professional.

Heavy periods, low ferratin? POTS?

Likely the anxiety. My anxiety makes me feel quite light headed and spacey. The main thing is to address the anxiety. Other things that may help in the meantime: taking supplements for anything that’s towards the lower end of normal eg: iron, drinking plenty of water (possibly some with electrolytes), eating regularly and healthy foods (avoid fasting, ultra processed foods, snacking on chips/chocolate, etc).

I had similar when I was 18, I fainted a few times. It was low blood pressure, you might need to take a few readings though.
I found out about mine from my Saturday job in a pharmacy. We had a delivery of blood pressure monitors to check. Pharmacist tested them on me and thought the first few were faulty. He told me to see a G.P.

Ensure she eats regularly, a proper breakfast, water. I used to skip breakfast and just eat lunch, sometimes.

Thankyou everyone. She is back at the DR later after having been unwell and coming up covered in hives.
So I will see what the Dr says