Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think my DS is over egging the illness ?

40 replies

creamola · 02/08/2011 06:14

DS1 .......just turned 18

has a real health issue that has been around for 3 weeks or so .

However , the fainting at the doctor today on a having a blood sample taken was a bit much.

I feel like a bad mum because after I got called through i said 'get up....there is nothing wrong with you'

Three weeks of 'oh i'm dying' ...........is it because his male ?

should I have been more sympathic?

OP posts:
twolittlekittens · 02/08/2011 06:21

Possibly you should. My DH returned from Thailand feeling chipper, we moved to England and he started to fade. I was initially dismissive of it all but he was diagnosed with malaria yesterday so we are off to the doctor again today to find out what treatment he needs.

Original poster
creamola · 02/08/2011 06:24

oh i hope he is ok .....

my ds1 has moved out of edinburgh in weeks though

OP posts:
fastweb · 02/08/2011 06:28

Are you suspicious that the faint wasn't real ?

A careful landing and no wetting of self ?

(incidentally, how come they never mentioned that lovely little side effect of passing out in all the "swoon" romances, was MORTIFIED when i came around in a fucking self created puddle)

If not, perhaps the faint was connect to having blood taken, some people go woosey.

Is there something looming that perhaps he doesn't want to face ?

But don't exclude the possibility of something organic unless you are SURE he is laying it on with a trowel. I got deeply upset after I was left in a very bad way after a nasty bout of flu and everybody just assumed it must be a fit of the drama. I felt awful for ages and feeling got at didn't exactly help.

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 02/08/2011 06:33

My DH faints quite often and never wees himself though, and he's definately out of it as his head smashes against the pavement/wall etc.

Changing2011 · 02/08/2011 06:35

I faint when blood is taken, if he is not normally poorly I think you are being a little harsh on him.

fastweb · 02/08/2011 06:39

and never wees himself though

That is so not fair.

Perhaps the doc made it up about wetting yourself being the norm to make me feel better ?

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 02/08/2011 06:43

fastweb I didn't realise it was that common a thing. I know epileptics do it, perhaps you have to be out for longer or something. My DH does usually vomit though which is very scary. Unconscious combined with vomit!

fastweb · 02/08/2011 06:47

For the first time ever I looked it up.

Bloody doctor HE LIE !!!

It is a rarer thing to happen and more indicative of a seizure than a simple faint.

I remember leaving the table saying "let's go cos I really need the loo" before I keeled, so maybe I just got unlucky to faint with an full bladder ?

Glad i didn't vomit though, that is a far more scary.

mousesma · 02/08/2011 06:47

I think you should have been a bit more sympathetic, apart from anything else I bet he was quite embarassed about fainting.

You sound like me, I am rubbish around ill people too and I find them annoying if they don't just pull themselves together and get on with it. Not sure thats a great character trait though :)

wonkylegs · 02/08/2011 06:48

I've fainted loads of times and have never wet myself - I have woken up with some nasty bruises tho and once managed to land so I blocked oxygen flow to my brain, subsequently making me have a fit.
Fainting is often dismissed as trivial but it can indicate something more serious.
Please give him the benefit of the doubt. I've had some serious illnesses over the years most of which turned out to be linked to my diagnosis with a serious auto immune disease, 12yrs ago although the illnesses go back to being a teenager. I never received support from my mother and it has soured my relationship with her.

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 02/08/2011 06:49

That's weird you say that because my DH usually leaves the table saying he needs to vomit! . . . faint! PUKE! all over himself, and everyone within puking reach!

Weeing must be embarrassing though!

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 02/08/2011 06:50

Sorry that was for fastweb

proudfoot · 02/08/2011 06:54

YABU

Why can't you just give him a bit of sympathy?

tawrag · 02/08/2011 06:55

Fainting is dead embarassing (culturally) for a boy! But in fact a lot of people go woozy when giving blood, statistically more men than women. Maybe you could tell him that so he feels OK. He might think a faint is more serious than it is if he's never fainted before.
Illness tests: is he eating, sleeping normally? If so, he's not ill ? not ill enough for it to matter, anyhow.

exoticfruits · 02/08/2011 06:56

I think that when anyone is ill they just want to be cosseted.

fastweb · 02/08/2011 06:58

Weeing must be embarrassing though!

It was.

My friend was more concerned that the first faint was at the side of the road, but I went down again halfway across. Which you don't want to do in Bangkok, the driving being what it is at the best of time WITHOUT people flopping around in the middle of the road.

Obviously me with my priorities a little skewed at the time I was much more upset about wetting myself in public.

Been phobic about ever fainting again, and run to the loo if I get a bit dizzy, but (touch wood) I've never keeled over since.

Is the exertion of the vomiting causing the faint, or is the vomiting caused by the fainting ?

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 02/08/2011 07:12

fastweb My DH has fainted in the road before but that was in Shepherds Bush.

The fainting and vomiting seem to be linked but not sure which causes the other. The dr thinks his blood pressure drops suddenly, particularly when he is hungry. So if he doesn't eat for a while and then does, all the blood (they think) rushes from his head to his stomach. He then starts sweating and feeling sick and dizzy. Unless he can cool off VERY quickly (usually can't) then he will pass out and often be sick too but not always. He also has stomach problems which don't help. He's seen a Neurologist and Dr etc but they say that it's a bit weird but just the way he is.

Once in a posh restaurant (the only one we ever went to) he landed on the table next to ours sending food flying up the walls! People were screaming, it was horrendous.

Not surprised that you are a bit phobic about it! My DH had an incident about 2 months ago which really scared him and he really had to fight the feeling of not wanting to go out again because of it.

fastweb · 02/08/2011 07:23

The dr thinks his blood pressure drops suddenly, particularly when he is hungry

That sounds like something my son has going on. He passes out if I don't keep him regularly topped up with a snack.

We have no answers at this point, he has even been tested for epilepsy because back when he was very small it manifested as a petite mal one time.

He feels like he is going to be sick, but doesn't actually throw up. Doesn't completely faint or lose total consciousness either, but still goes down like a stone.

Poor kid is a bit paranoid about going anyway without some kind of food or drink in easy reach, just in case.

Stress seems to be tightly connected to the sudden blood sugar depletion\blood pressure drop

He went down like a ton of bricks in church cos the stress of being there so soon after his grandfather's funeral had a massive impact, and he had skimped at lunchtime. So double whammy.

And he wet himself (like mother, like son) in front of all his friends. So we have a bit of a vicious cycle of being stressed out because he is afraid of the half faints, which makes one more likely.

Mitmoo · 02/08/2011 08:37

It's not as if he fainted on purpose, and he's been ill for three weeks.

Yes more sympathy would have been nice.

Poweredbypepsi · 02/08/2011 08:42

poor thing, could be related to the illness or just having blood taken.
My dad faints everytime he has blood taken he is a heamatologist! so he spends everyday messing with other peoples blood - but the sight of a tiny needle full of his own sets him off.

Poweredbypepsi · 02/08/2011 08:43

oh and i do think you should be more sympathetic it scary fainting or even feeling like you are going to faint.

biddysmama · 02/08/2011 08:50

i fant sometimes when i have blood tests, especially if its early morning and i stupidly havent eaten.. ive fainted a few times, usually while pregnant and never wet myself Confused i do always wet my self when im sick tho Blush

OhYouBadBadKitten · 02/08/2011 08:59

has he had any other feeling faints recently? If it is something that reoccurs and the bloods don't show anything then I'd ask (out of his ear shot!) for an ecg to be done as a ruling out stuff test.

WhoseGotMyEyebrows · 02/08/2011 13:53

fastweb So you and your son both faint and he was suspected of petite mal? . . . My DH and his mother both faint and her sister was diagnosed with petite mal!

fastweb · 02/08/2011 14:34

I only fainted the twice, on the same road, within a 20 min time frame. Turned out I was pregnant.

DS had a petit mal at just under 2 years old after a puke virus. He had no temp but when they did the wee test it went the strongest colour pink (the one you do on the all protein, no carb diet) mainly cos he'd eaten almost nothing for 36 hours. He was tested for epilepsy and because there was no fever he was admitted for a week for obs. Since then if he gets really stressed out or scared and\or skimps on a meal or forgets a snack and runs around like a mad thing he has these sudden half faints.

Doesn't happen often, maybe once or twice a year, but I'd really like to know what the hell it is all about.

I'm thinking about asking MILs diabetic doc to look him over. Everybody told me he would grow out of it, but he is 11 in a few days and it is still going on. I can't help feeling it's some kind of blood sugar thing, even though his ped says I'm barking up the wrong tree.

We manage it fine, but ...I just don't like not knowing why this happens to him.