AIBU to feel shaken after being criticised for blacking out at the airport?

[doorss]

Last night I returned back from a foreign holiday last night. I went with my parents and my godmother

At the foreign airport, DM cut her leg badly somehow with the either a luggage trolley or the barriers around the trolley park. Blood going everywhere. I have a phobia of blood and blacked out almost immediately. A couple of passengers ran into the terminal getting help. Whilst DF and GodM were getting tissues they had in their hand luggage. Another woman went up to my GodM and looked at me saying I’m a disgrace.

DM got first aid attention and was taken around the airport with assistance (airport was quiet). I recovered.

The four of us had a coffee, past security, and I went to the toilets with GodM. The woman who said I was a disgrace was there. She had a go at me. I said I have a blood phobia. She said I don’t care!

This woman’s attitude was horrible. I am not sure which flight she went on. She could have been on my flight- sitting on the opposite end of the plane.

I am still shaking from this woman’s attitude. I may not see her again.

Completely concur with you, she most surely sounds horrible & unsympathetic 💚

Hope your Mum is okay OP. Don't give that woman another thought!

I have a weird reaction to blood/injury too. On the very rare occasion its been serious/child-related (DS2 whacking his head on a coffee table and needing stitches being one of em) then adrenaline kicks in and I can cope fine and jump into action.

Yet smaller thimgs,I genuinely get sick and dizzy.My Dad cut his finger on a wine glass a few weeks ago and I nearly fainted. It just looked so painful!

The mouthy woman is a complete dickhead. Just ignore her.

What a peculiar reaction to seeing someone faint, I’ve only passed out once in my life, in a bus station, and when I came around the onlookers were only concerned people who wanted to make sure I was ok.

I work at the national blood service. We literally have bags of blood around us all day long. We’ve had several new staff members feint on their first day over the years. Blood is a known trigger of feints.

Don’t feel bad OP. You definitely could not help it. And the woman you encountered was just a b for saying what she did. I hope Karma finds her.

What a bitch. It’s hardly your fault. I’m the exact same - I pass out and I cannot control it.

I feel bad for my gut reaction to this and all the messages here. Im clearly a bit of a dick too. But initially I rolled my eyes and just thought she was probably thinking what I would have been, and stop being such a wet lettuce and making it about you. Bit of background though is that my DM is like this, and would make a situation like this entirely about her - crying, puking, fake fainting - and it annoys the crap out of me. Let alone stuff that actually generally happens to her. The exaggeration and drama around it is rife.

And she is always so nauseous about everythign, slightest thing, and makes a big show of it. Its v. annoying. Anyway, thats where my prejudice is coming from. I never, ever would have challenged you about it, but I would have secretly thought, 'oh for god sake focus on your godmother not yourself, grow a backbone'. But I can see from others experiences a blood phobia is a real thing.

So yeh maybe she is a dick - just like me!

Be thankful you don’t have to live with her - someone probably has to.

Honestly ignore her she’s the definition of ignorant.

You’d think someone passed out unconscious on the floor was being a wet lettuce? Most of us really cannot help it - it’s a physiological reaction. My vision goes black, I collapse, my lips go blue and my eyes roll back in my head.

It’s important you remember that humans aren’t all the same and can’t all just shake things off. Also that unconscious people need assistance too.

It’s called vasovagal syncope. It’s a nervous system reaction.

It’s important you remember that humans aren’t all the same and can’t all just shake things off. Agree - but also some people can be an absolute nightmare and make everythign about them too!

I have two family members who literally fake allergies to make themselves more interesting. No Pam eating lamb or a sandwich won't kill you!

I just have limited tolerance for bullshit and a few family members are massive drama llamas who make even other peoples genuine dramas all about them. So I get your point, but you also have to realise that there are people out there who are being dramatic for effect. I bet your life that this woman has someone like that in her life! No excuse though.
That said, I wouldn't have acted like this woman. I may have inwardly eyerolled (which isnt cool I grant you) but I would give a complete stranger the benefit of the doubt.

Yes but those people are just saying things or flapping about. They’re not literally unconscious on the floor or white as a sheet. I just find it unusual that someone wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between someone attention seeking and someone having a medical episode.

Anyway you wouldn’t say anything so I’m not having a go I just find it strange that when I’m passing out cold there could be people thinking I’m somehow putting on a show.

My DM puts on a show of fainting, puking, tremours. To outsiders its pretty realistic I think. Not to me.

Agreed. Why did you even know about the first comment if you were passed out? The person who told you that was unhelpful. You should have just laughed at her in the toilets or looked at her like she's mad, which she is. Can't imagine letting a comment by a complete (unhinged) stranger I'll never see again affect my day in any way. Surely you don't give a fuck what some random airport woman thinks.

Passing out, no. Sounds like you can't help that. But OP managed to hear rude stranger's comment to her godmother, so who knows if she was actually passed out or just feeling woozy.
I'm afraid coupled with the comment that OP is "still shaking" about a rude comment and worrying about maybe seeing this rando again - I'm leaning towards wet lettuce too. But maybe like @seanconneryseyebrow I'm a bit of a dick.

Going against the grain this does sound a bit over the top and pathetic. Is that how you would respond to your child hurting themselves?

Haha, yeh, dicks-r-us. It does read a bit dramatic if im being completely honest. Glad Im not the only one who sees that.

@PixieTales

Several people have explained that if someone has a phobia of blood, it can cause a physiological reaction that leads to fainting. This is a mental condition that leads to a physiological response which the individual can do nothing about.

It seems very harsh to call this over the top and pathetic. The individual cannot control what happens. If you think it's OTT and pathetic, then you need to blame it on the body's physical processes, not see it as a conscious, wilful reaction by the person with the phobia.

My Dh is no drama llama but he is a fainter, always has been, his Db is exactly the same, mere sight, mention of blood or operations leave them out on the floor, Dh has caused some hilarity over the years with it though, he passed out when our dear old moggy had to be put to sleep, went down and smashed his head on a old beam (vets was a tudor building) so a trip to A&E and he passed out there as well, my first colonoscopy he passed out when the Dr was discussing the results with us ( I was the poorly person but all attention was on him😂) Passed out when someone got air sick on our holiday😂Had to lay down on the living floor after the the first few minutes of The Excorsist, despite me telling him it was fake blood, I could go on😂He really tries not to do this and certainly doesn't enjoy it, Op that woman was a nutcase, ignore ignore ignore!

This woman is horrific. My DM has fainted on seeing blood before.

It’s actually embarrassing, what if that were here children? Grow the hell up it’s a bit of blood. The dramatics are cringey.

My DM has this same phobia. Luckily she’s managed not to faint when me and DB had accidents involving blood.

She needs to manage her mental health issue and not project it onto her children.

@PixieTales

It's not a case of the person growing up. They have a condition. As has already been explained to you, the fainting is something they cannot control.

It would be reasonable to suggest that the OP consider getting some help/treatment for her phobia. But it is unkind to tell her she's pathetic when she has zero control over how her body will react in this situation. She has a phobia. These are extreme fears. She didn't choose to faint; her body did that by itself.