What could have caused DD to faint? And should I worry about it?

[BarkandCheese]

This morning DD was in the kitchen making herself toast, she suddenly said she felt ill and didn’t want to eat, I told her fine and to come a sit down for a bit. The next moment DH was helping her into the living room, and she honestly looked like a zombie. Her face was grey, her lips were blue, her pupils were fully dilated, she was shaking and holding her hands out in front of her like she was walking in the pitch black (she explained later she couldn’t see at the time).

DH put her on the sofa, she briefly fainted, then came round as we elevated her legs. Within a minute her colour and eyes were back to normal and she could see again.

She was clammy and queasy for the next hour or so, then she completely recovered, to the extent that by lunchtime I took her out to buy her new summer clothes. She’s been totally fine all day.

She’s 11, in good health, no medication, no recent head injuries. She’s had a busy week but she’s also had plenty of sleep and downtime. This was completely out of the blue, I don’t feel it’s worth going to the GP for a one off (will go if it happens again). Any thoughts as to why it happened and should I be more concerned?

I think you should definitely go to GP tomorrow. It could be for number of reasons and some of them could be really serious. I’m from “better to be safe than sorry” brigade.

I fainted when I was that age. I think it's just because I was too hot though at the time it happened, could that have been why?

I would take her to your GP, DD10 has had a couple of fainting episodes, normally when she's hot and has been standing, she had a blood test, not sure what for, but it was normal, GP says more than likely hormones. Best to take her for reassurance.

Has she started her periods? I got this on the heaviest day of my period up until I was 18 or so.

I don’t think she was too hot, she was only wearing pyjamas and it was too early for the kitchen to be getting the sun. It’s generally a bit cold in there in the morning. There’s no way I’ll be able to get a GP’s appointment tomorrow, but I might manage one for the end of the week.

At that age I fainted a fair bit normally from being too hot but also a few times on my period and once through the pain of having my crusty infected ear piercing removed.

She hasn’t started her periods yet, however I don’t think it’ll be long before she does. I did wonder about this but she hasn’t complained of stomach ache at all.

I was a serial fainter between the ages of 11 to about 14 - I don't know if it was hormones or what, but it suddenly just stopped (although I still tend towards low blood pressure, if that's relevant). I do think you should probably get it checked out - but don't fret about it.

My dd started fainting at about 9/10 and it was undiagnosed coeliacs making her ill . Hope your dd feels better soon , fainting is scary .

The blue lips are concerning, please take her to the GP explain the symptoms you may get an emergency appointment.

I had these kind of spells when I started my periods for a few years, although I never actually fainted I was close. When I asked a GP they said they were linked to a sudden surge or drop in hormone levels.
It's probably worth a trip to the GP to rule anything else out, but given her age it may be hormone related.

My daughter has had a similar episode. I took her to the doctor , who said fainting is very common in teenage girls. The most important thing to tell her is to sit down, of she ever feels weird again. You should get her checked asap though.

Definitely take a child to the gp after a loss of consciousness. There could be any number of simple explanations but she needs checking over.

very common

I am prone to fainting and have had a whole bunch of investigations to rule out serious possible causes.

The loss of eyesight and all the other signs you mention are completely normal just before a faint - if any of those signs ever happen again she needs to get down flat immediately, ideally with legs elevated, where ever she is at the time (ie don’t try to walk anywhere, just get on the floor there and then).

There is a very long list of possible triggers for faints and they vary hugely from person to person - dehydration, being on your period, standing up for too long, sight of blood, coughing, being too hot, stress, anxiety, having an infection, multiple different heart problems, neurological problems and many more. If there was no obvious cause, then I’d take her to the GP, who may refer her to neurology and/or cardiology to rule out anything serious, or may just ask you to keep an eye on it.

If you’re interested, there’s a Facebook group called Living with Vasovagal Syncope (medical term for fainting), which has 1000s of people who suffer from regular faints. Also www.stopfainting.com has lots of useful info - it’s a website put together by the specialist fainting clinic at Hammersmith hospital in London.

Has she had a recent growth spurt? My son had a couple of episodes quite recently and has been thoroughly checked out by a paediatrician and they can't find anything so have put it down to a massive growth spurt he's had.