What just happened !?

[redandchecker]

I'm at the gym, was talking to instructor about what exercises are safe now all my scares are over and i can come back. Tonight, I'm just going for a swim.

Mid conversation my vision went blury and an overwhelming sense of heat came over me and went all prickly on my skin. I started to feel disorientated so asked for a bottle of water and on my way to grab it knocked over a stand and broke it! I then went deaf and lost my hearing for a few minutes.

I'm sat down now with a bottle of water, it was really scary and I'm also really embarrassed to go back out there! WTF was that - pregnancy/hormone related I feel awful still but better now I'm sat down. Anyone had This?

Fainting / low blood pressure?

You felt faint. Could be low bp so get it checked out.

You were fainting. I had this several times in my second trimester. Mine was always low blood pressure and very often exacerbated by changes in temperature. You should tell your mw.

How are you now?

I had very low bp during my pregnancy and regularly had to sit down on the floor wherever I was (work/middle of the supermarket etc) to stop from fainting. Felt exactly like this.

Pop off to see your mw and get checked out.

Thank you for answers. Never fainted before so just was very scary experience actually!

I had lots of shakiness in first trimester so MW checked blood pressure and said it was perfect. Maybe it could have changed - I'll get it checked again.

I'm feeling back to normal now! Phew

Red, blood pressure can drop very suddenly, making you feel faint, or faint outright. A simple faint can be triggered by all sorts, but if y were at the gym it could be dehydration, being too warm, standing for too long, fatigue, pain, etc. the vagus nerve regulates your blood pressure, making it increase when you stand up vs lie down, for example. Sometimes it goes wonky and let's your BP drop, resulting in the feelings you described as the blood can't pump sufficiently to your brain. It usually corrects itself once you sit or lie down for a few minutes, drink water, etc. this is why your MW would say your BP is fine. If you were being monitored as you felt faint it would be a different story.

I used to faint fairly often through university tend afterwards! but then didn't have an episode for a couple years. Since being pregnant it's nearly happened 3 times. Always when I've been stood for too long and/or dehydrated, but for different people it will be a different trigger.

Just to add I got this a lot when dehydrated make sure you are drinking enough and constantly have water with you in case you start to feel dizzy again

It could also have been a panic attack, especially if you have had a few pregnancy-related scares recently. I sometimes get panic attacks when the immediate source of the anxiety has passed. Discussing it with your instructor might have been a trigger.

The symptoms of my panic attacks are slightly different but in severe cases I can feel partially paralysed. I always feel disorientated afterwards, the sort of feeling you'd have if you woke up in public from a deep sleep.

Just a possible alternative explanation! Neither one is very nice for you

I was at the gym, yes but wasn't dehydrated or in pain as I hadn't been exercising. I had eaten less than 2 hours ago followed by water and some fruit juice.

I think the room was very hot and the conversation did have a few anxiety triggers etc. I guess there's no treatment for it if when I go to the MW it is fine unless in the 'fainting situation'... Guess I will just have to immediately sit down as soon as I feel odd as I was trying to ride it out which had the opposite effect!

When i was having lots of shaky episodes my MW told me to keep my sugar levels up by eating sweets when I felt that way or something high sugar, I actually think that makes me worse as it comes back alot quicker and a lot more intense due to the sugar spikes then sudden drops. Think I'll just try eat normal foods more regularly throughout the day and keep a bottle of water attached to my hand

This happened to me on the weekend when it was really hot, was walking through a field with DP and I felt so dizzy and feint that I had to sit down and send him to go find me a bottle of water.

One way to try to get to the bottom of it would be to get a blood pressure monitor and track your own bp for a few days, or get it checked at the chemist? Meanwhile, keep a note of what you eat, how you sleep, any stresses etc and see if there are any trends.

It can be very hard to distinguish between anxiety episodes and physiologically based ones as the symptoms of both can be equally real. I hope you feel better, OP. I haven't had a full on panic attack for years, but felt quite panicky earlier this week and it was horrible.

Classic about-to-faint symptoms. I am the queen of fainting! If you feel that again, just sit down and try to lower head between knees to get some blood back up there. It's horrible - I always sweat buckets then hear ringing and everything goes funny colours. Don't think it sounds like anxiety though, more like blood pressure.

Thanks for the advice ada I had a lot of panic attacks in the first trimester and they were more of not being able to catch my breath and slow my hear rate down. Given the shakiness lately I think BP may make more sense, I will keep a diary of my eating I think I really need a new pattern to keep my BP stable.

Like you said curious I was really hot, prickly and sweaty all of a sudden I did go deaf and had ringing in my ears took a good while for me to get my hearing back. I always thought fainting was just feeling dizzy then you pass out, this was a lot worse than i ever imagined!

Red I had exactly this at about 13 weeks pg. I had never fainted before (though do have anxiety!) or felt remotely dizzy and was out shopping with my husband and suddenly went exactly like you described...out of nowhere! Now keep little bottles of water and cereal bars with me everywhere I go! Water makes a massive difference to me, as does room temp!

It's common for your blood pressure to drop in pregnancy following a normal bp throughout. Mine always did it in the 2nd trimester and the MW said they saw it all the time. My BP is 90/60 usually but in pregnancy it was common for it to drop to 80/50 As I said, changes in temperature (particularly getting too hot too quickly) was my main trigger but fatigue, hunger, standing up too quickly and dehydration also caused it. I got used to wearing several thin layers and stripping them off where appropriate. I was pregnant through a v cold winter and would be wrapped up and then as I went into hot shops or cramped buses, my temp would adjust too quickly and I'd be on the ground.

I always found that the first thing to happen would be feeling suddenly very hot and sweaty with prickly skin. Then my senses would distort so that it felt like all sound was falling away and my vision was becoming faded and distorted. Then the whooshing/ringing noise in my ears and I'd start to sway and then I'd come round to concerned faces and a sore elbow/bottom/knee/head.