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The Fainting Phenomenon: Understanding Why People Faint and What to Do About It
Fainting, the sudden and often unpredictable loss of consciousness, can be a frightening experience. While often benign, fainting can sometimes be the sign of serious illness. Recurrent fainting can significantly disrupt a person’s life, and make them prone to injury and, on occasion, death. The Fainting Phenomenon, Second Edition is a valuable information resource for anyone whose life is affected by fainting.
Written for the layperson, this book will help
This is an indispensable and reassuring guide for parents, families and care givers.
Written for the layperson, this book will help
This is an indispensable and reassuring guide for parents, families and care givers.
- GenresNonfiction
144 pages, Paperback
First published July 24, 2001
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March 7, 2012
This book was an interesting read on the topic of orthostatic or autonomic problems and dysautonomia. It explained some of the mechanisms of these problems well and talked about some management strategies as well, although there is very little information on treatment in the book.
The book title talks about fainting but there is also lots of information here for those of us that do not faint and instead have problems being upright and of near-syncope.
The book starts off by talking about how often syncope or near-syncope problems are written off by ignorant doctors as psychological. This is of course a massive problem, and the author discusses it in a very compassionate and sensible way. Just because the cause of symptoms doesn't show up on basic physical exam or with basic blood tests, it does not mean it is psychosomatic - it may just indicate that more sophisticated testing is required.
The author explains that psychological causes of syncope or near-syncope can easily be ruled out through tilt table testing and similar. Those without autonomic problems do not have the expected blood pressure or pulse changes during the test, and those who do have autonomic problems, do. Accusing patients of 'faking' just because you have not taken the time to educate yourself as a doctor, and to learn about how to properly test for these diseases is just not good enough! Misdiagnosing patients with POTS or NMH as having 'anxiety or panic issues' is also nowhere near good enough.
These diseases don't have a 'sexy' reputation or very much media attention but they affect so many of us and desperately need to become more well known by our doctors.
The information on what determines blood pressure, what causes and what worsens low blood volume and how adrenaline surges affect the body was useful as was the part which explained that half of POTS patients had a viral infection before onset, and that barbituates and opiates can cause orthostatic hypotension.
Reading about ways to avoid fainting such as rocking backwards and forwards on your feet, or crouching so that the blood doesn't pool in your legs so severely was fascinating. Like many POTSers I had worked out these exact strategies by myself to stop from passing out while waiting in queues etc. through trial and error. I wish so much I had read anything useful about this condition when I was first ill! It is maddening that so many of us have to each work it all out from scratch by ourselves. Many of us can avoid fainting by moving backwards and forwards, crouching or fidgeting in this way, so long as we aren't upright for too long.
The information on treatment is very brief. Low magnesium levels are mentioned as one cause of orthostatic problems yet the author doesn't even mention how essential proper magnesium levels are to everyone with any type of cardiac problem and how helpful magnesium can be in helping to mange the illness. Extra salt and water is recommended, but unrefined sea salt isn't specified, unfortunately.
The book does make it clear that the drugs commonly prescribes to treat autonomic illnesses can cause real problems in some patients. For example, Midodrine should NOT be used to treat POTS where there is insufficient blood volume to maintain a healthy blood pressure (as in M.E.), beta blockers can cause fainting, as can calcium channel blockers and ACE inhibitors, beta blockers should NOT be used and may be harmful (possibly causing congestive heart failure) for those with orthostatic hypotension. Fludrocortisone can cause low magnesium and low potassium, and may increase the risk of congestive heart failure.
Personally I would avoid all of these drugs. (I have tried Fludrocortisone and beta blockers with terrible results.) To me it makes a lot more sense to find and treat the causes of disease and of symptoms, rather than just forcing the body to do things it is too ill to do. Better to put some oil in your car if the 'no oil' light is flashing, rather than just smash the light with a hammer so you don't have to be reminded of the problem any more. That is of course just a personal opinion. Each to their own.
Far better books on treating cardiac diseases, autonomic diseases, neurological diseases and others are The Sinatra Solution: Metabolic Cardiology and Detoxify or Die by Dr Sherry Rogers, plus books on diet such as Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life and Minding My Mitochondria 2nd Edition: How I overcame secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and got out of my wheelchair.. Dr Sinatra refers to magnesium, ubiquinol (CoQ10), L carnitine and D ribose as the 'awesome foursome' of cardiac health. Vitamin C is also very important to cardiac health, along with enough of all the appropriate fats and oils. Dr Sherry Rogers looks at how to treat any disease by finding and dealing with the root cause. I have found both these very cutting-edge approaches as well as the books on diet immensely helpful. Again, just my opinion.
This book tells readers that all those with the diagnosis of 'CFS' that have orthostatic problems, should be evaluated for them and if appropriate, given a more correct diagnosis. The author estimates at 20% the 'CFS' patient population that has orthostatic problems and says that a more correct diagnosis is important for these patients, as 'CFS' is untreatable and orthostatic problems may be able to be treated. These statements do not go even remotely far enough when it comes to describing the harm caused by a 'CFS' misdiagnosis, (and as 'CFS' is a wastebasket diagnosis, 'CFS' is always a misdiagnosis!) but are at least a very solid start for an author that is not an expert in this field. The book also gives an okay list of the neurological and other diseases which are most commonly misdiagnosed as 'CFS.'
The book says that pre-syncope symptoms can last up to half a minute. I have felt like that for many hours each day for years, but I suppose one could say that is due more to low blood volume, and low blood pressure than actually being about to faint. It feels a lot like being on the verge of passing out though, and I wish it would only last a half minute!
(I have severe POTS as part of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (a neurological disease similar to polio and MS caused by an enterovirus; the same family of virus which causes polio.) I have very low BP and high pulse (170 bpm +) with being upright too long or overexertion (among other issues). I'm 36 and housebound and 95% bedbound and have been so for around a decade. Because of this I am probably not a typical POTS patient? My POTS issues are part of M.E. My condition is now very very slowly improving, thankfully.)
I'd have liked the author to make it clearer in the book that the advice to tell POTS patients to slowly increase their time upright each day is NOT only inappropriate for some of us, but also downright dangerous and may possibly lead to disease progression which may not be reversible. I'm very biased though as my disease is one of those where slowly increasing activity beyond the strict limits set by the disease has devastating consequences, I do realise that this may well not apply to lots of people that have POTS but do not have M.E. Having said that, I do not see a lot of graded activity and drug treatment success stories in the POTS/Dysautonomia chat group I am in either. I wonder what percentage of patients these things really work for? I am not sure it is as high as some claim.
Overall the author does a good job simplifying the information in the book, and uses some clever analogies although some parts of the book were a bit unavoidably technical. This book is worth a read for doctors and anyone with any type of orthostatic problem.
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
The book title talks about fainting but there is also lots of information here for those of us that do not faint and instead have problems being upright and of near-syncope.
The book starts off by talking about how often syncope or near-syncope problems are written off by ignorant doctors as psychological. This is of course a massive problem, and the author discusses it in a very compassionate and sensible way. Just because the cause of symptoms doesn't show up on basic physical exam or with basic blood tests, it does not mean it is psychosomatic - it may just indicate that more sophisticated testing is required.
The author explains that psychological causes of syncope or near-syncope can easily be ruled out through tilt table testing and similar. Those without autonomic problems do not have the expected blood pressure or pulse changes during the test, and those who do have autonomic problems, do. Accusing patients of 'faking' just because you have not taken the time to educate yourself as a doctor, and to learn about how to properly test for these diseases is just not good enough! Misdiagnosing patients with POTS or NMH as having 'anxiety or panic issues' is also nowhere near good enough.
These diseases don't have a 'sexy' reputation or very much media attention but they affect so many of us and desperately need to become more well known by our doctors.
The information on what determines blood pressure, what causes and what worsens low blood volume and how adrenaline surges affect the body was useful as was the part which explained that half of POTS patients had a viral infection before onset, and that barbituates and opiates can cause orthostatic hypotension.
Reading about ways to avoid fainting such as rocking backwards and forwards on your feet, or crouching so that the blood doesn't pool in your legs so severely was fascinating. Like many POTSers I had worked out these exact strategies by myself to stop from passing out while waiting in queues etc. through trial and error. I wish so much I had read anything useful about this condition when I was first ill! It is maddening that so many of us have to each work it all out from scratch by ourselves. Many of us can avoid fainting by moving backwards and forwards, crouching or fidgeting in this way, so long as we aren't upright for too long.
The information on treatment is very brief. Low magnesium levels are mentioned as one cause of orthostatic problems yet the author doesn't even mention how essential proper magnesium levels are to everyone with any type of cardiac problem and how helpful magnesium can be in helping to mange the illness. Extra salt and water is recommended, but unrefined sea salt isn't specified, unfortunately.
The book does make it clear that the drugs commonly prescribes to treat autonomic illnesses can cause real problems in some patients. For example, Midodrine should NOT be used to treat POTS where there is insufficient blood volume to maintain a healthy blood pressure (as in M.E.), beta blockers can cause fainting, as can calcium channel blockers and ACE inhibitors, beta blockers should NOT be used and may be harmful (possibly causing congestive heart failure) for those with orthostatic hypotension. Fludrocortisone can cause low magnesium and low potassium, and may increase the risk of congestive heart failure.
Personally I would avoid all of these drugs. (I have tried Fludrocortisone and beta blockers with terrible results.) To me it makes a lot more sense to find and treat the causes of disease and of symptoms, rather than just forcing the body to do things it is too ill to do. Better to put some oil in your car if the 'no oil' light is flashing, rather than just smash the light with a hammer so you don't have to be reminded of the problem any more. That is of course just a personal opinion. Each to their own.
Far better books on treating cardiac diseases, autonomic diseases, neurological diseases and others are The Sinatra Solution: Metabolic Cardiology and Detoxify or Die by Dr Sherry Rogers, plus books on diet such as Primal Body, Primal Mind: Beyond the Paleo Diet for Total Health and a Longer Life and Minding My Mitochondria 2nd Edition: How I overcame secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and got out of my wheelchair.. Dr Sinatra refers to magnesium, ubiquinol (CoQ10), L carnitine and D ribose as the 'awesome foursome' of cardiac health. Vitamin C is also very important to cardiac health, along with enough of all the appropriate fats and oils. Dr Sherry Rogers looks at how to treat any disease by finding and dealing with the root cause. I have found both these very cutting-edge approaches as well as the books on diet immensely helpful. Again, just my opinion.
This book tells readers that all those with the diagnosis of 'CFS' that have orthostatic problems, should be evaluated for them and if appropriate, given a more correct diagnosis. The author estimates at 20% the 'CFS' patient population that has orthostatic problems and says that a more correct diagnosis is important for these patients, as 'CFS' is untreatable and orthostatic problems may be able to be treated. These statements do not go even remotely far enough when it comes to describing the harm caused by a 'CFS' misdiagnosis, (and as 'CFS' is a wastebasket diagnosis, 'CFS' is always a misdiagnosis!) but are at least a very solid start for an author that is not an expert in this field. The book also gives an okay list of the neurological and other diseases which are most commonly misdiagnosed as 'CFS.'
The book says that pre-syncope symptoms can last up to half a minute. I have felt like that for many hours each day for years, but I suppose one could say that is due more to low blood volume, and low blood pressure than actually being about to faint. It feels a lot like being on the verge of passing out though, and I wish it would only last a half minute!
(I have severe POTS as part of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (a neurological disease similar to polio and MS caused by an enterovirus; the same family of virus which causes polio.) I have very low BP and high pulse (170 bpm +) with being upright too long or overexertion (among other issues). I'm 36 and housebound and 95% bedbound and have been so for around a decade. Because of this I am probably not a typical POTS patient? My POTS issues are part of M.E. My condition is now very very slowly improving, thankfully.)
I'd have liked the author to make it clearer in the book that the advice to tell POTS patients to slowly increase their time upright each day is NOT only inappropriate for some of us, but also downright dangerous and may possibly lead to disease progression which may not be reversible. I'm very biased though as my disease is one of those where slowly increasing activity beyond the strict limits set by the disease has devastating consequences, I do realise that this may well not apply to lots of people that have POTS but do not have M.E. Having said that, I do not see a lot of graded activity and drug treatment success stories in the POTS/Dysautonomia chat group I am in either. I wonder what percentage of patients these things really work for? I am not sure it is as high as some claim.
Overall the author does a good job simplifying the information in the book, and uses some clever analogies although some parts of the book were a bit unavoidably technical. This book is worth a read for doctors and anyone with any type of orthostatic problem.
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
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