How can you stop a vasovagal attack?

 Vasovagal syncope is a condition characterized by loss of consciousness. Typically, when there isn’t enough blood flow to your brain. So when your brain doesn’t get enough blood, it doesn’t get enough oxygen and nutrients and the brain shuts down and we pass out that is very vagal.

Syncope. Now the most common reasons for vasovagal syncope are that you have a susceptibility, and you add on to that triggers and I often think about vasovagal syncope, like a person who is susceptible, which are then confronted with ducts, all lining up in a row before you trigger The attack, some of these factors that come up to line in a row can be things like dehydration feeling, fatigued and tired lack of sleep, standing for prolonged periods being in a hot crowded environment, which is very stuffy or in a crowded restaurant, where you’ve just had Some alcohol or a large meal – these are all trigger factors for vasovagal syncope.

Now there is a form of syncope called situational, syncope and oftentimes. These are, in particular, medical conditions, so, for example, when you’re having your blood taken or when you watch a movie that makes you queasy because of some surgery that you see in the movie or some gory scene. You might start to feel light-headed and the mechanism for that lightheadedness is typically when you have a situation that shocks the brain into adopting and protective stance. Although it’s not very, very protective, it drops your blood pressure and your heart rate and causes you to lose consciousness. So that’s what vasovagal syncope is .

Now the top tips to prevent syncope would be to understand what your triggers for syncope are. Now, if you know that you always have a tendency to feel light-headed or fainting when you’re standing for a long time at a school assembly or in church or in a hot, warm environment, then you avoid that situation.

If you faint, whenever you have blood taken, then once again avoid that situation, for example by asking to lie down, when you have your blood taken, it makes it much less likely that you will faint the standard, conservative advice or what we would say to all patients Coming through our vasovagal syncope clinic would be to hydrate. More would be potentially to have more salt, but only do this on your doctor’s advice.

Only if your blood pressure is low or low normal. You should learn to exercise your muscles, in particular your lower limb muscles. So there is a maneuver isometric counter pressure exercise and I’m going to demonstrate this to you, put both hands together and pull apart grit, your teeth, clench your gluteal muscles, which are essentially your buttocks tense, your quadriceps and your calves.

So all your lower lip muscles and doing this tensing exercise like this is called an isometric counter pressure exercise and what this does is it squeezes blood which is starting to pull in all your lower limbs and your hands arms and it squeeze squeezes the blood and Pushes it back into your heart and improves your blood pressure, this can be a very effective maneuver when you start to feel the onset of syncope, for example, if you’re sitting on a train on a commute to work – and you know that you have a tendency to Feel light-headed, when you stand up, you can already start this clenching exercise as whilst you’re seated and continue to clench or tension muscles, as you stand up to get out of the Train when you reach your platform or station, this is a very helpful exercise that you Should learn the other thing to really understand is that if you know you’re going to faint, then, for goodness sake, get yourself to a safe place and the the most important thing is to sit down on the floor.

You can either sit down or lie down, which is even better and elevate your feet and when you’re down try and stay down until you feel well. One of the things we commonly see, especially on public transport, is when a patient faints and is horizontal, which is effect, be very helpful to return the blood back into your heart because you’re not fighting gravity anymore.

A good Samaritan comes by and lifts you right up again supporting your you by your arms and your shoulders and oftentimes your blood drains away. Again, you look pale and then you have another vasovagal syncope episode, so oftentimes getting down to the floor, elevating your feet having some fluid and making sure you feel better before you stand up is also a very good strategy to prevent ongoing basal, vagal, syncope.