Why You Must Not Ignore Temporary Loss of Consciousness

Have you ever experienced transient dizziness or sudden loss of consciousness? If yes, then there are chances that you are experiencing fainting, known as syncope in medical terms.

This is a very common phenomenon experienced by most people at some point in their lives. The stressful and hectic lives that we lead makes this even more common.

While fainting is mostly associated with stress or fatigue, when neglected, it can lead to symptoms of serious health problems including cardiac arrythmias (abnormal beating of the heart).

Syncope causes brief loss of consciousness when there is a temporary shortage of blood supply to the brain. The loss of consciousness is usually very short, and we can recover from it but sometimes fainting can be fatal.

One can suffer injuries on fainting. While most of these are generally harmless, some injuries can be life threatening.

In addition, fainting can also be fatal as in some cases it can be the warning sign of a cardiac arrhythmia or abnormal heart rhythm.

While it is popularly believed that fainting is caused due to neurological causes, the real cause is often cardiac in nature. An abnormal heart rhythm can also lead to sudden cardiac arrest and death especially in people with pre-existing heart conditions. Hence identifying syncope and its underlying cause is very crucial.

What are the Warning Signs?

• Blackout

• Feeling lightheaded

• Dizziness or drowsiness

• Sweating

• Blurry vision

• Nausea

• Vomiting

• Numbness in the limbs

• Shortness of breath

What You Should Do on Experiencing Fainting

To prevent episodes of fainting in future, an electrophysiologist must be consulted in case of persisting symptoms. Apart from that, one must also avoid ways to trigger this condition such as standing still for a long time, dehydration, and excess exposure to hot environment.

Diagnosis of syncope is based on the patient's history of fainting. The common methodology is to conduct a physical examination and electrocardiography (ECG). Based on the results, a more comprehensive cardiac assessment may be required to assess the severity of the problem.

Ways to Manage Syncope

Syncope should not be ignored as no episode of loss of consciousness is normal. It can be caused by a variety of cardiac condition, and hence the treatment is varied.

Accurate diagnosis of the cause is crucial, as the treatment is determined based on the underlying disease. Syncope is managed by lifestyle changes, medications, and electrical therapies depending on the underlying causative.

• Syncope can be managed with lifestyle changes, medication and therapies depending on the gravity of the medical condition.

• Avoid conditions such as excess fatigue, warm environment and alcohol which may trigger syncope.

• When syncope is caused due to an abnormally slow heartbeat (bradycardia), the insertion of a pacemaker is the standard treatment. A pacemaker is an electrically charged medical device for managing irregular heartbeats.

• When the heartbeat is abnormally fast (tachycardia), the treatment depends on the area affected in the heart. Medication, catheter ablation (minimally invasive X-Ray procedure for stopping abnormal electric signals in the heart tissues), cardioversion (electric shock for restoring the heart's normal rhythm) and ICD (a pacemaker-like device for monitoring the heart) are the most common treatment methodologies.

Things to Remember:

• Do keep a record of fainting episode as even one episode of fainting needs to be evaluated.

• Do consult a heart rhythm expert at the earliest if you have fainted.

• Do lie down in case you feel like faint as it improves the blood circulation to the brain.

(Dr Ashwani Mehta is a Senior Consultant Cardiologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, and has over 20 years of experience in treating cardiac patients in Delhi and NCR . He has experience of not only in clinical and non- invasive cardiology, but also is an active intervention cardiologist. He has performed large number of interventions and also provided treatment for wide variety of cardiac diseases such as coronary artery diseases at one of the best cardiac centres of the country. He has been also part of various international clinical trials which have contributed to advancement of science and have changed the medical practices.)