I suddenly got fainted and woked up with bruising in eyes. Why?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am 28 years old with normal weight and following a vegetarian diet. Last month, I fainted at home and my friends told me that I was not able to breathe. Once I woke up, I saw the area around my eye is bruised. It happened again last night and I was able to inhale and not able to exhale.

Answer 1

Hi,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

Please mention the position while fainting whether you were standing or sitting or doing exertion, any other symptoms such as dizziness, sweating, duration of fainting, any urinary incontinence, or tongue bite. Please mention about the health condition present after getting consciousness whether you were confused or totally oriented and alert. Please mention whether you had any previous history or any family history of such episode, any other illness such as cardiac or neurological. Please do an ECG (electrocardiography) immediately.

Answer 2

Hi,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

Sudden loss of consciousness with loss of muscle tone resulting in fall and regaining consciousness in a short time without intervention is called syncope. The most common cause of syncope is vasovagal syncope and there is a drop in the blood pressure and heart rate to the level that the brain cannot receive enough blood and it results in loss of consciousness and fall. This is a benign problem with no serious sequelae. Some tests such as checking blood pressure in lying position and rechecking them upon standing and after three minutes of standing is done. Another test called the tilt table test (TLT) is done to diagnose a vasovagal reaction. In this test, the blood pressure and ECG (electrocardiography) are done every few minutes. The other common causes of syncope are hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and it is diagnosed on echocardiography. Other causes are conduction system-related such as long QT syndrome and Brugada syndrome and it is diagnosed using ECG at rest and after provocation. There is a sudden decrease in heart rate or there is a sudden increase in heart rate (ventricular tachycardia) and it leads to syncope. The other rare causes are the origin of coronary arteries arising from an abnormal location or following an abnormal course. You need to do CT (computed tomography) angiography. You may also need proper cardiac auscultation. I recommend you do a resting ECG, echocardiography, and holter monitoring. Apart from this, check the postural blood pressure drop.