Fainting

[stateman]

It seems a lot of Thai ladies easily faint once they are over 50 years old. At least that is my impression. I have read in so many news articles, stories, and heard people related to it.

I don't know whether in the US this is a common condition. I don't know of any 'smelling thing' an old lady carries for such an occasion. Vick's inhaler is not for the same purpose.

Would someone who knows about this share the knowledge? I'd like to know if fainting is a common occurrence for American older ladies. What do they use at the onset of such a fainting spell? Is it commonly sold in the drug stores?

How about European elderlies?

---------------------------------------

This was previously posted in the TV link below, but reposted as a new topic, hoping to get response to it.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?ac...mp;qpid=1665569

From Lexitron:

ยาดม [yaa dom - second word sound like the English word "dome"] [N] smelling salt; inhalant

Sample:ยาดมก็เป็นยาประจำตัวของคนแก่

"Smelling salts are the medication of choice for old folks."

There might have been 'salt' in smelling, but in Thailand there is a whole slew of herbs used for smelling.

Most common use is for reviving or prevent an older lady who faints or about to.

There is something I don't understand. It seems a lot of Thai ladies easily faint once they are over 50 years old. At least that is the apparent impression. I have read in so many news articles, stories, and heard people related to it.

I don't know that in the US this is a common condition. I don't know of any 'smelling thing' an old lady carries for such an occasion. Vick's inhaler is not for the same purpose.

Would someone who knows about this share the knowledge? I'd like to know if fainting is a common occurrence for American older ladies. What do they use at the onset of such a fainting spell? Is it commonly sold in the drug stores.

[traveldog]

Hi Stateman,

First, there are many reasons people faint. Some are fairly benign some are quite serious and most instances should be investigated as to cause. Fainting is often a result of lack of blood flow to the brain...causing it to shut off temporaryily....and the person "goes to ground" so to speak. Some causes include: loss of blood, too fast/too slow heart rate, drugs/alcohol, electolyte imbalance, spinal injury, hyperventilation followed by breath holding(shallow water blackout), severe allergic reactions, standing too long in the same position, etc etc.

Some people are prone to fainting episodes when confronted by images or experiences that are unpleasant...such as the sight of blood, very exciting news etc. In these cases the brain safeguards the individual from the bad image by quickly dilating blood vessels, which suddenly lowers blood pressure and down they go...once they can't see hear smell the problem, blood pressure normalizes and they wake up....on their own time.

The point is this and sorry to be so long winded.....why do you want to "wake" them up with noxious smelling salts? They either have a very good reason to be unconscious or will come round on their own. Don't believe statistically more thai elderly females faint-personally haven't seen one yet!

And now if someone is just faking it...like a hysterical girl just broke up with her boyfriend....a small trick to check if they are unconscious...lightly brush the eyelash for a second...if unconscious no eyelid flutter....if flutter they are conscious and voluntarily keeping eyes shut...ok?

[meandwi]

It could be low blood sugar. My wife has fainted twice in two years after a exercising. Her doctor recommended she drink nutrient water before, during and after. She hates the taste, so she drinks bottled water along with vitimins and eats a couple of M&Ms. We allways carry a bottle if Coke or Pepsi in the car just in case of another fainting spell. Scarry thing for us. We hope it doesn't happen again.

[kmart]

Someone please give this Indian guy some salts, quick!

indianstroke.wmv

[ade100]

A lady may faint if exposed to the discourse of common working girls or to gentlemens’ after dinner conversations. As there are shockingly few smoking rooms, for the gentlemen to retire to in Thailand, fainting is a common occurrence. I would strongly recommend that ladies carry smelling salts with them at all times while in foreign parts.

[cm-happy]

It could be low blood sugar. My wife has fainted twice in two years after a exercising. Her doctor recommended she drink nutrient water before, during and after. She hates the taste, so she drinks bottled water along with vitimins and eats a couple of M&Ms. We allways carry a bottle if Coke or Pepsi in the car just in case of another fainting spell. Scarry thing for us. We hope it doesn't happen again.

Good idea Meadwi. Orange Juice does it for me. Or if I do hit the dirt, My guy just elevates my legs go get more blood up to the brain and then OJ when revived. However, don't think this method would be suitable if dealing with a lady.

[cm-happy]

A lady may faint if exposed to the discourse of common working girls or to gentlemens’ after dinner conversations. As there are shockingly few smoking rooms, for the gentlemen to retire to in Thailand, fainting is a common occurrence. I would strongly recommend that ladies carry smelling salts with them at all times while in foreign parts.

[/quote

Ade100----why do you remind me of David Niven? Is it the avatar which bears a resemblance?

sorry-off topic

Edited December 20, 2007 by cm-happy

[WaiWai]

[Thought that said farting !

For fainting, have blood checks.

[cm-happy]

[Thought that said farting !

Farting? :D

try beano, OTC sometimes available in LOS

[stateman]

Hi Stateman,

First, there are many reasons people faint. Some are fairly benign some are quite serious and most instances should be investigated as to cause. Fainting is often a result of lack of blood flow to the brain...causing it to shut off temporaryily....and the person "goes to ground" so to speak. Some causes include: loss of blood, too fast/too slow heart rate, drugs/alcohol, electolyte imbalance, spinal injury, hyperventilation followed by breath holding(shallow water blackout), severe allergic reactions, standing too long in the same position, etc etc.

Some people are prone to fainting episodes when confronted by images or experiences that are unpleasant...such as the sight of blood, very exciting news etc. In these cases the brain safeguards the individual from the bad image by quickly dilating blood vessels, which suddenly lowers blood pressure and down they go...once they can't see hear smell the problem, blood pressure normalizes and they wake up....on their own time.

The point is this and sorry to be so long winded.....why do you want to "wake" them up with noxious smelling salts? They either have a very good reason to be unconscious or will come round on their own. Don't believe statistically more thai elderly females faint-personally haven't seen one yet!

And now if someone is just faking it...like a hysterical girl just broke up with her boyfriend....a small trick to check if they are unconscious...lightly brush the eyelash for a second...if unconscious no eyelid flutter....if flutter they are conscious and voluntarily keeping eyes shut...ok?

Good points traveldog. Thanks.

I know some who are prone to fainting. Also told of someone I know from someone I trust, like the person's parent, etc. I would say there have been at least half a dozen. Almost all involved Thai women.

These are regular people who occasionally faint or about to. After that they are fine!

Because of my exposure, I know the women involved either carry some kind of inhaler or drinking something for these episodes.

You are right. There are many causes to cause a person to faint.

I am thinking only those which have an occasional episode and fine thereafter.

The reason I ask about the experience others may have in the US and Europe was I didn't recall seeing any during my years of living in/visiting these countries. Granted, I have seen cases where someone lying on the ground - but I didn't get involved. So I didn't know whether they fainted. I was curious if they experienced the same thing, and carried something with them for such needs.

Your comment about hysterical girls faking fainting was a good one. I hadn't thought that anyone would do that! Ever experienced someone pulling a fast one on you?!

It could be low blood sugar. My wife has fainted twice in two years after a exercising.

meandwi: thanks for reminding me about that. Now I recall having read about that. Will keep that in mind.

kmart: can't open your attachment. I imagine it is something funny!

A lady may faint if exposed to the discourse of common working girls or to gentlemens’ after dinner conversations. ......

Yeah, ade100! Remember seeing scenes of women fainting in the movies numerous times!

Seems like the directors liked to insert that such scenes for some reasons, maybe to add more excitement to the movies? It seems that movies nowadays have less scenes like that. Maybe they are portraying today's women as more active/independent and don't need as much 'care' from the guys.

[ignoramus]

A glucose tolerance test is indicated for meandwi's wife, and another poster. Think hypoglaecemia, precursor to diabetes, if I'm not in error (a common enough occurence).

[cooL_guY_corY]

where to buy amyls ?

[bina]

fainting is also a response to distress; its more beomeing to faint than to thrash around and curse people like a guy would, so elderly women have 'trained' themselves to subimize and faint instead...

also, i suspect the physical health of many thai ladies is not super duper; how many thai go to doctors for yearly check ups, and as we get menopausal, we have blood pressure, blood sugar and emotional/physical problems... swiftly changing emotions is one, when one feels emotional (fright, fear, sudden excitement ) the heart rate changes at a different rate then our blood pressure can deal with (vaso/vagal)...

my daughter is a fainter, and she has let it become a habit to dealing with certain situations;

syncope, vasovagal

A transient vascular and neurogenic reaction marked by pallor, nausea, sweating, bradycardia, and rapid fall in arterial blood pressure which, when below a critical level, results in loss of consciousness and characteristic electroencephalographic changes. It is most often evoked by emotional stress associated with fear or pain. It is also called vasovagal attack and gowers' syndrome.(12 Dec 1998)

i am vasovagal ... i am petite with low blood pressure and low blood sugar; i always faint after dealing with emergencies or medical procedures, not during... for me, best is putting my legs up; or eating a quick sugar candy....

it also happens to me when touched in certain places that have lots of blood vessels...

bina

[stateman]

A glucose tolerance test is indicated for meandwi's wife, and another poster. Think hypoglaecemia, precursor to diabetes, if I'm not in error (a common enough occurence).

"hypoglaecemia, precursor to diabetes".

I believe even when one has diabetes, hypoglaecemia can still visit - anytime the blood sugar level is too low.

where to buy amyls ?

"Amyl" as amyl nitrite for recreational use?

fainting is also a response to distress; its more beomeing to faint than to thrash around and curse people like a guy would, so elderly women have 'trained' themselves to subimize and faint instead...

also, i suspect the physical health of many thai ladies is not super duper; how many thai go to doctors for yearly check ups, and as we get menopausal, we have blood pressure, blood sugar and emotional/physical problems... swiftly changing emotions is one, when one feels emotional (fright, fear, sudden excitement ) the heart rate changes at a different rate then our blood pressure can deal with (vaso/vagal)...

my daughter is a fainter, and she has let it become a habit to dealing with certain situations;

syncope, vasovagal

A transient vascular and neurogenic reaction marked by pallor, nausea, sweating, bradycardia, and rapid fall in arterial blood pressure which, when below a critical level, results in loss of consciousness and characteristic electroencephalographic changes. It is most often evoked by emotional stress associated with fear or pain. It is also called vasovagal attack and gowers' syndrome.(12 Dec 1998)

i am vasovagal ... i am petite with low blood pressure and low blood sugar; i always faint after dealing with emergencies or medical procedures, not during... for me, best is putting my legs up; or eating a quick sugar candy....

it also happens to me when touched in certain places that have lots of blood vessels...

bina

Thanks bina for the informative post.

You mentioned distress; ..menopausal, and emotional/physical problems... swiftly changing emotions, when one feels emotional (fright, fear, sudden excitement ). These may explain why I experienced women fainting more!

Just Curious, do you or your daughter carry some inhalant or something else for use when you feel the onset of fainting? Also if you are alone, if you just lie down or drop on the floor, will you come around by yourself? Wonder if this may be life-threatening.

[bina]

ive learned to sit on the floor when i feel faint and put my head between my legs; or i do deep breathing; i also keep sugared menthols or eating (diet candies dont work obviously, no sugar); i actually like those menthol things from thailand; they seem to help also for car sickness...

of course i come round; i almost never lose total conciousness as i get into prone position fast; the point is not to wait until u collapse but to get down quick; as a doctor friend once put it, if u are on the ground, u cant fall any farther... most problems occur not from loss of conciousness but from the fall (banging head on sharp corner, or in other inappropriate places)...

and when alone or in emergency i function as my andrenalin kicks in ; it s the relief afterwards that apparently changes my blood pressure or something and i drop; a good dose of sugar in the form of candy helps

as for vasovagal: its the womb, eye and gums, also behind the ears somewhere; rather embarrasing to faint after a glaucoma eye check...

bina

[stateman]

ive learned to sit on the floor when i feel faint and put my head between my legs; or i do deep breathing; i also keep sugared menthols or eating (diet candies dont work obviously, no sugar); i actually like those menthol things from thailand; they seem to help also for car sickness...

of course i come round; i almost never lose total conciousness as i get into prone position fast; the point is not to wait until u collapse but to get down quick; as a doctor friend once put it, if u are on the ground, u cant fall any farther... most problems occur not from loss of conciousness but from the fall (banging head on sharp corner, or in other inappropriate places)...

and when alone or in emergency i function as my andrenalin kicks in ; it s the relief afterwards that apparently changes my blood pressure or something and i drop; a good dose of sugar in the form of candy helps

as for vasovagal: its the womb, eye and gums, also behind the ears somewhere; rather embarrasing to faint after a glaucoma eye check...

bina

Interesting!

Did your doctor mention that fainting from these causes are NOT fatal?

I kept bringing up the issue of fatality bacause I read months ago that a famous movie star in Taiwan died in a traffic jam. She had an episode of asthma attack but didn't carry her medication with her. I wouldn't have expected that nowadays people who knows that one has asthma, can still die. So I just wondered if fainting could be similar.

You may be aware that in Thailand there are numerous inhalants for people who may faint? But sounds like you already know what you need to do.

I heard that for some, just getting hungry beyond a threshold also causing fainting!

[bina]

no, .... its up to me to remind our docs that i am vasovagal thats all; not fatal apart from head banging or something; it doesnt happen while driving, only certain circumstances like certain medical checks or after medical things (remember i do medical stuff with animals so sometimes after a particularly tense situation involving lots of quick thinking and action, i just have to sit on the side for a minute, eat my candy and thats that...

forgot to mention i am hypoglycemic mildly so yes, skipping a meal would do it; and of course not drinking enough fluids since blood pressure is low anyhow...which means that if i stand up to quickly i get dizzy for a few minutes, so obviously i have to remember to drink.. most people just arent too aware of themselves

and asthma is a very different story; it is a life threatening disease and people die every year ... its not like being vasovagal although that can also be fatal if blood pressure drops too low body goes into shock i guess, or there are other underlying problems;

my kids are asthmatic and there is no such thing as going somewhere without meds and meds to spare with someone else (and they are all hikers, travellers and sports active)... but u can still die as even docs dont always recognize symtoms (silent asthma when the tubes are already closed and there is no wheezing and blood gasses arent checked, ; but there are other obvious symptom that people are aware of ; plus quick acute asthma in reaction to chemicals or other irritants and so forth (i know of one child who died after sleeping in his newly painted room and his parents werent aware that paint would exacerbate his ashtma, he didnt succeed in getting to his inhalor in time or call for help. he was a patient of a friend of mine so she had used this case to accent the importance of thinking about potential problems before hand when dealing with asthmatic children)

a large majority of people do not have properly controlled asthma due to non compliance or ignorance or lack of education on their or their medical practioner's part; but some poeple just have astham that is super active and non predictable not to mention those that have allergy stimulated asthamas to certain chemicals that are prevalent every where, or are smokers etc....

bina

[stateman]

no, .... its up to me to remind our docs that i am vasovagal thats all; not fatal apart from head banging or something; it doesnt happen while driving, only certain circumstances like certain medical checks or after medical things (remember i do medical stuff with animals so sometimes after a particularly tense situation involving lots of quick thinking and action, i just have to sit on the side for a minute, eat my candy and thats that...

forgot to mention i am hypoglycemic mildly so yes, skipping a meal would do it; and of course not drinking enough fluids since blood pressure is low anyhow...which means that if i stand up to quickly i get dizzy for a few minutes, so obviously i have to remember to drink.. most people just arent too aware of themselves

bina

Interesting posting! Good to know what you got is not fatal.

I seems then that those who fainted due to hunger may also be related to hypoglycemic and the person might not even know it.

[bina]

obviously

but the same goes for mood swings due to hunger/low blood sugar

anyone that knows me including my bosses and my co workers know not to talk to me about anything that needs decision making or criticism when i havent eaten my lunch (work load sometimes means we dont eat on time) or dinner,or snack, etc.... i learned to control temper then, but as a child a temper tantrum with crying and eventually feeling faint would result... so: carry own snacks regardless and i dont share them with anyone, they are medically needed (raisins, peanuts, pretzels, pbj sandwich, or thai equivalents to same)...

my feeling is that thai people in general are not as 'medically aware' as the average american for instance, therefore have lots of 'problems' that arent resolved or are shrugged off: learning disabilities comes to mind for instance, my husband's asthma and allergies is an other...

oh well

his idea of life is birth, living, sickness old age and death, the rest doesnt matter too much

bina

[Pakboong]

Iron deficiency anemia is common among Thais. Their diet not only lacks adequate iron, studies suggest that a commonly eaten chilli inhibits the absorption of iron. Iron supplements should do the trick.

[Pakboong]

Iron deficiency anemia is common among Thais. Their diet not only lacks adequate iron, studies suggest that a commonly eaten chilli inhibits the absorption of iron. Iron supplements should do the trick.

[niggle]

Look, ignore some of the previous posts.

Fainting is NOT normal

There are many causes but nitially thinkof the following and get them checked:

1. Low Blood Pressure

2. Anaemia

3. Diabetes

4. Vasovagal attacks

Recurrent faints need to be checked by doctor.

[Phil Conners]

Anxeity attacks. See Sopranos...