About the condition
Why am I fainting?
Fainting is a sudden loss of consciousness that occurs when blood pressure drops and not enough oxygen reaches the brain.1 This loss of consciousness is sometimes called “passing out” or “blacking out”. Your healthcare provider may use the medical term syncope (pronounced SIN koe pee) when referring to your fainting. Most often, a fainting episode is brief and consciousness is regained in a few minutes, although there may be a period of confusion.1
What happens when I faint?
Fainting, also known as syncope, is a sudden loss of consciousness. It occurs when the blood pressure drops and not enough oxygen reaches the brain.1 There are times when fainting may look like a seizure or a fall5,8 (especially when the falls are sudden and not obviously due to a trip or slip).
Fainting can be caused by many things. Many patients have a medical condition they may or may not know about that affects the nervous system or heart. You may also have a condition that affects blood flow through your body and causes your blood pressure to drop when you change positions (for example, going from lying down to standing).3
While some causes of unexplained fainting are harmless, others may be serious. Heart-related causes, including abnormal heart rhythms, are among the most serious causes of fainting.4 Also, if you do not have any warning signs before you faint, you may fall unexpectedly and be injured.
Holter monitor
A portable external monitor that includes wires with patches that attach to the skin. It continuously measures and records the heart’s activity for 1-2 days. It is best suited for very frequent faints that occur often and typically a few days apart.5-8
Event recorder
A recorder worn on the body for up to 30 days.5-8 It typically requires activation by pushing a button to record the heart’s activity. Best suited for fainting that occurs every few weeks.
Insertable cardiac monitor
Placed just under the skin during a minimally invasive procedure, it automatically detects and records abnormal heart rhythms for up to 4.5 years. It is best suited for fainting that occurs less frequently. For example, once a month. 5-8
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1 Michele Brignole, Angel Moya, Frederik J de Lange, Jean-Claude Deharo, Perry M Elliott, Alessandra Fanciulli, Artur Fedorowski, Raffaello Furlan, Rose Anne Kenny, Alfonso Martín, Vincent Probst, Matthew J Reed, Ciara P Rice, Richard Sutton, Andrea Ungar, J Gert van Dijk, 2018 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of syncope, European Heart Journal, Volume 39, Issue 21, 01 June 2018, Pages 1883–1948, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehy037
2 Data obtained from CDC National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) from the years 2008-2014.
3 Morag R, Brenner B. Syncope. Medscape. April 16, 2014. Accessed February 16, 2018.
4 Soteriades ES, Evans JC, Larson MG, Chen MH, Chen L, Benjamin EJ, Levy D. Incidence and prognosis of syncope. N Engl J Med. 2002 Sep 19;347(12):878-85. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa012407. PMID: 12239256
5 Brignole M, etal. 2018 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of syncope, European Heart Journal, Volume 39, Issue 21, 01 June 2018, Pages 1883–1948, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehy037.
6 Shen WK. et al. 2017 ACC/AHA/HRS guideline for the evaluation and management of patients with syncope: A report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society. Heart Rhythm. 2017 Aug;14(8):e155-e217. doi: 10.1016/j.hrthm.2017.03.004. Epub 2017 Mar 9. PMID: 28286247
7 Brignole M, et al. 2013 ESC Guidelines on cardiac pacing and cardiac resynchronization therapy: the Task Force on cardiac pacing and resynchronization therapy of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Developed in collaboration with the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA). Eur Heart J. 2013 Aug;34(29):2281-329. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/eht150. Epub 2013 Jun 24. PMID: 23801822.
8 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, Transient loss of consciousness ('blackouts') in over 16s, Clinical Guideline [CG109], Published date: 25 August 2010 Last updated: 01 September 2014, www.nice.org.uk.