Syncope frightening to deal with

January 8, 2013 By

Q: I am a 73-year-old female in relatively good health but in December 2008 I awoke in the middle of the night with cramping. When I came to, I was on the bathroom floor with a badly bruised arm. My doctor said he thought it was a vasovagal incident so I finally forgot about it. Then in December 2010, the same thing happened but this time I came to face down in a pool of blood on my bedroom carpet with carpet burns on my face and a cracked nose. I have no memory of blacking out. This time my doctor decided to investigate further. I have had all the heart tests including a stress test, EKG, echocardiogram, and an ultrasound of my carotid arteries. They are wide open. I had a CT of my head and face.

I have never heard of vasovagal and since this last episode, I have been really stressing about it happening again. Why has it happened during the night? I’ve taken steps to make sure when I get up during the night (which I do a couple of times to empty my bladder), I make sure I am awake and aware of my surroundings.
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Daily Column

March 14, 2008 By

DEAR DR. GOTT:
I am a 73-year-old male with heart and kidney failure. I am not on dialysis. I take Lasix. I was taking three 80 mg pills every day for quite some time. One day I suddenly could not urinate. The following day, the same thing so I went to the emergency room at my local hospital where I was catheterized. The doctor then told me I did not have a blockage and that he could find nothing wrong with my blood and urine tests. He told me upon release to reduce my Lasix to one and a half pills per day. A few days later, my ankles began to swell, so my kidney doctor put me back on two pills a day.

I am still unsure about what happened. Could taking three Lasix a day have caused this?

DEAR READER:
I do not believe that the Lasix was the cause of your unpleasant experience. More likely, you had bladder dysfunction due to urinary tract muscle contraction.

I assume that your “kidney doctor” is a nephrologist. You should review your problem with him or her. I would hope that the specialist can suggest ways of over coming the spasm if it occurs again.

To give you related information, I am sending you copies of my Health Reports “Bladder and Urinary Tract Infections” and “Kidney Disorders”. Other readers who would like copies should send a self-addressed, stamped number 10 envelope and $2 FOR EACH report to Newsletter, PO Box 167, Wickliffe, OH 44092. Be sure to mention the title(s).

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