Collapsed at the gym!!

[Zoobster]

There really is a number of things that it could be. He could have vagal'd himself out while training. In a nutshell it's when you strain so hard and it dramatically drops your blood pressure and heart rate which makes you pass out briefly. Same thing happens when people are taking a shit and they strain really hard and the next thing they know they wake up on the floor. It could be a minor, one time thing..... Or it can be a warning sign of cardiac problems so it's worth checking in to. Just to give you an idea, this is how Elvis Presley died. He obviously had significant medical issues that were from his years of drug and alcohol abuse. He went to take a shit, strained really hard and his heart was so weak that he died from it.

It also the same idea as when people stand up too fast and pass out. The bararecptors in your body can't compensate for the rapid blood pressure change from sitting to standing and you pass out. Typically when this happens to healthy adults it means that they're severely dehydrated.

After he fainted did he wake right up and was talking to you within a minute or so? Or did he pass out and when he awoke it took 5-10 minutes to return back to normal? If he returned back to normal very quickly then he just fainted, but if it took a lot of time for him to get his head back on straight then he most likely had a seizure. After a seizure you're in a postictal state which is the time immediately after the seizure that your brain is "resetting" before turning back to normal. If he just woke right up and was clear minutes after the episode then he just fainted. A lot of people confuse the two bc even fainting episodes can cause you to shake a little so it mimics a seizure, but if someone had a legitimate seizure then they will be very confused for 5-10 minutes after the episode.

If he didn't eat it drink and took stimulants prior to working out then he was most likely dehydrated, the ECA made him even more dehydrated, plus it increased his heart rate and blood pressure way above normal so the body shuts down briefly to "reset" itself and try and return to normal homeostasis.

My explanation is very vague bc your original post didn't contain much information on your friends situation so if you have more info then throw it my way and I will help out as much as possible.

Hope this helps!

No when he went out he was out. And didnt remember shit. The dr said he had a seizure. Doesn't help he has high blood pressue and is taking meds for that. He also is a bigger guy hence the reason he is take ECA.

 

[Medic08]

No when he went out he was out. And didnt remember shit. The dr said he had a seizure. Doesn't help he has high blood pressue and is taking meds for that. He also is a bigger guy hence the reason he is take ECA.

Well yeah, when you pass out or have a seizure you aren't going to remember anything because you are unconscious. I was just trying to get an idea of how his behavior was after he woke up from being unconscious. If the dr believes that it was a seizure then there must have been more to the story that he was told bc unless you witness the seizure, you won't know one way or another. Now if he was inconent(peed himself), bit his tongue, or someone told the dr that he was out of it for a good amount of time after the incident occurred then I can see why the dr said it was a seizure. Other wise it's just a guessing game bc there is no test or lab value that shows that you did or did not have a seizure.

Whatever the case, I hope your friend is okay and this was a one time occurrence for him. Keep us posted!

 

[360]

As to the first part, MRI is zero radiation and a better image. CT scans are old news bruh.

There is no way you need a $3000 scan of your head for fainting one time in the gym on an empty stomach. Unnecessary tests are one reason the cost of healthcare is so ridiculous.

 

[Zoobster]

Well yeah, when you pass out or have a seizure you aren't going to remember anything because you are unconscious. I was just trying to get an idea of how his behavior was after he woke up from being unconscious. If the dr believes that it was a seizure then there must have been more to the story that he was told bc unless you witness the seizure, you won't know one way or another. Now if he was inconent(peed himself), bit his tongue, or someone told the dr that he was out of it for a good amount of time after the incident occurred then I can see why the dr said it was a seizure. Other wise it's just a guessing game bc there is no test or lab value that shows that you did or did not have a seizure.

Whatever the case, I hope your friend is okay and this was a one time occurrence for him. Keep us posted!

I know he bit his tongue.

 

[Tom]

There is no way you need a $3000 scan of your head for fainting one time in the gym on an empty stomach. Unnecessary tests are one reason the cost of healthcare is so ridiculous.

New onset seizure warrants an EEG and MRI of the head.

 

[Stayinfit]

ON a side and unimportant note...what gym were you at in DSM? Just curious. I train at most of them. Hadn't heard of anyone passing out.

 

[Medic08]

I know he bit his tongue.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Haha

 

[muhkuh123]

Does he have epilepsy? If not, then he may have had an irregular brain pattern at the time he had his seizure. Rec drugs and not getting enough sleep also play a large role in triggering seizures.

I say it's the ECA stack. Ephedrine lowers the threshold for epileptic seizures.
No capacity for remembering suggests such a seizure.

 

[littlefoot]

There is no way you need a $3000 scan of your head for fainting one time in the gym on an empty stomach. Unnecessary tests are one reason the cost of healthcare is so ridiculous.

Perhaps the overuse of tests that utilize high doses of radiation such as xrays and CT scans (which can emit doses of radiation equivalent to taking up to 300 xrays depending on the scan) might have something to do with poor health of certain people, driving them back to the hospital and further increasing the cost of health care.

Health care is a business. I pay for a damn good insurance. If I have a choice between a superior test with >no< radiation and my insurance covers it, then yes, I'm making that choice.

 

[360]

Perhaps the overuse of tests that utilize high doses of radiation such as xrays and CT scans (which can emit doses of radiation equivalent to taking up to 300 xrays depending on the scan) might have something to do with poor health of certain people, driving them back to the hospital and further increasing the cost of health care.

You make a valid point here. However I feel the overuse of any unnecessary high cost or high risk test (whether it be CXR, CT, MRI) has driven up the cost of healthcare.

We don't know all the details of this guys workup. Did they check his sugar level at the gym or when he arrived at the hospital. Are we sure it was an actual seizure from the witnesses (did he bite his tongue, duration of the seizure, tonic-clonic type, etc).

After a proper history and negative initial workup than imaging should be considered. If I had a new onset seizure and my initial lab values were normal I would definitely want to see what's wrong with my head via scan.

 

[littlefoot]

You make a valid point here. However I feel the overuse of any unnecessary high cost or high risk test (whether it be CXR, CT, MRI) has driven up the cost of healthcare.

We don't know all the details of this guys workup. Did they check his sugar level at the gym or when he arrived at the hospital. Are we sure it was an actual seizure from the witnesses (did he bite his tongue, duration of the seizure, tonic-clonic type, etc).

After a proper history and negative initial workup than imaging should be considered. If I had a new onset seizure and my initial lab values were normal I would definitely want to see what's wrong with my head via scan.

I agree 100%