VIDEO
Heart Disease and Heart Attacks
Blackouts
My wife has suffered from blackouts recently. Can you tell me what these are and what causes them?
A blackout is a sudden loss of consciousness; this causes her to fall to the floor. If your wife’s heart suddenly goes too fast or too slow, her blood pressure falls and she will collapse. It happens very suddenly; her colour drains away (‘as white as a sheet’), but recovery is usually quick. You will probably notice that your wife’s skin becomes flushed. Often she will recover so quickly that she may think that she has tripped up and ‘wonder what the fuss was about’.
Sometimes it may be a faint, but blackouts can also be caused by lack of blood (anaemia), and problems with the nervous system (the brain), and a low blood sugar, for example in epilepsy or lack of blood from narrowed arteries. Blackouts from a heart problem tend to be sudden in onset with a quick recovery (5–10 minutes); blackouts not caused by a heart problem may be sudden in onset but recovery is slow, sometimes over several hours.
My wife has been ignoring these blackouts because they don’t happen too often. Should I get her to go to the doctor and have them investigated?
Yes, or she could fall and injure herself. Your wife may need a pacemaker or medication to keep them under control.
How does a faint differ from a blackout?
Before a faint there is usually a warning. You may become pale and sweaty, yawn a lot and have a buzzing in your ears. Faints often occur in a warm, close environment or when you have been standing for a long time in heat or a queue. A bad coughing bout can bring on a faint (cough syncope) and it can occur if men (and rarely women) get up suddenly at night to pass urine (micturition syncope).
Syncope (pronounced ‘sin-co-pee’) is the medical word for a sudden loss of consciousness.
If my wife feels faint, what should I do to help?
Help her to lie down flat and raise her legs. As she recovers, gradually get her into the sitting position and then let her stand up. Make sure she is steady on her feet before she walks again.
Our texts are primarily about heart health and coronary artery disease. Sometimes heart valves become diseased, so a brief account of valve problems and their treatment is provided here.
The heart contains four valves which are designed to make sure that the blood flows one way only. Disease of the valves will distort the normal function of the heart. The two valves that are the most important are the mitral and aortic valves and these are the most commonly affected. Sometimes both can be affected at the same time. Each year 5000 people in the United Kingdom, for example, have valve surgery.
