Fainting because of low pressure after bariatric surgery

Again, it is all fun and games until it happens to you. Fainting because of low blood pressure!

This one was a really hard way lesson learned. Let me tell you…

Background explanation

Since the surgery, I have very low blood pressure. It happens to a lot of people and it is one of the side effects of the surgery. I knew I had it and I was somewhat careful. What does it look like? You feel dizzy when you get up quickly. Any abrupt change of body position feels like a roller coaster experience. I usually see floating colorful points in front of me and sometimes I call it TV off, it is when I simply can’t see anything. Everything is black. This is a real alarm to me.

It means I have to stop whatever I am doing and hold against the nearest fixed object. Usually helps a lot if I recline forward or make a squat. Yeah, in the street it can look funny. But well, it is very uncomfortable and it prevents something much worse.

What happened

I was at home, alone with my cat and I heard Sigi the Sphynx calling me from the living room. Silly kitty, most likely he got stuck somewhere up and now he is scared to go down, so he is screaming for help. I own the clumsiest cat in the universe. Ok, good cat mama rushes to the living room to see what happened.

I was sitting on my office chair, I got up and started walking towards the living room. Yes, I was seeing the floating pints, it was a small alarm, but it usually goes away, so I didn’t mind too much. Then all of a sudden all went black, which was really silly and I should have stopped and bent. I didn’t.

And the next thing I remember is being on the floor and Sigi the cat licking my cheek. Glasses are broken, shoulder and hip hurting… oh, wow! This escalated quickly. No, Kitty was not completely stuck, and seeing mama in distress, he rushed to help. Such a good kitty boy…

Felt scary – home alone

But well, it was a really scary situation. I was home completely alone and my partner was to come home in about 5 hours. I was not sure what happened or if I hadn’t made myself something. My head was hurting a lot, no surprise here, I fell from the standing position. I am not very tall, but still, the floor doesn’t have any pillow or anything to make the bump less nasty.

It was the same with the hip and the shoulder. So I was sitting on the floor for a while and then slowly got up. It felt ok. I called a friend of mine, who is a surgeon, to ask what I should do. He advised me to go to the hospital for a check. He suggested it might be a syncope, which means my brain simply didn’t have enough blood/oxygen and to prevent damage, simply shut down. Lovely.

The thing was that we didn’t know if it was only this or if it was some problem with the heart. This needed to be checked. So I waited for my partner and when he came, he took me to the hospital. I was in no way able to drive. I could have caused an accident if it happened again.

Hospital check

I was given a medium priority, which means that I am not dying but I shouldn’t be waiting for a long time either. And from there it was fast. Bloodwork, EEG, EKG, sugar level, blood pressure, X-ray, CT of my head. In an hour it was all back.

Good news: my heart is completely fine, uff, my brain is doing great, muack, I love it, just my blood pressure was 65/52, which is very low, and my sugar level was 71, also quite low. So… a perfect storm that ended in disaster.

Well, not a completely irreparable catastrophe of intergalactic proportions, but it was a tough learning lesson for me. Next time I will be way more careful and I will be listening to my body. This is the only way how to prevent this from repetition.

The real problem is the fall

The problem itself is not the syncope, it is a silly thing the body does, the real problem and danger come from the fall. Ok, broken glasses, this is upsetting, they were expensive, but you can always buy new ones. But had I felt on some furniture or bumped myself on the door or wall, I could have done myself a lot of harm. Some cerebral bleeding or broken bones would be a really silly thing to have.

Lesson learned

SO! From now on, I will be way more careful. I won’t be the brave one who thinks that can do anything. Nop! This is not the way. If I see floating points, I will stop and let this pass. If I can’t see anything and everything turns black, I will grab the first firm thing I can and I will bend down to help the blood get to the brain to prevent fainting and certain fall.

Price to pay

This is one of the things I am paying for the bariatric surgery. I have to be careful about this. It is not a horrible thing, but yeah, when you are putting things in the dishwasher and you see floating points in front of you… sigh, ok. It is not horribly limiting, but I have to learn my limits and act accordingly.

So, for anyone who feels dizzy after the surgery because of low blood pressure, take note of me and learn from my silly experience so that you save a trip to the hospital a maybe some broken bones.