Passing Out is Not Romantic

Nor is it glamourous or exciting. When you faint it is never like it is in the movies. Rarely is there someone there to catch you. Often, you fall down in a pile, and hopefully you do not hit anything on the way down. It is not a swoon, but something you have no control over. By the time your mind registers something is wrong, and you should probably sit down, you have already taken too many steps. It always seems counter intuitive to just sit down the moment you feel light headed. We often just keep going, and end up falling while we are still moving. Not graceful at all.

I must have gotten out of bed too quickly yesterday morning. Although, that does not entirely explain why I passed out on the way to the bathroom. It was the third time I have gotten out of bed that morning. Ah, the joys of having young children. Maybe it was because of the way I was lying in bed, with my knees up. Who knows? All I know is by the time I made it to the bathroom door, my body was giving way. I ended up falling on my children's bench in front of the sink. Hit my right upper arm, and head. I have a nice bruise on my arm, but no obvious goose egg on my head.

Of course, the words out of my mouth, as I was falling, were, "Oh, shit!" My husband came running, possibly when he heard me land. My son came too. There's mommy, in a crumpled mess, on the bathroom floor. If my kids start using the "s word" now, I really had no choice. I was on auto pilot for those few seconds. No time to censor what I was saying. I felt like a fool. Should have stayed in bed.

I am prone to lightheadedness if I get up too quickly. Usually, it passes without issue. Rarely, it causes a loss of consciousness. The last time I completely passed out was about five years ago, when my daughter was one. I was playing on the floor with her, and I got up to answer the phone. I managed to say hello, and I thought I clearly uttered, "I am going to faint.", but my husband said he did not understand what I said. When I regained consciousness, I was on the floor having narrowly missed hitting my daughter and a wall. It took me a few moments for me to realize what had happened. My husband could not figure out why I was not speaking for a few seconds. I guess I was not out long enough for him to be seriously worried. Time tends to slow when you are fainting.

My father used to experience this quite often in his forties. He fell off a ladder one summer and broke his hip, hit his head pretty badly. We think he passed out while he was on the ladder, but we are not sure. He would have incidents somewhat out of the blue. My cases of lightheadedness usually result from being down low, and getting up too quickly. I should know better. I probably could have prevented my fall yesterday, if I had taken my time.

And to think, girls used to intentionally try to pass out for the "fun" of it in junior high. Yeah, not really seeing the appeal, but I did take a dive onto a wooden bench.

 

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