Blackouts

Since early June this year I have been in and out of hospital about 6 times.
The last two times were due to allergic reactions to insulin; however the others were due to (what I'm calling) blackouts.

I have no memory of these episodes, my husband finds me as though I'm asleep but when he tries to wake me I am totally non-responsive. When he opens my eyes they do, however, respond to the light.
He has shaken me, splashed my face with cold water, tapped my face to try and bring me round and none of it does anything.
When I am finally able to hold my eyes open of my own accord he says they are slightly glazed, very unfocused and I am unable to speak. I do make sounds in my throat but cannot seem able to form proper words or acknowledge anything that's being said to me.

Along with this I have palpitations/racing heart (the first time this happened the paramedic said my heart was barreling along to the point where that alone would have been enough to land me in A&E) and tightness in my chest which makes it hard to breathe; especially when trying to take a deep breath (such as yawning).

I had another one of these episodes last night. The last thing I remember is hubby telling me to go and lie down while he had a shower as I was exhausted. He found me and thought I was asleep until he couldn't wake me up.
It took him quite a while to get me to a point where I was able to hold my eyes open and focus a little better and once I was completely fine we had dinner and that was that.

I decided to see if I could get some idea of why this was happening and called my GP earlier today.
He was useless.
I explained everything and told him that the hospital doctors had just passed it off as my high blood sugar and said that I should speak to the doctor there that specializes in diabetes (who I'm seeing in two weeks anyway) because he doesn't really know what's causing it and it "could be" the diabetes but he isn't sure and wouldn't like to "hazard a guess" just in case he's wrong.

So with all of that helpful advice in mind ( :roll: ) I thought I would ask the lovely people of this forum whether they've experienced anything like this at all and what can be done to stop it happening?

Just in case you need to know:
Health:
Type 2 diabetes
Chronic Fatigue
Fibromyalgia
Nodular Prurigo (we think)
Depression and anxiety
Lactose intolerance
PCOS (we think)

Medications:
Victoza injection, lansoprazole, metformin, glimepiride, citalopram, amitriptyline, ropinerole, fexofenadine, paracetamol, oramorph (only at night) and the contraceptive pill (cerazette)

Other:
Diet - low carb, low fat and 1,000 cals per day (as "prescribed" by both my GP and the diabetic team at the hospital)

Thanks for the replies, it's much appreciated.

I've had countless ECG's - every time I'm taken into hospital they do one every hour.
I get told the same thing, that I'm "a bit tachy" or my heart rate is too high as is my blood pressure (although goes up and down like a flippin' yo-yo) but nobody has bothered to figure out why it's happening or why I keep having these random "blackouts".

I was kind of hoping that it was a diabetes thing and would be easy to take care of; but it's not looking that way :lol: (not that I actively want anyone else to have this, but you know what I mean!)

I've asked two different GP's - one didn't seem at all bothered and the other was who I spoke to today.

The 1,000 calories thing is confusing me as I was told originally that if I'm low carb I shouldn't hugely worry about counting calories but I've now been told that I should go as low as possible (I have a sneaking suspicion it's because I'm trying to get them to explore other treatment options for the diabetes rather than go down the surgery route that they want me to)
I've asked if it could be bad for my health to go that low and was told I should be lower but clearly I wouldn't "cope under 1000" :?

Anyway, fingers crossed it doesn't happen again for a while - if it does then it's back to A&E for me

Hi CatherineCherub,

Thank you for that link, I'm checking it out now.
I had a medication review when I was placed on Victoza which was only about a month or so ago and that's the only medication that's new to me as I'd been on Glimepiride previously.
The blackouts had started before I was given Glimepiride so I don't know if it's that; although at one point I was taking that, Metformin and Sitagliptin and my BG levels were still too high :shock:

I'm hoping that it doesn't happen again between now and my doctors appointment; but if it does I've asked hubby to ring for an ambulance the second he notices that I'm not simply sleeping.

Thanks for the replies, everyone, I really appreciate it

Edited - I'm a bit concerned that despite having had the medication review and having told the GP about the blackouts, fast heartbeat, etc...they didn't bother to check the interactions again.
Obviously I can't just stop taking Citalopram (which appears to be the main interaction as far as I can see) as I've been taking it since October 2011 (oddly enough I've had no trouble until a few weeks after I was diagnosed with diabetes) but I will raise my concerns with the GP and see what she has to say.

Also, CatherineCherub, the 1000 calories has been recommended several times by my GP; so it's something I've been doing on and off; alongside the low carb eating for about 6 months.
They've said that because I'm obese and in a wheelchair I don't need to eat more than that and should in fact be eating less. I don't know if they mean that on a permanent basis or just until I've lost weight.

Hiya,
Thats pretty scary!! How did that get diagnosed?
I did google it and a lot of the symptoms are far too similar for my liking.... Especially the déjà-vu feeling, the stopping talking mid-sentence and spacing out for ages - those three are things I've dealt with for years! The blackouts themselves are only recent but I'm wondering now if the other symptoms were like "early warning signs"?

Nobody has mentioned this before, they've been quick to blame it on weight or high blood sugar.....

Hi everyone,

Sorry for taking a while to reply - I've paramedics out twice since I last posted and one A&E stay (albeit a rather short one).

The paramedics yesterday were so so lovely to me - really kind.
They bundled me into the ambulance and ran a couple of ECG tests on me and did my blood pressure - heart was going at 130bpm again and blood pressure was 154/102 (!!!) they kept me in the ambulance for a bit, just chatting to me about what's been going on and I just totally broke down and cried like a baby (which was slightly embarrassing...)
Their advice was that the breathing trouble and tight chest is anxiety which I accept; I have anxiety which is social-based but they said that with that it always bubbles just under the surface regardless of what triggers an attack and if someone with anxiety is stressed or worried or upset then it spikes and triggers an attack.
I think that's fairly acceptable in terms of an answer as to why I have trouble breathing and their suggestion was to ask the GP to look into a form of counseling which I'm perfectly okay with.

The racing heart they weren't sure if it was connected to the anxiety so they suggested getting that looked at, as well as getting my blood pressure looked at.

The blackouts were worrying them a bit and they said to push for a neurologist appointment ASAP.
They voiced their opinion that my highly restricted carbohydrate, low fat and 1,000 calorie diet is not good (especially when I told them that I was told I can go lower than that) and when I told them the GP had said that bariatric surgery would cure me of diabetes one of the paramedics said "well that's (word that rhymes with row locks!"
It was lovely to have someone listen to me, understand why I'm so upset and frustrated and actually offer helpful advice.

So, armed with all of this and the copy of their paperwork they gave me I went to the GP and told him (for the hundredth time) what I was concerned about and what I would like to happen. I recorded the conversation on my phone so I have it as proof just in case he decides to do nothing as per usual.
I've finally got him to refer me to a neurologist, but he said he thinks that they will conduct (in his words) "thousands of pounds worth of tests" and find nothing wrong at all and that I won't get an answer as to why I keep blacking out.
He's got me to have a full load of blood tests done (and again mentioned cost, saying that they don't cost as much as "other tests") and that was it.
He pushed surgery again and I told him that I'm not happy going through with it and pulled him up over what was written on my notes on the screen as it simply said "does not want surgery as too scared" to which he said he didn't write that. I don't care who flipping well wrote it, it's unprofessional for goodness' sakes!!

So, I've got the referral and some tests to have done next week at the surgery.
I mentioned the blood sugar levels and he said that they aren't too concerning (I'm still in the teens so I don't know what it would need to be to be concerning to him.....) and he refused to talk more about the diabetes and told me I would need to be seen by a consultant at the hospital.
So clearly he doesn't read notes or anything - if he did he would know I've seen the consultant already...!

That's about it, I think. So it's sort of good, sort of still really annoying.
I just wanted to keep you all updated and say "thank you" for all the help and support.
I wish there was a "hug" emote here; but this will have to do:

wouldn't be able to speak (I was speaking in my mind if that makes sense but nothing was coming out?)

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Oh my god, that makes sense in a really scary way. I keep having nightmares where I'm having a blackout but I am screaming in my head "I'm in here, I'm trapped".
Hubby says that I can't talk but I make distressing noises in my throat that he thinks is me trying to talk but not being able to.

Did they ever find out what caused yours?

Thank you desidiabulum, that's given me something to think about.

I do suffer with migraines; only 2 or so a year and I've never blacked out with them; but after the anaphylaxis reaction to an antibiotic in early June what you've said makes sense.

I'm chasing the referral on Wednesday as I'm seeing the diabetic GP at the surgery, so if I've not heard anything from the neurologist by then I'm chasing it and mentioning the migraines.