Have you ever felt weakness or dizziness due to your anxiety? How many times do you feel that you will collapse due to your anxiousness?? Most of the individuals think they might pass out due to these symptoms of anxiety disorder. However, you can effectively recover from this condition with the help of some specific treatment plans.
This article is a comprehensive guide to anxiety and feeling like you will pass out. You will also understand the main mechanisms that are behind this and also the best ways to cope with this situation.
Feel Like Passing Out Common Anxiety Symptoms
Anxiety is a body’s natural response to stress conditions. This is quite normal until not exceeding the normal levels. Otherwise, it becomes a mental illness that affects the mental stability of individuals. There are different forms of anxiety including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, etc. Each form of anxiety disorder can affect the normal functioning of individuals. Due to anxiety disorders, individuals face difficulty in their personal and professional lives. Furthermore, they do not easily make bonds with their loved ones due to their prolonged phase of sadness.
Common symptoms of Anxiety
There is a range of common psychological as well as physical symptoms that negatively affect the ability of individuals to carry out normal life functions.
Psychological symptoms of Anxiety
- Excessive fear
- Racing thoughts
- Difficulty in focus or concentration
- Confusion in mind
- Social isolation
- Poor memory
Physical symptoms of Anxiety
- Increased heart rate
- Shortness of breath
- Muscle stiffness
- Dryness of mouth
- Fatigue or tiredness
Common symptoms of Dizziness and Faintness
Although dizziness and faintness are common anxiety symptoms, they also involve the occurrence of other symptoms which include:
- Nausea
- Lightheadedness
- Weakness
- Sweating
- Increased heart rate
- Blurred vision
- Increased heart rate
- Shortness of breath
- Confusion in thoughts
The Link Between Anxiety and Fainting
Fainting is a condition in which an individual loses the state of consciousness for a temporary period. It is also named as the syncope. In addition, it occurs due to anxiety or panic attacks or reduced blood supply to the brain.
Type of Fainting or Syncope
There are some common types of fainting which are as follows:
Cardiac syncope
Constricted blood supply, arrhythmias, and cardiac disorders are responsible for cardiac syncope. If it is not treated on time, then it can result in cardiac arrest.
Vasovagal syncope
Vasovagal syncope is the most common type of fainting among other types. The main factor that triggers the development of vasovagal syncope is the overactivation of the nervous system and increased response to stress signals. Under the effect of vasovagal syncope, the blood supply to the brain also gets reduced.
Orthostatic syncope
Some body positions can also cause fainting. For example, when you suddenly try to stand up quickly, your equilibrium gets disturbed and you start feeling faint.
Situational syncope
Situational syncope is caused by sudden changes in specific actions such as urinating, swallowing as well as coughing.
How can you identify the need to get professional help for fainting?
You immediately need professional help to resist your feeling of passing out if:
- The rate of fainting is more than usual. You faint more than once a month.
- You face difficulty in making memories or learning things.
- The period of fainting is longer than normal situations.
- You are older enough to handle your unconsciousness.
- You can faint anywhere and at any time.
- You have blurred vision and headaches that you can’t control.
What are the common anxiety symptoms that make you Feel Like Passing out?
- Most individuals get anxious and experience the following common symptoms that make them feel that they are passed out.
- They feel lightheadedness, dizzy, unconscious, and faint. They feel that they can not maintain the balance and might fall over.
- They feel that their heads are constantly moving or spinning.
- It also feels like the person is moving on the boat and the floor is suddenly moving upwards direction. The affected individuals think they can not handle their bodies due to their weak legs and can fall anytime.
- In most cases, individuals feel like they are not moving right and always feel fear before placing their feet on the ground due to their wrong perception of the floor or ground.
- It also feels like they are unable to fight with others as they can panic easily and can not win the battle.
- It also feels like the floor beneath their feet is rapidly moving and shaking or their body is moving in an uncontrolled manner from one side to the other side.
- Individuals have an extreme fear of passing out. Their anxiousness gets increased to such an extent that they even start asking multiple weird questions from themselves such as ‘’What if I pass out? If I pass out, what will everyone think about me? What can I do at that moment? Which strategies can I employ to cope with the symptoms of passing out?
- The intensity of such a pass-out varies from mild to severe based on the mental condition of individuals. It occurs in the form of waves, as initially its intensity is high but gets reduced with time.
- Moreover, these symptoms can occur on a rare basis and also persistently and frequently.
- These symptoms usually appear when the anxiety is more severe, while in some cases, the symptoms can be evident without any apparent reason. Moreover, multiple changes also appear in these symptoms of feeling like passing out.
- Most individuals usually suffer from such symptoms throughout the period, although the intensity of anxiety is increasing or decreasing.
What are the main Physiological mechanisms that are responsible for developing this feeling of passing out?
You do not just simply feel like you will pass out. Behind this apparent effect, multiple inner mechanisms are responsible for the development of the following symptoms:
Hyperventilation/Hypoventilation
Anxiety is also linked with changing breathing conditions. When the person is exposed to any stressful situation, the body’s sympathetic system gets activated, which in turn results in the activation of a fight or flight response. Due to its response, stress hormones are released in the bloodstream, which in turn affect the breathing rate. The breathing patterns changed, which ranged from slow, deeper breaths to a faster rate of breathing. Both hyperventilation and hypoventilation are common breathing conditions that are common in anxious situations. In the case of both hyperventilation and hypoventilation, the level of carbon dioxide increases.
When you breathe in an excessive amount, more carbon dioxide gets released from your body and its level in the body also gets decreased. Due to the reduction in carbon dioxide levels, individuals feel dizzy. Moreover, they also feel like they are going to faint and their lightheadedness is making their life difficult. On the other hand, when your breathing rate is lower, the concentration of carbon dioxide also decreases in your body. This results in the sensation of fatigue, tiredness, or bluish skin.
Vasovagal syncope
Vasovagal syncope is a condition in which individuals feel faint due to a sudden drop in blood pressure. Moreover, the cardiac rate also decreases. This condition occurs when the immune system usually exhibits an excessive response toward multiple triggers. Moreover, due to this phenomenon, individuals feel dizziness and face difficulty in learning as they remain confused.
Multiple studies have reported a significant link between Vasovagal syncope and emotional instability that is common in both anxiety and depression.
Low blood sugar
Whatever we eat is grown into smaller particles and becomes incorporated into the bloodstream in the form of sugar molecules. The blood sugar that is made after the process of digestion plays a major role as a fuel that is required by the body to perform essential life functions. In the presence of normal and controlled sugar levels, the body performs the normal function. However, with reduced sugar levels, individuals feel that they do not have sufficient energy to do anything. Moreover, they also feel lightheadedness, dizziness, and off-balance.
This happens when you have not eaten anything for an extended period, and now your body needs the energy in the form of blood sugar to normally carry out the essential life activities. The symptoms of low blood sugar usually appear after a period of three or four hours. But if you immediately take any food product or any fruit or vegetable, your sugar levels get normal and you can control the symptoms.
It’s not always essential that you always experience low sugar levels. In some cases, blood sugar levels can also increase if you have not eaten any food item that contains raw sugar. Raw sugar can quickly convert into blood sugar. High blood sugar levels are dangerous for the body and it can affect the body’s organs. It results in the release of insulin in the body as it can regulate the increased sugar levels. However, if the insulin is released in an excessive amount, then it can result in a blood sugar crash, which in turn can result in low blood sugar levels. Ultimately, the individuals feel like he will pass out and feel faint. Likewise, they feel mental confusion and feel that they can not retain the memory of any important thing. But by maintaining a healthy lifestyle, you can prevent the hypoglycemic condition and the sugar levels remain at controlled levels.
Hyperstimulation
There is a negative link between the hyperstimulation and the nervous system. The nervous system is the major organ that controls multiple functions including the processing of sensory information and the body’s equilibrium. If the nervous system is active, then all these functions can be effectively controlled. However, if the nervous system is not healthy, then its functioning will also be affected.
The inappropriate functioning of the nervous system can occur due to multiple factors such as nitrous dysregulation, homeostatic dysregulation, nervous system excitation, as well as undesired or negative hormonal changes. Nervous systems carry out the major function of maintaining equilibrium. Moreover, to develop balance, the nervous system utilizes visual clues.
In that case, when we close our eyes, the nervous system in a hyperstimulated state finds more difficulty in finding the state of equilibrium. This is the main reason why most individuals usually feel dizzy or faint, especially when they look at anything that is moving. Even if they try some little movements of their head or change their overall position, they feel unconscious.
Heat exhaustion
Heat exhaustion involves exposure to increased temperature. You might have noticed that if you stand below the sunlight, then you can experience the feelings of such symptoms. There is a greater possibility that you will feel faint or dizzy, but in this case, if you change your position from a warmer to a cooler position, then you can feel better and relaxed.
Muscle stiffness
Individuals suffering from anxiety or depression also sometimes experience muscle stiffness behind the neck, back, and shoulders. In addition, they also feel dizziness, fainting, lightheadedness, and off-balance. The stiffness of the muscles present around the ears and the muscle groups that lead to the ear canals results in increased pressure in the ear canals. Due to the increased pressure, the body’s equilibrium also gets disturbed. In addition, these symptoms of faintness, dizziness, and lightheadedness also appear.
Fatigue
If you are physically active, then you can not faint or feel dizzy. But if you are taking any stress or not feeling normal, then you will also face difficulty in sleep. In that case, if you are not getting sufficient sleep, then you will not feel active. You will only feel tiredness and fatigue. Moreover, due to your exhaustion, you will feel the symptoms of passing out.
Other factors
Some other factors can result in anxiety, depression, or such symptoms of passing out including:
- Water deficiency
- Stimulant
- Recreational drugs
- Nutritional deficiency
- Hormonal changes
- Pain
- Low blood sugar levels
- Medications
Is feeling faint dangerous?
Feeling faint is not dangerous but it can be in some cases.
Situations in which anxiety is not dangerous
The person gets faint due to a sudden decrease in blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and heart rate. This also results in a decreased blood supply to the brain. The person can recover from the unconsciousness, as fainting is a brief period that involves the loss of consciousness. So in this case, fainting is not dangerous if early preventive measures are applied.
Situations in which anxiety is dangerous
You can also faint by losing consciousness if you are suffering from any serious illness. As before the cardiac arrest, fainting is the first warning sign. Moreover, if you are making any excuse and you have suddenly performed any strenuous activity, then fainting is an indication that you need immediate professional help,p otherwise it can cause multiple consequences.
How to control the feeling of passing out in anxiety?
If you want to get rid of the feeling of faint anxiety symptom, then you should focus on the following things:
Identify the trigger
Before moving toward any therapeutic strategy, you should first consider why you are in this situation. First, identify the trigger factors of your feeling of passing out. After that, you can implement this strategy to control your symptoms of fainting, dizziness, or lightheadedness.
Calm down yourself
Try to calm down yourself as if there is no bigger or unbeatable stress factor, you can get into a normal state after calming or relaxing yourself. This is a short-term strategy that you can use to immediately mitigate the feelings of faint anxiety symptoms.
Breathing techniques
Breathing techniques are also useful for relaxing the mind, body, and soul. If you feel faint or unconscious, start breathing in a shallow and deeper manner. Ultimately, you will feel relaxed by changing your breathing pattern. By regulating the level of carbon dioxide in your blood, you can stop as well as control your unconsciousness. Multiple breathing techniques help prevent fainting, including the 4-7-8 techniques or diaphragmatic techniques.
Mindfulness techniques
Mindfulness techniques are also useful for reducing the anxiety levels and feeling of gonna pass out. Some common mindfulness techniques involve meditation, yoga as well as muscle relaxation techniques.
Absolute diet
By taking control of your diet, you can also maintain your blood sugar levels. If you are taking regular meals, then you will protect your body from running out of energy sources and ultimately prevent hypoglycemia. Moreover, if you want to maintain your blood sugar level, then eat healthy food products instead of junk food as they can also result in blood sugar issues.
When to seek Professional help
If you or someone who is suffering from anxiety, often feels dizziness, unconsciousness, and lightheadedness, and faces difficulty in living a normal life, then they need immediate professional help. At Brainpower Wellness Institute, we have professional mental health experts who have absolute knowledge regarding each mental illness, including anxiety and depression. They employ a range of therapies, including cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure and response prevention therapy, etc.
Moreover, they also provide mental health counseling to individuals so they can overcome their mental issues by managing their symptoms. They are renowned for developing personalized mental health solutions considering the mental state of individuals. So if you want to protect your mental wellness, then don’t wait any more and schedule a consultation with our professional mental health experts and effortlessly initiate your journey of mental wellness.
