About Cause of Child Fainting

I come from a long line of school teachers and I've never heard of children fainting for no reason.

I would inspect his diet that day, whether he may have been overheated, was he dehydrated....

I don't believe anyone faints for no reason. There is always a cause. It may have been something very innocent, but that would have to be determined.

Is he on any kind of medication? Is he anemic? Could he be diabetic? What was he doing at the time?

I don't know if this condition is common in boys but it is in girls. My daughter has Neuro Cardiogenic Instability. The only way to diagnosis this is thru a Tilt Table Test perfomed by a cardiologist. It is kept under control with medication and is not a deadly condition. In her case, they tell us her blood pressure drops and her brain is not on the same wave length as her heart to tell it to start pumping blood to get the pressure back up. So her cardiologist tells her to stay hydrated and to eat periodically thru the day and to eat salty but healthy snacks like pretzels or nuts.

Did they mention that it could be that he is growing? This has happened to a couple of my friends as well as my son. Apparently, when they are growing quickly, sometimes their blood volume can't keep up and it affects their blood pressure. The key is to have them stay well hydrated and when they get up from lying down, to get up slowly so their blood pressure can equalize. This only happened to my son twice (he was 14 and it hasn't happened again)and then things must have caught up growth-wise. Good luck.

I will sometimes feel like I am going to faint when I haven't eaten in a long time (like 12-15 hours) and my blood sugar drops.

There is such a wide array of things that can cause fainting. It could be a problem inside the body, or it could be a temporary situational thing caused by an activity. I have read that even urinating can cause a person to faint. do a google search for 'cause of fainting'

I would ask your daughter to pry a bit and find out every aspect of his day - was he coming out gym? is he having anxiety?

You could do a whole run of tests... CT Scan, MRI, EKG, bloodwork, stress test, etc. but an isolated incident is not likely to cause the docs to order these tests.

I would be more concerned if he bumped his head on something on the way down.

I hope you find the answers you seek.

~J.~

Both my dad and my friend's daughter have a medical condition that causes them to have vasal (sp?) episodes. The girl has them when she gets hurt - even with a bad paper cut. It causes her to faint. I don't think it happened from birth. My dad also gets these, and wasn't diagnosed til an adult. His aren't very often, but he can tell now when they're coming because he starts to sweat heavily. His have to do with blood pressure. It's probably one of these other things mentioned, but always good to have the extra info if it happens again.

People and kids DO faint. Unless it happens again I wouldnt worry about it too much.

But, just in case, did he complain of being nauseous before hand? Or get sweaty? I used to get very nauseous as a kid, break out in a cold sweat, and then I would faint. It turned out to be hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). In my case, it was because I didnt eat a very great breakfast and by 10am I was feeling faint. Once I quit growing, around 14 for me, it stopped because I finally had a chance to put on a little body fat instead of being a stick skinny kid.

They probably checked his blood sugar at the hospital. If he woke up fine, without needing to drink something sugary like juice, it probably wasnt this. But I thought I would mention it.

My brother had a fainting spell at school. He had one at church, too. His spells were caused by low blood sugar. Perhaps you could mention this possibility to his mother. Hope this helps!

I agree with the bloodsugar thing. I have a ten year old who faints if she sees blood on herself. We have found that this is particularly aggrivated if she hasn't been hydrated enough. We make sure she drinks at least three glasses a day and six in the summer and we haven't had one single fainting spell in a year.

If this is a single, solitary incident of fainting then I don't think there's a need to have him undergo a litany or battery of unnecessary testing or invasive procedures. People faint for many reasons. He could have been dehydrated, hungry, seen blood or other trauma, or other issues. Sometimes kids feel a little faint or dizzy after vigorous exercise (even the most healthy of students!).

I wouldn't spend a whole lot of time trying to rework his diet, hire a nutritionist, take him to a specialist, etc. unless he continues to faint or have other symptoms. I would think a simple follow up with the pediatrician, especially after a trip to the ER and an EKG, would suffice.

I would look into what was going on when he fainted. I remember that when I was probably 7 or 8 that I fainted. Haven't fainted since and hopefully never will. But the reason I fainted was because Dad had just gotten a splinter out of my hand, there was probably a slight bit of blood involved.

Another thing I know to be associated with fainting is low blood sugar and no I'm not suggesting giving him candy, but rather juice and such. As far as the vitamins go; it depends on his diet, if he's eating good, protien, fruits, veggies etc. he's probably fine, but if he's eating more fast food than well balanced meals a multi-vitamin couldn't hurt.

have u checked to see if he is diabetic??
S.-m

Hitting puberty I am sure he's just fine. As this was my first time I fainted, I believe I was about 9 or 10. I have continued to do so though. I have incredibly high metabolism and I need to eat often. If he's active this may be his problem. He may need to eat more often and NOT fast food or junk either, healthy items like an apple. I also have low blood pressure AND low potassium. Yea, I kept my parents on their toes! LMAO!! Now I can feel it happening and I sit or get food quick. I never leave my house without food or water! I am sure he's fine but those are some other ideas he may have going on! Good luck as I am sure he's fine!

Mom to four great kids!

This was happening to my nephew and the doctors did all the tests and determined that he was dehydrated. So his mom just made sure he had plenty of fluids and he was fine.

I would never brush off anything like this as "normal". The doctor could have a simple blood sugar absorption test to rule out complications as diabetes or hypoglycemia. A lot of it can be treated with diet--regulating sugar which includes too many carbs, sodas, or simply not eating enough.
Another possibility is anemia, which also can be treated with diet. All of this can be a result of growing, but why ignore an incident and brushing it off? He could be fluctuating his blood sugar levels during the day, getting dizzy, cranky, etc and just only became obvious with fainting.

Hi A.!
My daughter fainted when she was 12 years old. I was also told that "sometimes this happens." I was not content with that answer either, so I began to ask other doctors questions, etc. What we finally determined after blood tests and a lot of questions, is that she has low blood pressure. So when she goes from a resting state to an active state quickly, her body can't adjust quickly enough and her pressure bottoms out. (I'm sure there is a much more scientific way to say that, but essentially that is what happens.) So oddly enough, while the rest of have to watch our salt intake and worry about high blood pressure, her doctor said that she should increase her salt intake and that would help.
Other things we looked at while on our search, were anemia and low blood sugar. In our case, these were normal, but either could cause fainting as well. I hope that helps and good luck. I know how scary that can.

The same thing happened to my daughter when she was 7. She had an EKG and and EEG and everything was clear. It has happend once since, but she is perfectly fine. I used to faint. They say that some children when they are stressed about something can lock their knees and with the pressure this can make them faint. If you are worried about a vitamin problem, just have them take a blood test. I am sure he is just fine. Growing up can be stressful and some children handle situations differently than others. Make sure he sleeps and eats well and keep an eye on him. If there is a problem I would imagine it would become a recurring thing and then you could go back to the doctor.
Good luck.