Posted by Geo (206.173.17.44) on September 11, 2000 at 19:12:22:
In Reply to: Passing out from pain? posted by August on September 11, 2000 at 18:54:29:
Happens all the time. Sometimes I miss my stop on the train going to or coming from work. Mnay times I find that the black out occurrs near the end of an attack. Sometimes I just get very sleepy and feel like I'm going to just conk out.
I think this has somethng to do woth the brains ability to check pain by releasing opiates and in a sense, 'drugging' the sufferer to the point of sleep. The first time I noticed this was in 1990 when I laid down during an attack and woke up four hours later with no memory of 'falling' asleep or being tired enough to do so. I've mentioned this to some physicians and a couple have dared to argue with me about what a black-out is. There is such a thing as a conscious black out, which is the abscense of all awareness of what one is doing. Other blackouts just puit you to sleep really easy, and the worst of them are outright faints. I've had these latter two types constantly over the years, as well as the waking type, in which case the pain is so bad I am not aware of my actions, how I cross the street, where I'm going, etc.