Every time I go into a store I get vertigo and the floor feels like it’s moving and I feel like I’m going to pass out, although I never do. Can you actually pass out from this? It really scares me.
yes trying to walk around stores made me feel that way but i think it was me hyperventilating or just not breathing right because I am so anxious about how unsteady I am on my feet, I am terrified I will twist/sprain ankles or fall. So for me it is definitely from anxiety im guessing yours prob is too but im no dr.
I don’t think you actually can pass out. I know when this was bad for me a few times it felt like the floor dropped beneath me. I was having major anxiety at the time - I know that was a big part of it for me. I’m no doctor either but I haven’t read anything where you can actually pass out…and I’ve read a lot of about this thing 
Hey, add in a little low blood pressure and it’s easy. Remember, an MAV dx doesn’t mean everything else is perfect!
Hi Lala,
It’s an awful feeling and one of my most persistent symptoms. Some days I go for hours feeling like I’m going to faint, but I never actually have fainted. I have learnt to live with the feeling that I’m going to black out, and knowing that I most likely won’t I don’t let it bother me and I just get on with my day. Being on Topamax has helped somewhat with this. For me it has nothing to do with anxiety. My neurologist says it can be due to migraine, and if you read Dr Nicholas Silver’s paper, posted on this forum at the following link (paste it into your browser):
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2355#p19271
you’ll see at Figure 1 on p13 or 14 he lists fainting as a symptom of migraine.
You are probably unlikely to actually faint. My doctor told me that staying well hydrated helps (especially as my blood pressure can also drop a bit when standing), and I find that I need to eat regularly and avoid missing meals. Carrying a snack with you and a drink is a good idea. Maybe try that and see if it helps.
Good luck managing this.
Regards, Helen
I’ve never passed out but I know the feeling well. It’s definitely worse if I’m getting hungry/low blood sugar or even slightly thirsty so like others have said eating regularly /snacking and keeping a drink with you can help. Having said that although I’m much less dizzy now I still get this feeling accompanied with some type of headache, there’s definitely some anxiety element to this too but it’s really hard to pin down.
Been doing much better generally recently but had a couple of random bad patches of this feeling this week :x
I was actually wondering this the other day, as I sat through a class under fluorescent lights feeling like there was so much pressure in my head that I was fighting unconsciousness. I left to go to the bathroom, and thought to myself “I can walk straight, so I’m unlikely to lose consciousness.” I returned, and sat through the (three hour) class, white-knuckling it out of sheer stubbornness, and didn’t pass out. That’s when I thought it’s very unlikely that I actually will.
I think that’s one of the worst things about this condition. The physical sensations, and emotions that accompany them, are so unreal, so atypical, so disturbing, that the mind quickly goes to what seems to be the next logical step in the ladder: Head hurts —> Feeling dizzy —> Can’t think straight —> Pass out. But, what if the peak of the ladder is at “can’t think straight?” I’m trying to convince myself that it is, since I’ve never passed out in the 5-6 years I’ve dealt with this. You’d think that if there was any chance, any statistically-significant chance, of that happening, that it would have by now in the tens and tens of more severe episodes I’ve had.
If I can come to believe that’s the case, my anxiety and worry will be lessened in the face of the next situation. But it’s difficult, because if the most severe ones happen in public or in a place where there’s no good option for extricating myself from the situation smoothly, I jump to the worst-case scenario: Do I just leave in case I did pass out? Should I call a cab because I’m unfit to drive? Should I just pass out in front of all these people?
Maybe others can sympathize and lend some insight on what’s helped him/her 
It’s funny you should say this… I actually ended up in the ER on Halloween because I thought I was passing out. I am always light headed but sometimes it gets so bad that panic sets it and then I feel like I may black out. I haven’t but I have found that that’s when it’s time to take my meds.
Hi everyone - I found this thread interesting because a similar condition has been happening to me since childhood. My doctor told my mother it could be caused by heat, lack of food or hydration, etc but nothing to worry about. I was diagnosed with childhood migraine - symptoms being stomach pain & allergies. Over the ensuing years as my migraine headaches got worse so did my feelings that I was about to pass out. I certainly felt very lightheaded & had blurred vision but didn’t ever get to the ‘blacked out’ stage. After living with this so long it didn’t really make me anxious of panicky - I knew it would get better if I drank some water or ate something.
Since getting VM it’s been a bit more scary - being unbalanced, etc. My doctor told me it’s called Reflex Syncope - a transient condition resulting from intermittent dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. I’ve found lying down flat & putting legs up against a wall, higher than head is the best & quickest way to recover.
If you can’t do this you can sit, cross your ankles, clench buttocks, or squat - anything to get blood pumping round your body to increase blood pressure!
Barb
When I exercise I put myself in the “vulnerable zone” for dizziness and go so lightheaded it feels like I might pass out - but I never have done, so I’m now confident I never will. If I lie of the floor (Pilates) and have to stand reasonably quickly then I may go dizzy for a few seconds - this subsides but leaves a residue of unsteadiness for the rest of my workout. Which is a pain.
At one stage I was even thinking this was the cause of my dizziness - but from reading this site it seems like by migraine brain is causing Reflex Syncope.
If there any food/vitamins/medications to keep blood pressure higher- I only really need when I play sport/exercise?
— Begin quote from “sparks”
When I exercise I put myself in the “vulnerable zone” for dizziness and go so lightheaded it feels like I might pass out - but I never have done, so I’m now confident I never will. If I lie of the floor (Pilates) and have to stand reasonably quickly then I may go dizzy for a few seconds - this subsides but leaves a residue of unsteadiness for the rest of my workout. Which is a pain.
At one stage I was even thinking this was the cause of my dizziness - but from reading this site it seems like by migraine brain is causing Reflex Syncope.
If there any food/vitamins/medications to keep blood pressure higher- I only really need when I play sport/exercise?
— End quote
High sodium diet will raise blood pressure. I have low blood pressure, and my GP urged me to drink chicken or beef broth.
So no one has actually passed out? This is something good to remember when in the midst of an attack. The worst that’s ever happened to me, is it was as if my eyes were spinning in their sockets and I couldn’t see even an inch in front of me - this lasted about 10 mins. But that’s only happened once in several years.
I’ve passed out at least 4 or 5 times. All but once it was when I got a sudden, very severe hit of vertigo. I pass out and become aware again once someone or something touches me - which is mostly how I know that I pass out. So these incidents that I’m aware of have been halted mid-fall. I’ll get hit with the sudden, severe vertigo and the next thing I know is someone is grabbing my hand or arm. I started asking how they knew I got really sick and needed help, and they’ve told me - because you were falling. I keel over (when I fall from other migraine and vertigo related things, I fall “down”, like a regular fall).
Recently I forgot I have vertigo (cognitive impairment) and was stepping up on a chair to hang a clock, and I started reaching for the hammer - next thing I knew I was in mid-fall with things dropping on top of me. So I’d passed out. I hurt myself pretty bad during this fall (not like broken bones, just lots of bruising and cuts and scrapes, and some painful and weird swelling in a few areas that still hasn’t gone away, almost 2 months later). I didn’t have the sudden vertigo strike first that time, nor did I the first time…
The first time that I know of was 30-35 yrs ago while at a concert walking down the steps with a friend, holding onto her arm. I told her to not let go because I’d fall, and 20 seconds later she broke away and went running down the steps… I guess I was going too slowly! Anyway, I was looking at the back of her running down the steps and the next thing I knew I was laying in the laps of a couple who was sitting on the floor at the edge of a row of seats. I hadn’t seen them so the had to have been petty far down, so I must’ve fallen quite a way. Anyway, they looked pissed but then looked kind of confused and maybe concerned when I immediately apologized profusely and got up and took off.
Much, much later I realized they’d been sitting on the concrete at the edge of that row, so they probably saved either my life or one helluva lot of painful damage, including TBI. In those days I didn’t have the disabling fatigue and weakness and prolonged vertigo, it just came and went. Anyway, who knows, I’ve probably passed out a lot more but am just not aware of it.
I am extremely concerned about this happening, especially when away from home…not that I go out very often, but one does need to get groceries and go to medical appts and such. I have an awesome walker but have found that when the severe vertigo hits, I’m frozen and can’t even move enough to sit down on it. I adopted a great Lhasa Apso and now she’s my service dog. Feeling her at the end of the leash helps a lot with proprioception, and I keep a walking stick in my other hand for balance.
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Hi, I am newly diagnosed but have had symptoms off and on for years until I finally had a doctor point me in the right direction. I have passed out in public twice. It used to really freak me out and I do still get anxiety from it. I have found that if I have something to hold onto (a cart, a handrail, or even a cane/walking stick) it really helps me feel more grounded and helps with the anxiety. Stores are also a real trial for me. Between the bright lights and all the movement in your peripheral vision, it’s a nightmare. Hope things are getting better for you!
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