Should I Be Concerned About Sudden Black Out Inspite Of Normal Tests?

Posted on Fri, 7 Mar 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 7 Mar 2014 Answered on

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I had blacked out about a week ago in the am. I went to the Dr.s office my bp was 80/60, an EKG showed "non specific" t wave changes. I had an echo and my GP stated "The results were generally normal but the muscles between right and left side had some prominence which may not be clinically significant". I am on pravastatin, and recent cholesterol tests were great (actually best ever). My red blood cell count is high (hgb was 16.7 and hct auto was 48). If everything is coming out "generally normal" as my PMO says, should I push further for more tests or other tests? I am a 48 yo F with a family history of heart disease (mom died at 47 massive heart attach and my dad had his first heart attack at 49, and has congestive heart failure) I honestly think that something is seriously wrong with my health, or I'm about ready to have a heart attack.

Answered by Dr. Benard Shehu (5 hours later)

Brief Answer: You should run other examinations... Detailed Answer: Hi XXXXX I read your query very carefully. What you have experienced is called syncope or common faint. It’s not always possible to determine the exact nature of syncope and in about 25% of cases it’s with unknown etiology. First of all, I would like to suggest consulting cardiologist and neurologist for further examinations and proper management. IT is a good thing that the first basic examinations resulted within normal parameters. So you should run other examinations to determine the exact nature of syncope. With such a case in my clinic I probably would have recommended running the following examinations: - EKG 24 h Holter monitoring - Stress test - Tilt table test - Carotid ultrasound - Electro encephalo graphy Hope it was of help! Dr. Bneard

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar