Not from bad news, but I fainted once as a young teenager. A bunch of us had gone to the roller rink. While standing in the lobby waiting to pay to get in some guy burst through the inner door, skated up to one of the guys in our group, and punched him right in the face. When I heard the crack of my friend’s nose I fainted dead away. Came to with the other friends pulling me up off the floor by my spaghetti arms. Blood was gushing from our friend’s nose.
Of course it was over a girl.
My enormous, 2m10, manly-man, football-loving, giant of an uncle faints at the drop of a hat. Tell him his kids are hurt and BOOM, down he goes. One time my aunt came home to find both him and her young son out cold on the floor. Basically, kid got hurt running around and he went down too. My poor aunt!
I’ve fainted once before. I’d been sick, I was under a lot of emotional stress, and then my boyfriend handed me the mail, and there was a very large, overdue bill I wasn’t expecting. It was a bit of a shock, but more, it was the final straw, and I slid down to the ground and was out for a couple of minutes.
When my mom got in a car accident, I nearly passed out at her bedside at the hospital. My husband and I were the first ones on scene (as it were), and they allowed us to be in the ER room with her as she was mostly stable and conscious and as long as we stayed generally out of the way - the doctor was sewing up a wound in her head.
I was holding her hand, and looked down at it - her index finger was broken and I could see the bone inside (but it wasn’t bleeding or at all gruesome, strangely). I remember getting very, very hot while simultaneously feeling cold and clammy, just as if I’d overdone it during exercise (which I have a couple of times). I had to get out of there - I excused myself from the room and took a breather out in the hallway. If I hadn’t, I’d have been out on the floor and the doctors and nurses already had enough to deal with. I remember someone bringing me a cup of ice water; I probably looked like a sheet, and I’m pale enough to begin with.
Not fun.
Ok, that reminded me and now I have to change my answer to: damn near. I barely remember the event, but wife was at the doctor and miscarrying at around 2-3 months. Accidentally caught a glimpse of the embryo/fetus and down I went. Fortunately it was very brief and I landed sitting in a chair–just looked like I sat down hard. Yowza, I’d pretty much blacked that whole memory out.
I have gotten close to fainting once while seeing my grandmother in the hospital having a seizure.
I have also gone weak in the knees a little bit and dropped the stuff I was holding from cataplexy one time. That was some scary shit.
Never happened to me or anyone I know, but I saw a documentary about World War II and this man had been declared dead in combat by mistake. (Actually, he was in a POW camp.) When he was released, he called home. His mom picked up the phone, heard his voice, and fainted. His sister grabbed the phone, and the same thing happened. His aunt grabbed the phone, and…you guessed it.
Then his dad picked up. “Who is this?” He managed to stay awake, and then, in one of the all time great understatements, said, “Now son, you hold on while I wake up your mama, 'cause she’s gonna want to talk to you.”
So if you are ever near me and you faint, I should take that as an omen?
I came very close to fainting at age 28 when my then-husband came out of a doctor’s office and told me he had cancer. I stood there, and my vision narrowed down to a pinpoint, and my knees started buckling. I drew in a huge breath and everything reversed. I think I was too shocked to breathe for a few seconds.
When I was about 10 or 11 my younger brother broke his arm on the playground. When I saw him with his arm in a splint and little splotches of blood on his legs, I became VERY dizzy and had to lie down. Didn’t actually faint, though.
I also became very dizzy and had to sit down after learning that my dad had cancer (he’s okay now).
Nope. It might set off a panic attack, depending on what the news was, but as it happens, neither syncope nor things that tend to cause syncope (e.g., hyperventilating) are common symptoms of panic for me. I rather wish they were. Being unconscious would be a significant improvement.
I only ever pass out in medical exam rooms. Particularly inept blood draws will do it. I can watch a good phlebotomist work, but if I get stuck with some glorified receptionist – pun half intended – who’s rooting around in my arm with a big ol’ needle and couldn’t find a vein if one of them jumped up and smacked her, I will go all vasovagal and slump over in your chair.
No such reaction to pain, regardless of degree, or blood that isn’t mine. I’m fabulous in other people’s emergencies.