Take a look at this video of Will Rhymes getting hit by a pitch. He gets a very narsty welt on his arm and is then deemed fit to take first base. A few minutes later he passes out.
The text of the article mentions that this may have been a reaction to an adrenaline surge, but what exactly is the mechanism at work here? I am guessing it’s related to the adrenaline causing a blood pressure spike, and then afterwords not getting enough oxygen to the brain. Clearly Will realized something was wrong before he passed out, since he was walking off the field right before.
Lots of triggers, but “stress” and “painful or unpleasant stimuli” are the two I’d suspect. I know it happens to me (although I don’t faint, but I come close).
Hey! That’s what I was looking for a few weeks ago! That’s what the doctor was talking about!
A few weeks ago I umm . . . joined the Order of the Navel Orange. Right after the doc said he was halfway done I suddenly felt nauseated, really warm, dizzy and said I wasn’t feeling well. The doctor said, “Yeah, you’re blending in with the pillow.” Afterwards he explained what had happened and all I remembered was something about the vagus nerve.
That stuck in my mind because a few years ago I had surgry on my eye and in the middle of it they had to give me a shot of (I think) epinephrine because they “bumped” something and my BP and heartrate dropped. I could only rememeber they called it a “[something that starts with a V] response.” The article lists “Pressing upon certain places on the throat, sinuses, and eyes . . .” Sounds about right.
Ah, so that’s what it’s called. I slammed a security door on my finger a couple weeks ago (miraculously didn’t break it), but about two minutes after the trauma, my blood pressure just plummeted and I had to sit down on the bathroom floor for a couple of minutes to keep from fainting. Had the whole peripheral-vision-going-staticky and tunneling effect, with a sudden feeling of nausea. Seems to happen commonly to me after any sort of sudden physical trauma, but for me it’s usually more immediate and shorter.
That’s happened to me a couple times after a vigorous workout, but oddly not until quite a bit after I cool down, and am already in the shower. Half-fainting in the gym locker room is a bit emasculating.
After nasal surgery to open things up a bit, my follow-up visit was an eye-opening experience. Doc was rooting around up my nose removing “debris” when I started feeling all oogy. Dizzy, hot, sick, - I made him stop because I had no idea what was happening. Good thing I was already reclining, because I faded out for a while. When I came to, they were putting cold compresses on me & telling me to wake up.
Wow. When the doc explained vasovagal response to me, I said “maybe you should warn someone that can happen during this!” His response was, “well, it usually only happens to women and small children!” Very funny, doc.
But seriously, the next time you’re in a fight with some big lummox, just stick your finger in his nose and root around some. He’ll be all oogy and dizzy in no time flat!
That’s your cue to hit the road running.
I’ve seen someone go down in kung fu class after a hit to the arm and was even deliberately hit hard enough on that point to feel “something”, definably not magic but surely some mechanism is at work that can knock you out.
Two times that’s happened to me me, once in the aftermath of breaking radius and ulna while playing soccer (I played on because I am a fool but the body can only be disobeyed for so long)
And once a couple of minutes after dislocating my elbow and had it “pop” right back in there.
Let me tell you, the latter was far more painful though shorter in duration.
Anyhow, both involved arm injuries so maybe that is significant, i hadn’t thought about it till now.
Whatever the real reason is that baseball players are sissies (unlike cricketers) who are scared of being hit. Probably was the tension is what caused it.
:D:D
I have been hit there as well, and my head was spinning and I felt downright nauseous.
That was probably caused by hypotension. Often athletes who sit down and then arise quickly will feel like fainting. That is called postural hypotension. It appears from your post that you were not sitting down, but the same mechanism may have been at work.
The vasovagal response is what is commonly referred to as “shock.”
