What is the difference between passed out and blackout

Follow the instructions of the operator or emergency dispatcher. You may need to perform rescue breathing or CPR while awaiting help. If you have no prior history of fainting and have fainted multiple times, your doctor will want to determine if an underlying medical condition is the cause. Even people who only pass out once should at least get an electrocardiogram ECG or EKG , which records the electrical activity of your heart. Tell your doctor about the specific circumstances of your fainting spell, such as what you were doing and how you felt immediately before fainting.

Be prepared to give your doctor a complete medical history, including information about previously diagnosed conditions and any prescription and over-the-counter OTC medications you take.

Depending on the findings from a physical examination , your doctor may order additional tests. Diagnosis typically starts with EKG. Other tests that may be used to find out why you passed out include:.

In some instances, you may receive a head CT scan. This imaging study checks for bleeding in the brain. Before you run off to see the movie "Jigsaw" or visit a Halloween haunted house, take note: Fainting can be serious business. New guidelines are released explaining why people faint and what medical tests they should get after a fainting episode.

Blackouts can happen when you drink alcohol to excess. Learn what causes the blackout, how blacking out can affect you in the long term, and more. Feeling dizzy? Read on to learn about how to get rid of dizziness and what may be causing it. Some quick remedies to try at home include staying…. Hair-grooming syncope is when you faint during hair grooming activities like combing, brushing, and cutting. Learn what causes this type of syncope…. If you have low blood pressure, you may want to consider changing your diet.

Learn which foods to eat and what to avoid. Fainting happens when the amount of blood flow to your brain suddenly drops. What they look like: Seizures can look different depending on which part of the brain is affected. You may or may not lose consciousness. You might shake violently or stare into space unable to recognize your own name. And while the symptoms can last for a full minute or more, you'll probably have no memory of the experience.

What you should you do: If you see someone experiencing a seizure, get them to the floor if they aren't already lying down and move hard and sharp objects away from them. Don't attempt to restrain them or hold them down, but instead wait for the seizure to end.

Then make sure a medical professional evaluates them. Why it happens: Sudden loss of consciousness, or syncope, happens when there isn't sufficient blood flow to the brain—and the experience is fairly common. Half of all people will faint at least once during their lifetime. Syncope can happen as a random, isolated event, or it can happen frequently over a period of time.

Others can be life-threatening," explains Dr. Joel M. Geiderman , co-chair of Emergency Medicine at Cedars-Sinai. In younger people, the causes tend to be more benign. Maybe they haven't eaten or they're dehydrated.

In older people, fainting is sometimes a sign cardiac issues, such as atrial fibrillation. What you should do: While you may recover quickly and fully from a fainting spell, you should always tell your doctor about the episode. Chung says. However, auto accidents, amusement park rides, strenuous activities, medical conditons, prescription or over-the-counter drugs and certain occupations, create exposures for sudden changes to your vision.

Fortunately, fighter pilots are trained to recognize the effects of G-force and use the changes in vision as an indicator that they are reaching maximum performance without losing consciousness. In general, a whiteout is produced by the opposite effect that causes a greyout and a redout out is the inverse of a blackout. To experience a redout, the pilot must be inverted while exposed to G-forces, which can also happen in any vehicular accident on land, at sea or in the air.

Unlike a blackout where the blood is forced away from the body, the inversion forces blood into the head, which is extremely uncomfortable and can result in bloodshot red eyeballs. Moreover, pulling positive Gs for a pilot is undesirable but pulling negative Gs is even more so.