Fainting vs Siezure

I know they can look very similar, I have witnessed them both. With having AFIB, fainting makes sense as that is caused by lack of blood and oxygen to the brain. Having an irregular heart rhythm can cause irregular pumping of blood to the brain. I have not heard of this as a side effect of Ipi, it could be related or may not be, AFIB is quite common. So sorry you're dealing with this and I hope these fainting spells go away for you. Have they talked about getting you on a proper medication for AFIB? Not just aspirin? Not sure if that's ok while on Ipi but worth asking about. 

I know they can look very similar, I have witnessed them both. With having AFIB, fainting makes sense as that is caused by lack of blood and oxygen to the brain. Having an irregular heart rhythm can cause irregular pumping of blood to the brain. I have not heard of this as a side effect of Ipi, it could be related or may not be, AFIB is quite common. So sorry you're dealing with this and I hope these fainting spells go away for you. Have they talked about getting you on a proper medication for AFIB? Not just aspirin? Not sure if that's ok while on Ipi but worth asking about. 

I know they can look very similar, I have witnessed them both. With having AFIB, fainting makes sense as that is caused by lack of blood and oxygen to the brain. Having an irregular heart rhythm can cause irregular pumping of blood to the brain. I have not heard of this as a side effect of Ipi, it could be related or may not be, AFIB is quite common. So sorry you're dealing with this and I hope these fainting spells go away for you. Have they talked about getting you on a proper medication for AFIB? Not just aspirin? Not sure if that's ok while on Ipi but worth asking about. 

They can be difficult to distinguish…. However, as someone who has both passed out, and suffered a seizure (or two or three)… I can tell you that with the seizures, I went from "absolutely normal, nothing is wrong" to completely "blank". No signs of anything about to hit. When I awoke, I was confused and feeling "drunk"… not in the sense of being dizzy or the physical signs of drunk, but more in the mental sense of "I really don't give a sh**. What's everybody freaking out about?". When fainting, I always had signs that something was not right. My ears would ring, I would begin to sweat (rapidly and quite suddenly), and then the vision would grey out from the edges toward the center. After waking from a faint, I was immediately alert, and concerned as to why the hell I had just passed out.

With a clean recent MRI and the fact that you are known AFIB, it is far more likely that you have been fainting. Nooooot that this is in any way anymore comforting than having seizures… but it will give you some clues to "look" for and recognize what is about to happen. Is it caused by the Ipi? I think that is still up for much debate. If I'm not mistaken, it has been listed as a very rare side effect. I noted shortly after getting my 4 doses of Ipi, that my heart rate would spike for bizzare reasons. I couldn't feel it, so much as I noted it while wearing my heartrate monitor on bicycle rides. Prior to any cancer treatments, I had no issues with heart rate…. but did learn via pre-op testing that I have a left bundle branch block (asymptomatic electrical issue which is more common than most of us realize). With the noted spikes in heart beats, my oncologist sent me to a cardiologist for a full work up. All tests have come back normal, including wearing a holter monitor and having ultra sound imaging. I still have these odd spikes that come out of nowhere, but they haven't caused me any endangerment issue, so we've basically moved along with the "we may never know". 

For more info on the differences between seizures and fainting, I did come across this on the interwebs: https://mmcneuro.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/blackout-was-a-fit-or-a-faint/

They can be difficult to distinguish…. However, as someone who has both passed out, and suffered a seizure (or two or three)… I can tell you that with the seizures, I went from "absolutely normal, nothing is wrong" to completely "blank". No signs of anything about to hit. When I awoke, I was confused and feeling "drunk"… not in the sense of being dizzy or the physical signs of drunk, but more in the mental sense of "I really don't give a sh**. What's everybody freaking out about?". When fainting, I always had signs that something was not right. My ears would ring, I would begin to sweat (rapidly and quite suddenly), and then the vision would grey out from the edges toward the center. After waking from a faint, I was immediately alert, and concerned as to why the hell I had just passed out.

With a clean recent MRI and the fact that you are known AFIB, it is far more likely that you have been fainting. Nooooot that this is in any way anymore comforting than having seizures… but it will give you some clues to "look" for and recognize what is about to happen. Is it caused by the Ipi? I think that is still up for much debate. If I'm not mistaken, it has been listed as a very rare side effect. I noted shortly after getting my 4 doses of Ipi, that my heart rate would spike for bizzare reasons. I couldn't feel it, so much as I noted it while wearing my heartrate monitor on bicycle rides. Prior to any cancer treatments, I had no issues with heart rate…. but did learn via pre-op testing that I have a left bundle branch block (asymptomatic electrical issue which is more common than most of us realize). With the noted spikes in heart beats, my oncologist sent me to a cardiologist for a full work up. All tests have come back normal, including wearing a holter monitor and having ultra sound imaging. I still have these odd spikes that come out of nowhere, but they haven't caused me any endangerment issue, so we've basically moved along with the "we may never know". 

For more info on the differences between seizures and fainting, I did come across this on the interwebs: https://mmcneuro.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/blackout-was-a-fit-or-a-faint/

They can be difficult to distinguish…. However, as someone who has both passed out, and suffered a seizure (or two or three)… I can tell you that with the seizures, I went from "absolutely normal, nothing is wrong" to completely "blank". No signs of anything about to hit. When I awoke, I was confused and feeling "drunk"… not in the sense of being dizzy or the physical signs of drunk, but more in the mental sense of "I really don't give a sh**. What's everybody freaking out about?". When fainting, I always had signs that something was not right. My ears would ring, I would begin to sweat (rapidly and quite suddenly), and then the vision would grey out from the edges toward the center. After waking from a faint, I was immediately alert, and concerned as to why the hell I had just passed out.

With a clean recent MRI and the fact that you are known AFIB, it is far more likely that you have been fainting. Nooooot that this is in any way anymore comforting than having seizures… but it will give you some clues to "look" for and recognize what is about to happen. Is it caused by the Ipi? I think that is still up for much debate. If I'm not mistaken, it has been listed as a very rare side effect. I noted shortly after getting my 4 doses of Ipi, that my heart rate would spike for bizzare reasons. I couldn't feel it, so much as I noted it while wearing my heartrate monitor on bicycle rides. Prior to any cancer treatments, I had no issues with heart rate…. but did learn via pre-op testing that I have a left bundle branch block (asymptomatic electrical issue which is more common than most of us realize). With the noted spikes in heart beats, my oncologist sent me to a cardiologist for a full work up. All tests have come back normal, including wearing a holter monitor and having ultra sound imaging. I still have these odd spikes that come out of nowhere, but they haven't caused me any endangerment issue, so we've basically moved along with the "we may never know". 

For more info on the differences between seizures and fainting, I did come across this on the interwebs: https://mmcneuro.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/blackout-was-a-fit-or-a-faint/