Vasovagal syncope with seizure like activity

In my population (people desperate to get their driver's licenses back) it seems like EVERYONE has this! Seriously, I see this on medical reports every single day. I think the clinical picture is muddied by states like mine which will let you drive after a vasovagal event but not after a seizure. It skews what neurologists and treating MDs call the event.

I see a lot of neuros using this when a person has had an event but a negative EEG.

Both my husband and my daughter have this reaction to shots and seeing their own blood drawn. Interesting to watch but no long-term effects noted in either.

Actually my son has neurocardiogenic syncope and it is a valid diagnosis. After his first event he had a negative EEG and cardiac work-up. A tilt table test verified neurocardiogenic syncope. His BP dropped from 118/70 to 60/46 on the tilt table within 7-8 minutes and his HR dropped to the 50's. Fastest tilt table faint seen at the level two trauma center he was tested at.

To answer the OP though, he has never manifested any seizure like activity with his syncope. His eyes roll back in his head and he goes down.

At the blood donor center where I worked, some muscle twitching in the extremities wasn't uncommon in vasovagal syncope. They usually recovered as quickly as they started feeling bad.

Whoa! I never said it wasn't a valid diagnosis!!!! I just said it has become a slippery slope term which can be overused when the event has no known cause. Plus there is the weight of outcome consequences (e.g. commerical driver can continue to make 100K a year if it is a vasovagal event, minimum wage if it was a seizure.....)

My husband has vasovagal syncope. I have only seen him have seizure-like activity once, during a blood draw. It was our premarital bloodwork-I think he was probably nervous to begin with!!

I think his brother has seizure symptoms, too.

Quickbeam what state are you in? When my son was diagnosed in WI the fainting alone was enough to suspend his driving privileges. Maybe that is why the diagnosis wasn't all that common there.

I have a son who does this with blood draws, injections and just talking about IVs makes him nauseated... I wouldn't have believed it had I not witnessed it several times...

I have seen very similar in my dialysis patients but only a few times. These were pts with no hx of seizure disorder but would have seizure like activity when they became suddenly hypotensive during thier dialysis tx. I initially would suspect thier calcium levels may be the root but the only thing out of sort was the dialysis related hypotension.