Jim, (and all)

After reading your post about your black out, I too am beginning to wonder.
I had the same thing happen to me on several occasions.  The difference is
that I have never completely blacked out.

I used to get these episodes of faintness while shopping, driving, etc..   I
had always had great blood pressure.  Bottom line, 3 years ago this happened
when driving so I went to the ER.   I had a drastic drop right there in the
ER.   5 minutes later I was fine again, the nurse came to check on me five
minutes later and I was fine.


My doc kept me in CCU for a few days.


David Meigs  aka: Pappy
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Dolan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 2:41 AM
Subject: Re: Parkinson's May Affect Nerves Outside Brain


> I am 58 and was diagnosed in May of this year. Tremor is my most apparent
> symptom, but after learning more about the disease it became apparent that
> I have other symptoms, some for a few years.
>
> The kicker here is that a good 15 years ago I had a fainting spell. I got
> up from the couch, went upstairs and while urinating...bam...I went down
> like a ton of bricks. I was put through a whole series of tests, with no
> apparent cause found. The neuro (my cousin) concluded it was caused by a
> drop in blood pressure caused by suddenly standing up and contributed to
by
> the urination.
>
> Now I read this...hmmm!
>
> Jim Dolan
>
> >One key symptom is orthostatic hypotension -- a drop in blood pressure
> >that comes when people stand up. Some patients have it all the time,
> >complaining of dizziness and even fainting when they stand.
> >
> >The symptom has been described in association with Parkinson's, and has
> >sometimes been blamed on the drugs used to treat Parkinson's.
> >
> >But Goldstein found this drop in blood pressure was associated with a
> >loss of the sympathetic nerve endings. These nerve endings produce a
> >neurotransmitter that is related to dopamine, called norepinephrine.