This is an alarming symptom and sometimes can result in serious injury. Sometimes, it can be due to a serious problem with the electrical supply to the heart which needs urgent treatment to prevent recurrence. Fortunately, and more commonly, it can be due to fainting where the blood pressure drops. It is helpful to review how the episode occurred, how you felt and if possible, it is helpful for us to talk to a witness who may remember important information and report of your appearance at the time. We need to understand what medications you are taking as sometimes these can cause black outs. Further investigation may be required. The challenging aspect is the intermittent nature of blackouts. Understandably, blacking out often affects confidence as people rightly worry about experiencing further episodes. Often a blackout can have implications and result in surrender of the driving licence, and also can affect employment, so early diagnosis and treatment is helpful.
Common tests which are helpful to help diagnose the problem, or sometimes to rule out serious problems are
- ECG
- Blood pressure readings
- An ECG monitor you wear at home (so called “ambulatory ECG monitor / Holter monitor)
- An ECG recorder inserted under the skin – “implantable loop recorder”
If I black out will I lose my driving licence?
If the episode is unexplained then you will not be allowed to drive for 6 months so long as you do not have another episode. Therefore it is important to seek advice and at Wiltshire Cardiology we are experienced at seeing many people with such episodes. Therefore with a thorough history and investigations (if required) we will seek to obtain a prompt diagnosis and opinion to get you back driving as soon as it is safe to do so.