Question: All my life I have suffered periodic bouts of
fainting, sometimes accompanied by seizures as a child. As an adult I have fainted several times in the last two years, though no seizure convulsions. I'm not sure if
anxiety has caused the vasovagal synoscope or the synoscope has caused the anxiety. Likely a vicious circle has emerged.
EEG with flashing lights is fine. ECG is fine. CT scans done as a child revealed nothing. Recently had an MRI last week, result not fine.
Last week I had an MRI with angiogram scan revealing a 1.8mm left carotid anuersym above the bifurcation, in the middle of the length from bifurcation running into the cranial area. I understand the risk of rupture is excessively low at this point, about 0.05%, though risk management is required such as b/p medication, diet, exercise,
weight loss, etc. The brain is totally normal.
I do regular exercise 3x a week, a mix of cardiovascular and resistance training. My blood pressure is in the normal range, though tends to be borderline when measured at a hospital. I recently gained about 30 pounds very quickly after the birth of my child which I'm trying to work off now. I'm definitely not in my target BMI, and
overweight so there is some work to do there. I smoked from the ages of 18 to 32. I quit when I was 32 and am now 34.
Questions:
-What kind of possibilities exist for the left corotid anuerysm to be causing vasovagal synoscope - what is the specific anatomical relationship between the left corotid above the bifurcation and the
vagus nerve, could the aneurysm be stimulating the vagus nerve, other reasons for a connection between the aneurysm and synoscope? I will show you the film.
-As I understand it, excluding
stress or other psychosomatic indications, vasogal synoscope may be caused by other underlying cardiac issues.
A. Can an
aortic aneurysm cause vasovagal synscope? (though the incident of multiple anuerysms in the general population is low as I undersatnd it 3-6% of people have anuerysms, of that 10-15% have multiple anuerysms).
B. What other underlying cardiac issues may be present (undetected by ECG) and contributing to vasovagal synoscope.
C.What other diagnostic tests do you think may be warranted to investigate cardiac health?