I have a shortened psoas muscle witch often goes into spasm, and I have a lot of intestinal and stomach gas. I'm likely allergic to or have a sensitivity to a certain food. Both of these things can stimulate the vagus nerve, wreaking havoc.

Of course, the good news is that physical therapy targeting the psoas through hip flexor stretches and core strengthening, and finding and eliminating the allergen, will help with these other symptoms.

I smoked cigarettes for 10 years, and quit two years ago to this month because of what scared the daylights out of me. I would cough so hard that I would pass out. It happened while I was driving once, and that scared the living crap out of me and my girlfriend. I knew then it was time to quit smoking and I did. The coughs/chest colds went away completely and it never happened again, except for tonight while I was laughing very hard at a video.

For me, I'm sure it's from being overweight. Yeah, quitting smoking made me gain a bit of weight. Hope this helped someone.

No one doctor understands the entire spectrum, thus I caught in a miserable catch-22 that has led to my wife leaving, taking all my money as I lay in bed sick as hell, soon to be homeless with an attorney who does nothing. Great life. All from a stupid tick bite one summer day on Mount Pilchuck as I worked for the State of Washington, which says diseased ticks do not exist in their state. Officials get mad when asked how does a tick know about state borders? Do they choose deer, rabbits, lizards and birds to live on that do not migrate? Dumb! --Kitstick.

I think the inflammation needs to be reduced by the use of cold packs and therapeutic movement.

I am not sure what to do about the dizziness. I used those balance bracelets and they really do help, but not enough.

Thank you everyone for sharing your stories. You guys are better than a room full of caring and excellent doctors.

I did have a good ear, nose and throat doctor tell me that there is a therapy for people with head trauma to calm that nerve down, but it something that needs to be done for the rest of a person’s life.

This sensation seems to be triggered at a "gloom and doom" life event. A death in family, an injury of a dear one, etc. It seems psychological but it's a real symptom/feeling. The stomach/torso is not painful but sickening. The heat in the thighs is a feeling of "heated medication" being injected. These feelings subside with exercise and the episode goes away within four to six weeks.

My husband has been examined by his physician during one of these episodes, with no diagnosis. I truly hope there is someone who has an answer.

I'm a 36 year old male. I had my first attack maybe 12 years ago. While I've never passed out from one, I've come very close. A typical attack goes something like this: it starts with a weird uneasy feeling in my stomach which, within minutes turns into really a sharp pain, very low, almost in my groin area. I start to get dizzy and light-headed. When I get to the bathroom, I have terrible diarrhea and have tremendous stomach pain. I think sitting in the bathroom is what actually keeps me from passing out because if I continue to stand, I start to lose my vision and almost pass out. Anyway, when I am in the bathroom, it feels like someone is squeezing my stomach from the inside which makes me start to vomit also. All the while, I go completely pale and sweat like a madman. I mean, I have beads of sweat even pouring down from my calves -- that's how much I sweat. It's like my body just flipped on the emergency output switch -- everything's got to come out.

This usually lasts for about 10 minutes or so. I usually sit on the toilet hunched over, because that helps relieve the symptoms a bit and eventually it starts to subside.

This has happened to me about 20-25 times in the past 12 years. Sometimes it happens two or three times in a week, then it won't happen for months and months before it comes back again.

Recently I was having other stomach issues and losing crazy weight and saw a doctor about that. I told him about this problem and he identified it as a vagus nerve stimulation problem but never told me what to do about it. Since my stomach issues have gotten better, this hasn't happened as much until just a few minutes ago, which prompted me to find this forum.

I have a funky ankle which cracks like crazy. I broke it twice when I was a kid and ever since, it's been a cracker. Well I was just sitting at my desk and my ankle cracked and it felt a little weird -- a little stiff and it hurt a bit, which it never does. A minute later, I got light-headed, started to sweat and got a little nauseated. I had a little vagus nerve reaction from an ankle pain! How is that possible? Luckily, this one was nowhere near as bad as usual, but I did have to sit down again as I was on the verge of passing out.

That's the scariest thing: when you are seeing normally, then the lights just start going out. Yet the whole time, I am completely aware of what's going on. It's very freaky. The bad part is that I'm so used to it now, it doesn't freak me out anymore. I'm a little worried that one day I'm going to have a really serious attack but not know how serious it is because I think it's just another normal one.

Anyway, not sure if this helps anyone or anyone experiences it like me. But it's good to know I'm not the only one out there with this problem.

Once at the ER they ran all kinds of tests and everything came back normal. The only explanation the ER doctor could give was that of the vagal episode. He has been referred to a cardiologist and a neurologist for further testing. What scares me is it seems as if each episode is worse than the last and what will I do if I can't bring him around like I have in the past? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

This was a very scary thing. I hope I never experience it again, but the doctor told me I very well could. I will have to be careful.

My depression is drug-resistant, going on 17 years now, and I prefer the idea/side effects of vagus nerve stimulation to the option of electro-convulsive therapy. I would rather lose my voice or be nauseated than lose my memory and concentration.

I felt like putty instead of blood was going through my heart! and fought to not go under. I would check my pulse and find it 36 to 44 beats per minute. Scary. I got a stethoscope and put it beside me so i could put it on the apex beat of the heart next attack, to be sure how slow the heart beat was. Similar result.

I went searching and diagnosed myself as I currently had peptic ulcer and esophageal ulcer symptoms and was taking mylanta or amphojel for relief of discomfort.

I took sandwiches to bed and had a snack ready if I awoke so the hydrochloric acid was mopped up in stomach, which began to alleviate the ulcer which I believe was triggering the Vagus nerve. I went to church one Sunday and the preacher was a visiting healer. He said there was someone there who was experiencing frightening chest symptoms and if they came out he would pray and they could be healed.

I virtually jogged to the front and was told you have a spirit of death over your life. Made sense to me so I submitted to his prayer and was instantly healed in Jesus name. The scripture says, when Jesus was whipped at the whipping post he bore 39 lashes which tore his back to pieces and " by those stripes we are healed." This is a legal spiritual healing. Interesting there are 39 categories of disease medically. All can receive it. I did and was grateful.

If you will say, or state, "By His stripes I am healed" because 2,000 years ago Jesus won my healing for me. Only say it over and over till you get it. Bless you all. Peepo.

as an observer - not in a professional capacity of any sort.

My daughter took me to the "Bodies Revealed" exhibition and I saw the vagus nerve. It starts at the base of the brain and spins and curls and weaves its way down to the large colon. This explains why it has so many responses and so few solid explanations.

When "Star Trek's" Mr. Spock pinched someone's shoulder, I suspect that was the vagus nerve. After losing about 10 pounds, my laughter no longer "pinches" my nerve knocking me unconscious - but my kids keep trying. I can believe that bearing down for a bowel movement could result in a VN massage causing black out. I can believe hard coughing doing the same, or a cancerous lesion in an opportune spot. I've read its suspected of causing epileptic seizures. This is the Satanic "miracle detonator" of so many physical manifestations.

I suppose this really doesn't help the discussion a whole lot. I thought this website was manned by doctors giving answers, not opinions blogged in, but it has helped me to understand the situation a lot better.

I would also suggest to anyone keeping up with the conversations to write their thoughts out on Wordpad or something first, and copy/paste it in just in case you can't remember your password, which

happens to me. Hmm, is memory loss due to vagus nerve?

They did lots of cardiac tests and he has had a MRI and EEG - all negative so I think they are guessing now. They say an Autonomic Nervous System Dysfunction - vasovagal. Does not match to me. He has orthostatic hypotension sometimes and high bp others. Yesterday it was 144/80 at the doctors (not white coat). It ranges from 122/60 to 150/90. He ranges from 70-100 and higher just sitting or standing. He is fatigued all the time and lightheaded a lot with cognitive troubles - reading comp and word find, plus increased stuttering. Any ideas?

Next, I am not a doctor, and have no medical training, so this is me just hazarding a guess.

You said you knew your husband had pancreatic cancer and it had spread to his lung. However, you don't necessarily know where it might have also spread since his diagnosis. Most of the time, when a person has some kind of vagal episode, the body sort of "restarts" itself. This has happened to my mother twice. Each time, after a moment or two, it was as if something just switched back on and all was well.

In your husband's case, if a tumor had developed on his vagus nerve, or near it, it may be possible that the "restart" mechanism wasn't working properly because of a nearby tumor. Or, he might have had a tumor in his brain that prevented the "restart" function from working. As I said, I'm not a doctor, but that would certainly make sense.

I know you weren't ready to lose him. We're never ready to lose those we love.

He had developed a cough within the last thre days, but other than that, he was doing good. We were talking, he went to use the bathroom, I went in there about one minute later and he was in a total panic, wanting his portable oxygen. I *ran* to get it, and he was right behind me.

We immediately placed the tube from his regular oxygen tank in his nostrils, yet he continued to say he could not breathe and needed more oxygen. I explained that I could not turn his oxygen up -- too much would be fatal. He stopped talking as I told him (I thought he was listening to me and I had calmed him down). I then told him to lie down (on his hospital bed -- he was home) and he stood up, unassisted, took two steps and collapsed on the floor, with no vital signs.

I called 911 immediately and they arrived in less than 5 minutes. Still in shock, I just kept repeating what I had witnessed in his room only at least three or four times. They told me it was an embolism, but then as I was telling it yet again, I included the part about how he was fine, then he went to use the bathroom. As soon as I said that, they looked at each other and their expressions changed immediately.

I stopped what I was saying and asked them, "What is it? What just happened?" and they asked if he had had a bowel movement. I told them I had ran to get his oxygen so fast, I would have to go look (Later that day, I looked and he had). They told me it was all right, it didn't really matter. They were by no means being rude. Apparently just the fact that he had just went to the bathroom, then feeling unable to breathe, and fatally "collapsing" was enough to change the cause of his death from an embolism to "Vagal Response" secondary to his cancer.

I have read everything today to do with the Vagus Nerve, but nothing explains, describes, connects (unsure which word to use since all would apply) what happened to him within those five awful minutes. I am so desperate to understand. This website was the best of all sites and that is why I am posting this here.

So sorry for the length of this, I have tried to give all of you the entire story hoping and praying that someone will please, please help connect a "Vagal Response" with a five minute death. Thank you.

She tried to get injections into her vocal cords but they didn't work and it hurts her very much to even try and talk. Any advice? Thank you, Rhonda

I take one every day since doctors don't have answers for me. i found out i had carbon monoxide poisoning which leads to multiple chemical sensitivities which i now have. Can't take any rx meds. Reactions to everything.

With #24 I align with this problem at times of eating something and then feeling so faint and that my body feels like it is shutting down. It seems to happen when I am having allergy issues but when I see my doctor he does not see a connection.

If anyone out there has a suggestion on either of these issues, please let me know.

Then there is kind of a foggy/can't think dizzy, which is cause by a lack of blood flow to the brain. The second kind is what you will see in a vasovagal response.

I have orthostatic intolerance which is, to put in simple terms, when the vagus misfires and my blood pressure drops from standing. Before I was diagnosed, I could not stand upright for more than about four minutes.

As to the question about whether it is fatal or not. Generally no, but as it has been said "it's not the fall that hurts but the sudden stop at the end." So in other words, it could be fatal if, for example, you pass out and sustain a head injury. The only other possible complication of a vasovagal response is if your body is unable to fall.

Passing out is strangely very helpful because once you are on the ground, circulation returns to your brain. However, if for any reason your body is unable to fall, then your brain may become oxygen deprived for too long.

Basically, a vasovagal response is generally innocuous, but very irritating if it happens multiple times a day.

Because it didn't really work and was so uncomfortable, I went back to my doctor. He said he would turn it off. The VNS is still in my body.

Recently I am having body pains in my shoulder and upper knee, but only on the left side. I've been to the doctor and they've said "frozen shoulder" or "calcium deposits," but I think it may have something to do with this VNS!

thanks a lot for your great contribution in increasing knowledge of people.

I'm not sure what you meant by "stroke" - a description of your symptoms regarding that would have helped some. I just had an echo stress exam, a carotid artery sound and a brain MRI because of very rare dizzy spells and that fainting thing (review my first comment, #22).

If a response shows up and my testing is revealing I will pass that on as well.

I also have Wegener's Granulomatosis, which flares up every so often - which often carries with it other symptoms, as others have described. Just a thought.

Felt like everything in my body was shutting down and I was dying. Continued having these attacks for two years.

Five years later, after using a TENS unit for a slipped disk in my neck I went into vertigo and started with vagal attacks again. Continuously. I don't feel like I'm passing out --it feels like my body is shutting down and I'm dying. What meds will stop these episodes?

I know the radial nerve is responsible for the pecks and triceps of the arm.

Now that you are aware of this where do you go next? Actually, being you didn't ask your doctor if these episodes could be fatal is a strong indicator you do not have a very good relationship with this particular doctor. There needs to be a good communication on both parts the patient needs to be comfortable enough to ask questions, if you are not I would find a new doctor or a "second" opinion. This is just my take on this particular case and in no way is a blanket statement to cover *any other questions*. The vagus nerve is being blamed for far too many ailments and patients often misdiagnose their symptoms as being vagus related after reading about the vagus system.

My husband says that I stop breathing completely. My cardiologist believes that these episodes my be classified as vagal responses. I currently have an implantable loop recorder inside of my chest, and I am also on beta blockers.

Each time I’ve experienced an episode my energy levels remain incredibly low for close to 12 hours. I’m terrified that the next time I have one of these vagal responses I won’t wake up, but I’m tired of invasive tests and procedures.

Can vagal responses be fatal? If you could please let me know I would greatly appreciate it.