SO I told the doc I’d been getting a spinny head/near blackouts when I stood up quickly. I thought it might be down to my new medication but he spent ages testing my blood pressure and listening to my heart before telling me he thought something didn’t sound right and he wanted me to go for an ECG and an echo scan.
“And don’t do anything strenuous in the meantime!” he said.
Needless to say, I can’t get an appointment until after my mountain biking holiday in France….
So, do I pretend I didn’t hear that bit?
Frankly I’d rather die on the bike.

Only a question you can answer but remember your family.

I’ve always had that if I crouch down and then stand up quick.

I’d risk it.

*I have no medical qualifications*

I was having spinning head and dizzy spells a few months, then I cleaned my ears out and they stopped!

No expert here, but I think things tend to get reffered on needs basis. ie if they thought you needed it done urgent, then the referral would get you the scan tomorrow.

Oh and be careful though.

Oh and a very serious point to it. If it does go belly up whilst abroad and you need health care, dont be surprised if your insurance turn down your claim when they see that your medical record states that you had been referred for test.

Does it happen all the time or only at certain times of the day?

I get it in the evenings sometime I’m pretty certain it’s linked to dehydration in my case.

Oh, and MTFU… it’s a biking holiday in France FFS.

No expert here, but I think things tend to get reffered on needs basis. ie if they thought you needed it done urgent, then the referral would get you the scan tomorrow.

That’s not exactly true, if it was immediate life threatening he would be whisked off in Ambulance and have many tests done. If it a case of investigations into a condition then you get booked in when they can fit you in. That doesn’t mean everything is fine, the Dr has given advice for a reason. When I had mine done I enquired about work and exercise, they said it’ll fine but that was me.

Oh and sorry this is not meant to scare you neil.

do you have life insurance?

If rapid changes in posture or g forces causes you to black out how safe do you think you’d be riding in the Alps?
I’ve never been there myself but it appears very steep and gravity oriented.

Drac – I do know that GP’s do urgent and none urgent referrals (other than sticking them in an ambulance)

Good luck, I had something similar once….. I got urgently referred to all sorts of people…ENT’s/Neuros/Cardios etc because the vertigo was violent and occurring every day with weird visual disturbances as well. Sometime it seemed to be triggered by postural changes, other times it did not. It went away after about a month and they never found out what it was.

Here’s a list of some of things they came up with when trying to diagnose me:

* Meningitis
* Epilepsy
* Arrhythmia
* Anxiety Attack
* Poisoning
* Inner Ear Infection
* Allergic Reaction
* Autoimmune Disease

Any old time of day. the doc did say something about maintaining hydration though.
I thought you only had to tell the insurance co. if there was a known problem before they covered you?

Yeh, I was having mysterious chest pains at the beginning of the year -surprising how quick you can get blood tests and ECGs done if they think it might be serious.

Or are you in the south west? Booking the test for after your trip may help stop them having to cut the salaries of the nhs staff down there….

Drac – I do know that GP’s do urgent and none urgent referrals (other than sticking them in an ambulance)

Yes so do I but that doesn’t mean anything, there’s still sometimes a delay. Mine wasn’t Urgent medically wise but they gave me one quick because of my line of work. I still waited over a week, the earliest they could get without emergency appointment.

You get a bit dizzy when you stand up sometimes… everyone does.

Now go ride your bike or at the very least give me the holiday and I’ll tell you how good it was.

Booking the test for after your trip may help stop them having to cut the salaries of the nhs staff down there….

A kind of immortality. That’d be nice, wouldn’t it?

You get a bit dizzy when you stand up sometimes… everyone does.

Define dizzy, when it happened to me it felt like I had been suddenly violently spun on one of those G-force machines they train astronauts on.

You don’t know dizzy until you’ve been happily sat outside a cafe drinking a coke then the next second found yourself holding onto the table for dear life unable to find enough balance to walk. It’s not even like being drunk, it’s a total loss of ones awareness in 3d space.

Sounds a bit similar to when I had a virus infection of the inner ear, I lost 50% of the hearing in one ear and couldn’t walk without a stick for balance for 6 weeks.

If you have a sensation of falling to one side and ‘dull’ hearing in one ear it could be a similar problem.

I thought you only had to tell the insurance co. if there was a known problem before they covered you?

There’s normally a question along the lines of

“Have you suffered from any medical condition or received any advice, investigations, review, medication or treatment for a medical condition within the last 12 months?”

My travel insurance specifically says

“If anyone has an undiagnosed medical condition (for example, if waiting for tests, investigations or treatment) this policy won’t cover any related claim for Cancellation or Medical Expenses.”

Only you can answer this question. Your own instincts about how serious this is will likely be right.

But they may not be. 😉 Have a great holiday and I hope it all works out fine for you.

I get them and have rather low blood pressure.

The advice from the GP was “Just make sure you get plenty of salts and fluids down you”

I am by no means an expert 🙂

Cat AIDS ?

___________
Pies.

Frankly I’d rather die on the bike.

Then go. You will either enjoy your holiday or die (preferable to missing your holiday).

I am not a doctor. My sister is but I haven’t sought her advice on this matter.

edit: actually thinking about it, it’s not as simple as ‘enjoy your holiday or die’ – you might pass out on the bike, crash, survive but with horrendous facial injuries. Or maybe something affecting bowel control? Or you could lose your memory and wake up French?

Bwaarp, honestly, that doesn’t sound like an ideal state for an Alps biking trip. Go anyway, but don’t do anything strenuous. Chill out and enjoy your place, enjoy the scenery, go for walks, swim in lakes, spend some quality time with yourself. Take it as an opportunity to properly relax in a way you wouldn’t normally allow yourself the time to. ” Doctors orders”!

mm not sure if it never happened on the bike I would possibly risk it

Will you enjoy the holiday thinking about this at the back of your mind?

If there was a chance of it happening on the bike then a hundred times no, but I have kids and stuff to think abut these days.

I guess if you would rather die on the bike, then you must fulfill your destiny!
In all seriousness though, perhaps the person you should be asking this question to is your GP? Dizziness is a common very vague symptom which can be caused by a plethora or innocent and more serious complaints. The fact that your GP has sent you for an ECHO and said that something didn’t sound right suggests to me that there is some concern about a structural abnormality in your heart.
There is a condition called aortic stenosis which causes dizziness and fainting on exertion (although you say it is on standing up) amd also a heart murmur, but without seeing you and listening to your chest it is impossible to say.
Make an appointment to see your GP again and ask him what he thinks is wrong with you and what he thinks the consequences of exertion might be. Maybe if he tells you it could be a cardiac problem and potentially serious you might think again about overdoing things?

Cheez has it, really. But have a think about readjusting your expectations for the trip, and it might give you a ‘middle way’ that feels like a decent compromise between a wasted trip and an excessive health risk with potentially no insurance cover should bad stuff happen.

Good luck!