Abdominal Pain, Cold Sweat, dizziness, Diarrhea, Passout

I too have had these episodes and I do have stomach problems already. I notice everytime I change my diet, even the slightest thing , can cause episodes. My Drs haven't found what's going on completely. I had a bacteria in my stomach lining from drinking contaminated water. I dealt with it for 3 yrs before the Drs done a biopsy. I was fine for a month. Everything seemed great! Then things started getting worse again. They then told me I may have ibs, colon or stomach cancer, celiac disease(gluten intolerance) and krohns disease. The bacteria had causes an ulcer so I deal with that on top of everything. My gastro dr thinks it's just the food now in days. They put chemicals in processed food and spray foods that cause this. They showed me videos explaining the chemicals but it's everytime I change anything in my diet??

I agree with it being dairy related, I was having the same symptoms listed by everyone maybe once or twice a year. Then I went vegan, now I'm just vegetarian but try to lay off dairy - these pains seem to coincide with a dairy "binge". I get them more often now, always in the morning and I think it's because I've eaten lots of cheese or chocolate the day before (yesterday was Easter! Today I woke up with them!). I also think they sometime conicide with my menstral cycle but like most of the people on here, never actually been to a doctor so these are my guesses. For people having trouble, experiment by going dairy free for a while.

Hi Maria,
I have also experienced the same symptoms of abdominal pain, feeling an urge to go, dizziness, a drenching sweat, nausea, numbness in the legs and feeling so weak that I can't get up off of the toilet. This has been happening about 1 or 2 times a year. It just happened a weak ago. It always occurs later in the evening, several hours after eating. I do suffer from chronic constipation and I have a mild case of diverticulitis. I've found that when this thing is happening, it helps if I bend over and put my head between my legs and put a wet cold washcloth on my forehead until it passes. With me, I start to feel better after my bowels have passed and I don't feel the urge to go anymore. Then all of the symptoms subside. I'm always soaked with sweat and feeling very drained and tired afterward.

Had same experience. Called ambulance as I am female and thought I was having a heart attack. Diagnosed with CT scan with bacteria infection of the intestines.

2am, this happened to me. Felt intense 9/10 cramping, went to the toilet. Broke out in a sweat like I ran a Marathon in less then a minute. Didn’t have the strength to push anything out so I layed down on the cool bathroom floor. Then had the urge to go and a very large poop came out. I had intense nausea but held it together. Went to lay back down and then another urge to go with the cramping and sweats still there. Had another large poop followed by diarrhea this time. This was extremely scary because I didn’t even have the strength to call out my husbands name. After 20 mins, everything went away, no more cramping and all the sweat stopped. Still alive! Emailed my doctor.

Happened to me today while i am at check out at the store , suddenly cramp pain so bad, dizzy, cold sweat dripping on my face, so weak I can't barely stand that I thought i will have a heart attack.. i asked the store manager to call the ambulance, turn out they check everything ok, drove back home and straight to the toilet with severe diarrhea... after that then i am fine...

I've had this sort of attacks for at least 30 years, usually a few times a year. It can happen at any time of day, But not usually in the middle of the night. And I don't know if I'd call it COLD sweats, because I feel like I'm burning up sweating, & have to throw all my clothes off, but barely have the strength to. After round one I usually start to feel a little better then it starts again, but when it's all over with (half an hour?) then I'm very weak & get so chilled that I have to get in bed under blankets & shiver until I go to sleep exhausted. A horrible experience that I'm amazed so many people have, with no certain diagnosis. I agree that the healthier I eat, the less it happens, but I can't figure out the trigger.

These "Episodes" started for me over 1 year ago, and I have had at least 20 since. Never had any prior stomach issues ever. And certainly nothing like this! They just seemed to show up out of nowhere one day. And now when they randomly come, they come "fast and furious". Much like everyone's symptoms, mine start with the most intense abdominal pain that doubles me over. I get waves of terrible cramps and then the rest kicks in (nausea, chills, drenching sweat, dizziness, fatigue). Sometimes, if I'm lucky, they last 30 -45 min and always end with me on the toilet eliminating whatever it was that made my stomach so angry. But sometimes I'm not that lucky and this goes on for hours ... hours!!! I could feel and hear the angry gurgling noises of whatever is in there s l o w l y makes its way through my intestines before coming out. And even then, I some times still feel like there's unfinished business and I could experience another round or two before I feel better. Luckily I haven't fainted or vomited like some others describe. But, it's absolute torture. I wish there was something I could do or take when this "thing" hits to make it stop or make me feel better. But I don't know what to do to help myself, let alone when others ask me what they can do to help and most times I just cry. What I have recently come to learn is that these horrible symptoms can be the result of vagus nerve being triggered. Look up vasovagal syncope and you will see the symptoms are exactly what we all described here. The vagus nerve can be triggered for a variety of reasons (straining during a BM, sight of blood/needles, dehydration, urination, intense emotion/fear, stress, etc.) and when it is triggered your heartbeat slows down, blood pressure drops (not enough going to your brain) = fainting (for some). I've already had a colonoscopy, upper endoscopy, and abdominal sonogram done. Everything is normal. In looking back, I started medication over a year ago that causes me serious constipation. I have to take 6-7 stool softener a day in order to battle this issue. And even taking them, I don't go everyday. Not even every other day. Sometimes it can be 3 days before anything happens. The Dr. who prescribed the meds theorizes that for me the vasovagal trigger could be a combination of multiple factors (dehydration coupled with constipation, and something I ate) and pockets of air. You know how they say gas can kill you? It's no joke! If there are pockets of air trapped in between hardened fecal matter (constipation). The trapped air, having no where to go, expands the intestines causing those insane abdominal cramps, and sets off the vasovagal chain reaction. I'm still on my fact finding journey to stop the madness once and for all. Until then, I at least have something tangible to work with.

I’ve had these episodes about 3-4 times in my life now, once it occurred about 8 hours after I last ate something and I fainted and woke up face down behind the toilet with feces all over the floor. I thought it was food poisoning. Just now I had another episode and fainted but luckily woke up before I hit the ground. I am now vegan and this just happened to me after eating food from Veggie Grill. I have absolutely no idea what triggers it. I always thought it was food poisoning.

I habe these same episodes a couple of times... And I was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst bursting... Same symptoms light headed, sweating a lot, nausea and once actually vomitting then severe lower abdominal pain it would eventually subdside... But its painful and scary. For those still questioning there symptoms just another option for you to check with your doctor on.

I have experienced the same as everyone else, twice in the last few months. I also get that way when blood is drawn or when I hurt myself (I'm accident prone). The response started after I had a pretty bad bicycle accident.

Ever since then, my body responds to being hurt or seeing my own blood with sudden drop in blood pressure, cold sweats and near fainting. I have been lucky and have a little table in the bathroom and I scoot it over to lean on until the symptoms stop.

I guess painful diarrhea also triggers it now.
I am glad to have found this forum and your post about the vagal nerve response. After reading about it I know that is most likely the issue. For me.

I have no allergies. I have been tested. I do take low dose blood pressure medicine. Diet is balanced. Take multivitamins. Exercise.

I see it affects about 25% of the population.

Reading some of these posts and what the doctors have said and prescribed I worry about thehealthcare system. :/

Check out this link. I found this forum, thank God. Someone posted about the vagal nerve response and I did some digging. Can be triggered by many things. 25% of people have it. ***this post is edited by moderator *** *** posting of web addresses is not allowed*** Please read our Terms of Use ​

I have read all the posts about this. I have suffered with this for 35 years now, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease 22 years ago but more recently I saw a new GI Dr. who doesn't think this is from Crohn's. I get the same symptoms. Most of the time it wakes me in the middle of the night, feel like I'm burning up, sweat profusely, lucky to make it to the bathroom without passing out, severe weakness, slow and irregular heartbeat, slow, almost absent breathing, severe abdominal cramps, sometimes vomiting then I suddenly have to make a bowel movement and everything comes out then the symptoms start to subside. Years ago my GI Dr asked if I got a fever during the attacks so I bought a thermometer and the next time I had one I took my temp right after and it was below 96 degrees. It always takes several hours to warm up afterwards and I am very weak for a couple days. I have had probably 1,000 of these since I was a teenager. I hate it and wish someone could tell me what the cause is.

I just woke up with this. This is like the 3rd or 4th time its happened in my life. Severe abdominal pain. acute dizziness, with cold sweats. I felt like I was going to pass out. There was also something weird about my hearing this time. It was almost out of balance. But, I've trended cause and effect and I believe that eating right before bed and then sleeping in a tight and curled up position restricts the digestive process preventing the bowel movement from moving through the track correctly. The quickest remedy is to immediately drink 2-3 big glasses of water. This almost instantly lubricates the tract and allows for quicker dispelling of the bowel. I believe the issue is essentially severe constipation. The other symptoms, e.g.: the sweats, dizziness, and hearing? I don't know what causes that, but it all surrounds being able to go to the bathroom. I have no other digestive issues, and this is only the 3rd or 4th time its happened in my life. It's extremely discomforting but it should pass within the hour following my advice and drinking a lot of water on its onset. Additionally, be cognizant of how you sleep. If you sleep in a curled up ball, with your legs up to your chest, you're essentially pinching off the digestive tract and you're bowel is not moving through your body correctly. Lay flat on your stomach with your legs straight. That should provide some additional comfort during the brief constipation and allow the stuck bowell to quickly reach "The End"

This always happen to me in the the morning(Just one time in the afternoon). At the beginning it was like 1 or 2 times a year. Since last year this has been happening almost all months. Went to hospital 3 times and stayed there for days and almost DIED! This is serious!

This is how it goes:
Sleeping....Wake up with NORMAL stomach pain between 6:00 am to 8:00. Extreme sweating, sometimes I feel my lips itching; Then that itching moves around the body wherever you scratch yourself. Sometimes in a horrible way. Anyways; Run to the toilet with diarrhea(Diarrhea Last until the episode is gone). Sitting in the toilet you have problems breathing, sweating like crazy. Like if a bucket of water was thrown on you. You feel like you need to lie down but before that, pummmm... you fall unconscious on the floor defecated. You cant stand up because everytime you try to do it you pass out again. Reason of that is because body pressure drops so low you are almost dead. The paramedics could not believe how I was still alive. Anyway; other thing...white cells mega ultra high! Fighting something unknown! Apart from the blood tests that revealed that; Ct scan of head, belly and chest was done. Nothing found. Even my intestines were checked, endoscopy and colonoscopy. Nothing found either. All I can say that Doctors don't even know what i have and they are just coming into wrong conclusions!

I was told that could probably be one pill I was taking called Lisinopril (side effects). Doctors stopped that pill. And I didnt had any more episodes for 6 months until TODAY. I was happy because I was thinking I was healed but now it returned again. So frustrating. At least it didn't happen in a hard way today ( I didnt pass out).

The first episodes lasted like less than half hour. Last ones got worse and could last more than one hour. Some are harder other are kinda "soft" and you dont passed out. Do anyone here has had this same experience? Is important to me to know because I was near dead 3 times(The hardest ones) because of this! Thanks