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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffIn most cases of vasovagal syncope, treatment is unnecessary. Your doctor may help you identify your fainting triggers and discuss ways you might avoid them. However, if you experience vasovagal syncope often enough to interfere with your quality of life, your doctor may suggest trying one or more of the following remedies.
Medications
A drug called midodrine (Orvaten) that's normally used to treat low blood pressure may be helpful in preventing vasovagal syncope.
Therapies
Your doctor may recommend specific techniques to decrease the pooling of blood in your legs. These may include foot exercises, wearing compression stockings or tensing your leg muscles when standing, and increasing salt in your diet if you don't usually have high blood pressure. Avoid prolonged standing — especially in hot, crowded places — and drink plenty of fluids.
Surgery
Rarely, the insertion of an electrical pacemaker, which helps regulate the heartbeat, may be an option for some people with vasovagal syncope who haven't been helped by other treatments.
- Syncope. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manuals for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/cardiovascular_disorders/symptoms_of_cardiovascular_disorders/syncope.html#v1145025. Accessed Jan. 15, 2013.
- Humphries RL, et al., eds. Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Emergency Medicine. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2011. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=55749292. Accessed Jan. 14, 2013.
- Jardine DL. Vasovagal syncope: New physiologic insights. Cardiology Clinics. 2013;31:75.
- Aminoff MJ, et al. Clinical Neurology. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2009. http://www.accessmedicine.com/resourceTOC.aspx?resourceID=66. Accessed Jan. 14, 2013.
- Angaran P, et al. Syncope. Neurology Clinics. 2011;29:903.
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