Dahlia's unorganized ramblings

But oh my there are SO many things that could lead up to someone passing out. Like, so many I probably can't even name or think of them all. I'll talk in depth about some of the more common ones, then just make a list of any other ones I can think of lol.

Passing out can happen on levels as well. Some people pass out cold, and others go in and out of consiousness.

HYPOTENSION

This one is the one I deal with the most were I currently work. Hypotension means low blood pressure, and low blood pressure is what happens anyways when you're dying. ANYWAYS, the perfect blood pressure someone can have is 120/80 mmHg, but healthy ranges vary for everyone. I don't wanna see a blood pressure any lower than 90/60, though. It means that you don't have enough blood flow throughout your body. With this people will usually feel faint, lightheaded, dizzy, like they're seeing stars, nausea, some vomit, and they're very hot and sweaty and weak.

HYPOVOLEMIA

This can LEAD to hypotension, which leads to passing out. Basically, this means that you're losing fluids. Fluids can mean blood, sweat, tears, urine, diarrhea, plasma, and such. This will feel similar to the hypotension depending on the situation and cause.

SHOCK

Blah blah hypovolemia is a type of shock whatever. Any type of shock will lead to hypotension, which leads to people passing out. How it feels depends on the shock. Like septic shock is due to infection, so that's gonna feel different than bleeding out.

SYNCOPE

Syncope literally means fainting, but I didn't wanna put down psychogenic shock for this because the origins of it are iffy. So, syncope is my placeholder for the type of fainting you see in the movies. Shock factor, being scared or surprised and stuff like that. This kind of fainting is usually because of shocks to the system, and your body freaks out and you faint. Expect hot flashes and dizziness and "seeing stars".

TRAUMA

This is gonna be any sort of head trauma. Depending on how hard the hit is or where, the passing out part could be prolonged, or could happen instantly. Dizziness, memory problems, unable to focus or be coherent, "seeing stars".

OTHER CAUSES

Heat exhaustion Heat Stroke Seizures Iron deficiency Orthostatic hypotension Citrate Reactions And a billion medical conditions can cause it

Something important to note is that everyone reacts to things differently. I can see blood and be perfectly fine, and someone else can see it and pass out or throw up. I can handle a blood draw and a needle, someone else who's body isn't used to it can freak out and have a major reaction.

Heat Exhaustion

This was the first time I ever passed out (8 years ago) and is the furthest from my memory. I remember being out in the sun for about 12 hours that day, drinking very little water (I hated the taste of the available water), in direct sunlight, in a black wool hoodie. The weather was about 95(f) / 35(c) degrees. The first thing I remember feeling was fatigue and a headache. My feet were tingling and focusing was hard. Everything was loud and I kept trying to lay down because everything was spinning. Eventually, I stopped feeling hot and just became cold. A 20 minute drive home (I was not driving) felt like 5 because of the daze I was in (I was drifting in and out). I don't remember much past this point, just flashes of laying on the tile floor and shivering. I properly came to in my bed a few hours later with a migraine that didn't go away for days. I was sick for a day or so after.

Blood Loss / Hypovolemia

The first time I experienced blood loss, I had lost approx. 2 liters of blood over the course of two weeks (the duration changes how your body responds to it.) Due to my age (12 at the time) and lack of communication with my parents or doctors (I hid things from my parents, couldn't talk with doctors while drifting), Hypovolemia was not considered until I vaginally passed a blood clot roughly the size of a soft ball about 40 minutes after entering the ER and going on fluids.

During the days leading up to it, I was exhausted and unable to leave my room for long durations of time. Could not hold food down. Hallucinating. Trembling and cold. Cold not stay awake for longer than five hours at a time. My eyes would vibrate rapidly. I couldn't focus on anything. Days felt like hours. I cant remember most of this time.

The day of, I felt disconnected from my body and like I was detached from it. When I passed out, I hadn't even realized it happened. I didn't feel anything. I hit the floor and was "drifting" (in and out of consciousness) for about 40 minutes. I thought I was talking to my parents, but I wasn't. I was hallucinating and seeing stars.

20 minutes into this, the paramedics arrived and smelling salts were snapped under my nose (HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE). I regained consciousness enough to blink at the paras and my parents, but I couldnt hear what they were talking about. Everything was light and fluffy. I was hoisted up and made to walk (Re: dragged) to the stretcher. When the angle changed, I lost full consciousness until I was strapped in and laying down again. I remember vague flashed of the ambulance ride and only properly came back to myself enough to register my surroundings when I had fluids and the doctors started replenishing my iron (I was treated for anemia before we realized it was hypovolemia).

During my two week stay at the hospital, I had passed out multiple times again. I was hallucinating, unable to properly hear things, not weight bearing, had extremely low blood pressure, lethargic, weak, struggling to move my mouth enough to speak, unable to focus, and incredibly emotional (though that couldve been stress??), and couldn't hold down much food.

Anemia

This has happened to me a few times over the years since my hypovolemic event. My body struggled to keep the iron, hemoglobin, PLT, and white blood cell counts high enough to do many impact activities without this risk.

Passing out from anemia was the quickest to recover from. I was typically able to tell before I had an episode (I felt disconnected from myself and had a sense of dread overcome me), so I was able to jerk myself onto the floor before I hit the ground. Usually.

These episodes lasted anywheres from 5 seconds to a few minutes. Sometimes I could be upright, gone for a few seconds, and then jerk back to awareness as I'm falling. Other times, I had lost minutes of time and someone was elevating my feet and timing me. I always felt tired and lightheaded afterwards, but resting for 10-20 minutes brought me back to about 70% energy.

Trauma

Due to all of the above, my blood does not like me (shocker). I am highly susceptible to brain bleeds, passing out, internal bleeding, ect.

I got into a car accident a few years ago and bashed my head back against the headrest. I was diagnosed with a mild concussion and lost consciousness immediately after impact. I was out for about thirty seconds before I started drifting in and out. I couldn't feel my arms or focus on anything being said. I didnt have the strength to open the door. A nurse pulled me out of the wreck and helped me during it. I dont remember much of this. I only remember flashes of light, being yelled at, hands on me, being pulled onto a stretcher, then waking in the hospital to my Mom talking to the nurses. I had a headache, but a lot less weakness then I was used to. I struggled to focus and wasn't allowed on my phone. For the next few days I had a hard time remembering things. Long term, I still struggle with remembering little details, but everything is cleared up now. No lasting damage.

But oh my there are SO many things that could lead up to someone passing out. Like, so many I probably can't even name or think of them all. I'll talk in depth about some of the more common ones, then just make a list of any other ones I can think of lol.

Passing out can happen on levels as well. Some people pass out cold, and others go in and out of consiousness.

HYPOTENSION

This one is the one I deal with the most were I currently work. Hypotension means low blood pressure, and low blood pressure is what happens anyways when you're dying. ANYWAYS, the perfect blood pressure someone can have is 120/80 mmHg, but healthy ranges vary for everyone. I don't wanna see a blood pressure any lower than 90/60, though. It means that you don't have enough blood flow throughout your body. With this people will usually feel faint, lightheaded, dizzy, like they're seeing stars, nausea, some vomit, and they're very hot and sweaty and weak.

HYPOVOLEMIA

This can LEAD to hypotension, which leads to passing out. Basically, this means that you're losing fluids. Fluids can mean blood, sweat, tears, urine, diarrhea, plasma, and such. This will feel similar to the hypotension depending on the situation and cause.

SHOCK

Blah blah hypovolemia is a type of shock whatever. Any type of shock will lead to hypotension, which leads to people passing out. How it feels depends on the shock. Like septic shock is due to infection, so that's gonna feel different than bleeding out.

SYNCOPE

Syncope literally means fainting, but I didn't wanna put down psychogenic shock for this because the origins of it are iffy. So, syncope is my placeholder for the type of fainting you see in the movies. Shock factor, being scared or surprised and stuff like that. This kind of fainting is usually because of shocks to the system, and your body freaks out and you faint. Expect hot flashes and dizziness and "seeing stars".

TRAUMA

This is gonna be any sort of head trauma. Depending on how hard the hit is or where, the passing out part could be prolonged, or could happen instantly. Dizziness, memory problems, unable to focus or be coherent, "seeing stars".

OTHER CAUSES

Heat exhaustion Heat Stroke Seizures Iron deficiency Orthostatic hypotension Citrate Reactions And a billion medical conditions can cause it

Something important to note is that everyone reacts to things differently. I can see blood and be perfectly fine, and someone else can see it and pass out or throw up. I can handle a blood draw and a needle, someone else who's body isn't used to it can freak out and have a major reaction.

Heat Exhaustion

This was the first time I ever passed out (8 years ago) and is the furthest from my memory. I remember being out in the sun for about 12 hours that day, drinking very little water (I hated the taste of the available water), in direct sunlight, in a black wool hoodie. The weather was about 95(f) / 35(c) degrees. The first thing I remember feeling was fatigue and a headache. My feet were tingling and focusing was hard. Everything was loud and I kept trying to lay down because everything was spinning. Eventually, I stopped feeling hot and just became cold. A 20 minute drive home (I was not driving) felt like 5 because of the daze I was in (I was drifting in and out). I don't remember much past this point, just flashes of laying on the tile floor and shivering. I properly came to in my bed a few hours later with a migraine that didn't go away for days. I was sick for a day or so after.

Blood Loss / Hypovolemia

The first time I experienced blood loss, I had lost approx. 2 liters of blood over the course of two weeks (the duration changes how your body responds to it.) Due to my age (12 at the time) and lack of communication with my parents or doctors (I hid things from my parents, couldn't talk with doctors while drifting), Hypovolemia was not considered until I vaginally passed a blood clot roughly the size of a soft ball about 40 minutes after entering the ER and going on fluids.

During the days leading up to it, I was exhausted and unable to leave my room for long durations of time. Could not hold food down. Hallucinating. Trembling and cold. Cold not stay awake for longer than five hours at a time. My eyes would vibrate rapidly. I couldn't focus on anything. Days felt like hours. I cant remember most of this time.

The day of, I felt disconnected from my body and like I was detached from it. When I passed out, I hadn't even realized it happened. I didn't feel anything. I hit the floor and was "drifting" (in and out of consciousness) for about 40 minutes. I thought I was talking to my parents, but I wasn't. I was hallucinating and seeing stars.

20 minutes into this, the paramedics arrived and smelling salts were snapped under my nose (HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE). I regained consciousness enough to blink at the paras and my parents, but I couldnt hear what they were talking about. Everything was light and fluffy. I was hoisted up and made to walk (Re: dragged) to the stretcher. When the angle changed, I lost full consciousness until I was strapped in and laying down again. I remember vague flashed of the ambulance ride and only properly came back to myself enough to register my surroundings when I had fluids and the doctors started replenishing my iron (I was treated for anemia before we realized it was hypovolemia).

During my two week stay at the hospital, I had passed out multiple times again. I was hallucinating, unable to properly hear things, not weight bearing, had extremely low blood pressure, lethargic, weak, struggling to move my mouth enough to speak, unable to focus, and incredibly emotional (though that couldve been stress??), and couldn't hold down much food.

Anemia

This has happened to me a few times over the years since my hypovolemic event. My body struggled to keep the iron, hemoglobin, PLT, and white blood cell counts high enough to do many impact activities without this risk.

Passing out from anemia was the quickest to recover from. I was typically able to tell before I had an episode (I felt disconnected from myself and had a sense of dread overcome me), so I was able to jerk myself onto the floor before I hit the ground. Usually.

These episodes lasted anywheres from 5 seconds to a few minutes. Sometimes I could be upright, gone for a few seconds, and then jerk back to awareness as I'm falling. Other times, I had lost minutes of time and someone was elevating my feet and timing me. I always felt tired and lightheaded afterwards, but resting for 10-20 minutes brought me back to about 70% energy.

Trauma

Due to all of the above, my blood does not like me (shocker). I am highly susceptible to brain bleeds, passing out, internal bleeding, ect.

I got into a car accident a few years ago and bashed my head back against the headrest. I was diagnosed with a mild concussion and lost consciousness immediately after impact. I was out for about thirty seconds before I started drifting in and out. I couldn't feel my arms or focus on anything being said. I didnt have the strength to open the door. A nurse pulled me out of the wreck and helped me during it. I dont remember much of this. I only remember flashes of light, being yelled at, hands on me, being pulled onto a stretcher, then waking in the hospital to my Mom talking to the nurses. I had a headache, but a lot less weakness then I was used to. I struggled to focus and wasn't allowed on my phone. For the next few days I had a hard time remembering things. Long term, I still struggle with remembering little details, but everything is cleared up now. No lasting damage.

Once their custom-fit suits were checked and the astronauts were ready, they walked out to greet the crowd at our Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After saying hi to everyone, including their families, the quartet made their way onto the Orion spacecraft that would carry them to the Moon.

The astronauts entered Orion and completed more checks. Next, the closeout crew closed the final hatch on Orion.

Then, it was time for the big moment – well, the first big moment of the mission: Liftoff!

Orion was on its way to the Moon, and the astronauts aboard had plenty to do.

They exercised…

and conducted interviews…

all while showing the camaraderie and collaboration that make missions possible.

And that means Rise, too! The little plush zero gravity indicator was a constant companion throughout the mission.

Finally, it was time for them to go around the Moon and observe its far side. As the astronauts began to describe features of the Moon that they saw, they had a heartfelt moment when suggesting that a crater be named after Reid's late wife, Carroll.

During the lunar flyby, the foursome experienced a solar eclipse that only they could see!

All throughout the mission, there were many moments of "Moon Joy."

After the crew completed their observation duties, it was time to start the journey back home.

On April 10, the Artemis II astronauts safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, bringing the mission to a triumphant end.

These GIFs are just a taste of the amazing imagery and memorable moments from Artemis II. Relive it all on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/NASA