I have fainted several times in my life. I think I can remember every time.

The first time was when I was about 5 years old. I was in the hospital to have my tonsils out. While I was being admitted, they pricked my finger to draw a blood sample. It was some time afterward, while my mother was helping me into bed, that I "went limp."

The most recent time was maybe 10 or 15 years ago. (I'm 60 now.) I was in a clinic having some blood drawn for, I think, a cholesterol test. Now, I had had blood drawn many times before with no problem, but this particular phlebotomist was new to me. She seemed young and inexperienced, and gave me reason to doubt her competence. She kept rubbing my arm, trying to get a vein to appear. (No phlebotomist had ever had trouble finding a vein before.) She said repeatedly, "I hope I don't have to stick you more than once." Several times she gave the rubber tourniquet a jerk—trying to adjust its position, I suppose—and each time she did, she pulled a couple of hairs out of my arm. (That had never happened before either.) Finally, she found a vein and drew the blood. As it happens, she did not have to stick me more than once. When she was done, she said, "OK, you can go now." I said, "If you don't mind, I'd rather sit here a while longer" because I knew I was feeling woozy. She said, "That's fine," and went away. The next thing I knew, several nurses had gatherer around me, and one of them was slapping my face and calling my name.

I don't know how long I had been out. I suspect it was longer than usual. Normally, when you faint, you go into a horizontal position, and this is actually good for you (assuming you don't hurt yourself when you fall) because it allows blood to resume flowing to your brain even though your blood pressure is very low. Therefore, you're likely to recover quickly. However, I was seated in a chair that was specially designed for this purpose. It has a bar that lowers across your lap after you're seated, which provides a table-top-like surface for you to rest your arm on, and prevents you from falling on the floor if you faint. By keeping you in a semi-upright position, it also keeps you unconscious longer.

For whatever reason, this time it took me a much longer time to recover than other occasions when I have fainted. For a long time afterward, I felt—for want of a better word—drained. Sort of like hung over, but without a headache. Sort of like being extremely tired. Sort of like when you're slowly recovering from the flu. Although I could walk steadily and think clearly (I think) and I no longer felt as if I were about to faint, I had a vague feeling of being very weak and vulnerable.

A nurse escorted me to a room where I could sit in a recliner chair, and where she could watch me while she did some paperwork. (She didn't want to leave me alone, and I didn't want to be alone.) She gave me a couple of cans of orange juice. (I hadn't had any breakfast that day, because I was fasting for my cholesterol test. That might have made my blood sugar low, and might have had something to do with why I fainted, and why the phlebotomist had trouble finding a vein—although I am not, as far as I know, prone to hypoglycemia.) It was nearly an hour before I felt strong enough to leave the clinic. Altogether, it was a very unpleasant experience.

Since then, whenever I need to have blood drawn, I always ask to do it lying down. The technicians are always happy to accommodate me.

Backtracking a bit, several years earlier, after a fainting spell, I went to a clinic, and was examined by a doctor who happened to be a heart specialist. (I don't think I necessarily needed to see a heart specialist, and I don't know why he was assigned to me. Maybe they were short of doctors that day and he just happened to be available.) His name was Lillehei—I have forgotten his first name. He was not the famous C. Walton Lillehei but I think it may have been his brother. I believe there were several doctors in the Lillehei family who practiced in the Twin Cities.

He listened to my heart for a long time and told me I had an unusually active vagus nerve. (The vagus nerve regulates heart rate, among other things.) He based this judgment on the fact that my heart rate would speed up and slow down in sync with my breathing, whereas most people's heart rate was steadier. He said this meant my vagus nerve would overreact to stimuli. He said it was just an idiosyncrasy, nothing to worry about. I think he made a facetious remark like, "Try to pick a soft place to fall down." He then changed the subject and began to lecture me about smoking, which he said was a much more serious problem. He had noticed the pack of cigarettes in my shirt pocket! (I did quit smoking a year or two later.)

While looking up "vagus nerve" I also found vasovagal syncope, which is worth reading.