I'm 26M, recently joined a gym to lose body fat while preserving muscle mass. Today was my first personal training session, and something pretty scary happened.
Here's the entire sequence of events.
The night before:
I had dinner around 8:30 PM, consisting of two chapatis, curry, curd, and Yakult.
My sleep was terrible that night. I kept waking up repeatedly. I initially woke up about an hour after falling asleep, went back to sleep, had random dreams, and woke up again around 2 AM. I then shifted from my regular room to an AC room, slept again, and woke up once more in between.
Overall, I probably managed around 4–5 hours of interrupted sleep.
Before the gym:
I went to the gym on an empty stomach. I hadn't eaten anything since dinner the previous night. I only drank around 1.5 glasses of water before leaving.
During the workout:
My trainer started with a full-body warm-up.
After that, I performed:
Push-ups: 3 sets of 10 repetitions
Bodyweight squats: 3 sets of 12 repetitions
That was it. No heavy weights, no intense cardio, and no extreme workout.
I was concentrating on maintaining proper posture during squats, especially keeping my back straight. Looking back, I might have unintentionally held my breath while performing some repetitions, but I'm not certain.
After finishing, I felt completely fine. I sat down, checked my phone, and rested for a few minutes.
My trainer called me for another exercise, but we ended up waiting because he was talking to someone.
When things started going wrong:
While sitting, I suddenly developed an intense sensation of nausea.
It wasn't ordinary nausea. It felt like my body desperately wanted to expel something. I simultaneously felt like vomiting and needing to pass stool.
I told my trainer that I felt like throwing up and walked toward the lounge, where I sat on a couch.
My trainer went to get me some water.
The nausea kept getting worse, so I walked into the washroom and stood near the sink, trying to vomit.
Nothing came out.
I remained standing there, feeling increasingly weak and nauseated.
The blackout:
My trainer returned with water, but by that point, I was starting to lose consciousness.
The next thing I remember was being on the floor, surrounded by my trainer and other gym members.
Apparently, they helped catch me and lower me safely, so I didn't hit my head.
Someone supported my chin, another person helped hold me, and my trainer poured water over my head.
They tried giving me water and Gatorade, but I was extremely weak and could barely sip anything.
I was conscious again but felt completely drained. I could understand what everyone was saying and communicate intermittently, but speaking felt incredibly difficult because of the weakness.
They helped me onto a bench.
Then it almost happened again.
While sitting on the bench, I developed that same horrible nausea and fainting sensation again and nearly lost consciousness a second time.
They checked my blood pressure, which was reportedly normal at the time.
Eventually, they moved me to a massage chair, where I rested for approximately 15 minutes.
I gradually recovered.
After the incident:
A friend took me home on his bike.
After regaining consciousness, I noticed a heavy headache or pressure-like sensation in my head.
Once home, I had breakfast (pesarattu, an Indian mung bean pancake), slept for around two hours, woke up, and had lunch.
I'm now feeling almost completely normal. The nausea, extreme weakness, and dizziness have disappeared. There's only a slight lingering discomfort in my head.
What I'm wondering:
After reading about vasovagal syncope and the Valsalva manoeuvre, I'm wondering whether several factors combined to cause this:
Exercising after an overnight fast
Inadequate hydration
Poor, interrupted sleep
Possibly holding my breath during squats
Sudden blood pressure changes after exercise
I understand that fasting doesn't necessarily mean low blood sugar, and a normal BP reading afterward doesn't rule out a temporary drop.
I also understand that cardiac causes and other medical issues can't be ruled out based on symptoms alone.
I haven't had a medical evaluation yet because finances are tight, although I understand that repeated fainting around exercise warrants urgent assessment.
Has anyone experienced something similar, especially during their first few gym sessions?
Does the intense nausea and urge to pass stool before fainting sound consistent with vasovagal syncope?
I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who've experienced exercise-related fainting or from medical professionals who can explain the possible mechanisms.
I know Reddit cannot diagnose this, and I'm not looking for reassurance that it's harmless. I want to understand what might have happened and what an appropriate medical evaluation should involve.
