Sandwich Caused Woman to Faint

By Alex in Food & Drink, Health on Jan 4, 2009 at 11:48 am

This one is strange: a woman in Birmingham, England, is hospitalized because she faints whenever she eats a sandwich!

The woman, 25, was seen in hospital complaining of short 10-second episodes of feeling "light-headed, occasionally nauseous, and suddenly and alarmingly unwell".

On more than one occasion she had collapsed. The problem had started when she was aged 15, sometimes recurring several times a week. [...] The episodes tended to occur when the woman consumed certain types of food, particularly sandwiches and fizzy drinks.

Turns out, her condition is called "swallow syncope," a rare medical condition where swallowing triggers the nerve reflexes that cause the heart to stop temporarily: Link – via Look At This


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  1. Emmers
    Jan 4th, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    The article fails to explain why those specific foods set it off… although i suppose perhaps no one knows. Sometimes if feel lightheaded after drinking soda if i swallow it too fast, but i don’t think that’s the same thing.

    Does she get the same thing when she’s just eating bread? What type of sandwiches set it off? There will need to be much sandwich experimenting done here.

  2. just a guy
    Jan 4th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

    i would think she’d stop eating sandwhiches.

  3. GailW
    Jan 4th, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    This must make eating a very exciting activity for her indeed – literally taking her life in her hands (or mouth) every time she eats!

  4. one booth over
    Jan 4th, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    I’ll have what she’s having.

  5. darlzwik
    Jan 4th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    She complained of feeling nauseous. Nauseous means she makes other people feel sick. I think she meant the food made her feel nauseated; the words are not synonyms.

  6. Christophe
    Jan 4th, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    English food is the root of all evil.

  7. johninparis-nothilton
    Jan 5th, 2009 at 2:54 am

    Isn’t it strange most cases of bizarre eating disorders are from women living in the UK ? It’s like that 17 year old girl from Kent who can only eat TicTacs.

  8. Paul in Boca
    Jan 5th, 2009 at 9:35 am

    I feel sorry for her husband/boyfriend

  9. just a guy
    Jan 5th, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    @ darlzwik –
    I noticed that too, and it made me ‘lol’. “I kind of feel like I’m making people sick!”

    But, its one of those things… how vocabulary morphs.. Soon very few people will know the difference, and eventually, they will become synonyms. (for example, people look at you funny if you use ‘sultry’ to describe weather. Or, how ‘decadent’ doesn’t mean ‘indulgent’, but ‘decayed’ or ‘immoral’, which is an odd way to advertise food, IMHO).

  10. Rocky Rook
    Jan 7th, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    I think my SIL and MIL have this.

  11. Scooter
    Jan 7th, 2009 at 5:44 pm

    Paul in Boca, where’s the rim-shot.


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