Very Bad Dizzy Episode After Climbing Step Ladder Today

[gordiescotland1]

Hi there
I do voluntary work in a charity bookshop 3 mornings a week and love it have done it for 4 years. This morning I had to put books up on a high shelf and being only 5 feet 4 I had to use a 3 step ladder with a platform to stand on above the 3 steps. I put the books up and suddenly felt horrendously dizzy my heart was pounding irregularly like an episode of atrial fibrillation and I thought I was going to faint. I got down off the ladder and went and sat down and was really breathless. My boss gotcha fright and said I was pure white and wanted to get an ambulance but another volunteer Is retired nurse got me a glass of water and kept on watching me she said my pulse was a bit erratic but not surprising given I have paraxosymal AF. I felt better after about 10 minutes. She thought it might be something called postural hypotension or something to do with my blood pressure tablets. I am on 10mg of bisoprolol once a day. Is postural hypotension possible? Anyway my boss has taken a note never to ask me to go up a ladder again !!

[heather14]

i think you have to consult to the doctor though

[Sqad]

A good call by your nurse, but a better one would be something called Vertebro-basilar insufficiency.
No big deal, as it is a situation where an artery (vertebral artery)is nipped by the bones it traverses on the way to the brain causing a dizziness which is always temporary.

A classical situation is when you stand at the bottom of a ladder and look up.

No big deal geordie....just remember tobe careful when looking up again.