Man Who Fainted At Doorbells For 40 Years Was Dead Each Time

[Anonymous]

With a headline like that I just knew this belonged here:-

As posted in Ananova

Man who fainted at doorbells for 40 years was dead each time

A man who fainted whenever he was woken by his alarm clock or heard a doorbell has been cured.

Specialists have just found the shock of a wake-up call turns off his heart and leaves him brain-dead for up to 30 seconds.

Allan Todd, 63, has seen more than 20 doctors over the last 40 years but none could find the cause of the blackouts.

Experts at a new "faints and falls" centre in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary made the finding and say it is a miracle he is still alive.

At their worst the seizures happened seven times a day. He could move his eyes and hear his wife speaking but couldn't move.

All telephones, alarm clocks and wake-up calls were banned from his bedroom.

The father-of-three said the fainting fits came more frequently and were more energy-sapping each time.

Doctors thought epilepsy could be the cause and a heavy dose of medication was prescribed but had no effect.

But it was when he passed out on a holiday to Tenerife that he was seen by a doctor who started him on the road to recovery.

He was fitted with a temporary pacemaker which was later upgraded to a proper model which was programmed to kick-start his heart with an electrical current whenever it stopped beating for longer than 1.5 seconds.

Story filed: 10:29 Tuesday 3rd September 2002

Wow...

 

[Anonymous]

Must have been a b*gger in the pub when they rang the bell and called time.
"Time gentlemen Aaaargh!"

 

[Anome]

Re: Man who fainted at doorbells for 40 years was dead each

Originally posted by Carnacki
As posted in Ananova
Man who fainted at doorbells for 40 years was dead each time

A man who fainted whenever he was woken by his alarm clock or heard a doorbell has been cured.

Specialists have just found the shock of a wake-up call turns off his heart and leaves him brain-dead for up to 30 seconds.

and then further down it said...

ibid
At their worst the seizures happened seven times a day. He could move his eyes and hear his wife speaking but couldn't move.

Strange kind of brain-death. Of course, I've known many people who have been able to move around and even talk while being brain-dead.

Seriously, though, if he could see what was happening, chances are he wasn't brain-dead. Unless it was an Out Of Body Experience. taking place in his body. Now that's weird.

I'd be interested to know why alarms stopped his heart. A strange form of epilepsy/narcilepsy? He was just overly prone to shock? A traumatic experience with a bicycle? Of course, the chances are we'll never hear of him again, and I rarely remember to chase these things up myself, but I would like to know how it was happening.

 

[stu neville]

My father suffers the same thing: an unholy terror that the alarm clock or the doorbell will mean he will have to GET UP AND MOVE ABOUT.

He takes his retirement very seriously .

Stu

 

[Anonymous]

I must admit it does sound more like catalepsy/narcolepsy than actual death. I saw this on a programme at the weekend, this woman had twice been pronounced dead and placed in the mortuary while still alive and aware of her surroundings :eek!!!!:

 

[Anome]

I must admit it does sound more like catalepsy/narcolepsy than actual death. I saw this on a programme at the weekend, this woman had twice been pronounced dead and placed in the mortuary while still alive and aware of her surroundings :eek!!!!:

Now that would be scary. On the other hand, next time they'll make doubly sure.

 

[Anonymous]

I must admit it does sound more like catalepsy/narcolepsy than actual death. I saw this on a programme at the weekend, this woman had twice been pronounced dead and placed in the mortuary while still alive and aware of her surroundings :eek!!!!:

While at university I went out with a girl who suffered from nacrolepsy. Or rather, I suffered from it as it was triggered by certain types of 'excitement.'

 

[Anonymous]

Funnily enough, my ex-wife suffered from the same problem. But only with me apparently