# Healing and Wellbeing > General Health >  >  I faint when I'm grossed out

## Keddy

Well, this is embarrassing.
This sounds stupid but I'm not kidding or exaggerating any of it.
I am a hypochondriac, and I don't know if this has to do with this particular issue or not. I also have an extreme phobia of blood, needles, surgical procedures, and gory injuries.
If I see any of the above listed scenarios on TV, read about them online or in a book, or even hear someone talking about them, for the most part, I pass out.
With my recent surgeries, I was blacked out and practically unconscious just from watching them put the IV in. I faint when I have blood drawn and also when I get vaccines. If I get a cut or a scrape that bleeds, I will faint. 
I've always fainted around needles because I have a needle phobia but the other stuff is new.
The first time I noticed that this happened, I was a junior in high school and we were on a field trip. We went to visit a college. I was fine until we got to their medical department. I did not see anything gross, and I wasn't expecting anything weird to happen, but the professor who was speaking to us went into detail about a specific surgical procedure. I felt like I was going to vomit, I blacked out, and I fell out of my chair. In a dead faint.
I was fine, but it was extremely humiliating.
I thought this was just a freak accident and not connected to anything else until about six months later. My mom was watching one of those doctor shows on TV and I just happened to be in the room. They showed something kind of graphic, and once again, I passed out. Since then, I have fainted after cutting myself by accident when shaving, I've fainted after seeing my brother skin his knee, I've fainted just from reading stuff online about medical procedures and injuries, and I've fainted from seeing blood in movies multiple times.
I fainted when I found out I had appendicitis and I fainted several times before and after my surgeries.
I also faint when I'm in pain.
My mom thinks it's because I have a sensitive vagus nerve. Apparently that's common with people who faint from being grossed out. The vagus nerve is what connects the digestive system to the brain and if it's stimulated a certain way it can trigger fainting. Fainting itself is caused by a temporary reduction in blood flow to the brain.
Does anyone else have this problem or have you heard of it before? I've read that it's relatively common but I've never known anyone else who it happened to. I'm not sure if it's because I have hypochondria or if it's related to my specific medical phobias or both.
Thanks
/Keddy

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