Fainted at mass

[guanophore]

in 20 years of going to Mass, I’ve never encountered this before…what do you all think?

I have heard of this happening several times, and it has happened in my parents parish. I wonder if the presence of God is so overwhelming that sometimes the natural ability of people to stand is lost, like those who fell back from Christ in the garden.

 

[Delphinus]

I am reminded of Jesus talking about healing on the Sabbath to the Pharisees (Mark 3:1-6). If you’re helping someone in clear immediate need of help, it supersedes any liturgical law. Just my two cents. shrug

 

[Dan_Defender]

sometimes the natural ability of people to stand is lost, like those who fell back from Christ in the garden.

However only the Roman soldiers fell to the ground, not the Pharisees. Maybe the miracle was meant to shake those pagans to the core and open their hearts to conversion, while the Pharisees were too deep into the devil’s pocket.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I don’t mean to minimize the awesome presence of God, but fainting at Mass more often occurs because of natural physical issues such as low blood sugar (especially if you skip a meal to go straight to Mass), blood circulation issues worsened by standing/ kneeling/ having to get up and down several times, anemia, a stuffy or hot church causing people to overheat or not get air, issues associated with menstruation or menopause for females, medication one is taking, or an illness like digestive upset or flu coming on.

 

[Mintaka]

With servers, it is usually knees locking while standing, or whatever the circulation equivalent is when kneeling. But yeah, fasting and stress that causes low blood sugar is also popular.

(Btw, even the old books said that people who faint or get headaches from fasting are excused from the fasting regs. Not usually from the abstinence regs, though there could be reasons.)

 

[po18guy]

Sounds like a vasovagal nerve response with syncope. Don’t ask me how I know. Such persons can recover simply by being lain on their sides or reclining. That nerve becoming irritated triggers a sudden drop in blood pressure, leading to the fainting.

Anyway, funny that you should mention this as tonight at the 5PM mass, an elderly man (late 80s-early90s) died just after communion. Father ran and anointed him. Since I had my weapon with me (Rosary), I dropped down and offered a Chapel of Divine Mercy.

 

[babochka]

My son once fainted while serving. He was 13 or 14 at the time. I couldn’t see him because he was behind the icon screen, but I heard a loud thump. I wasn’t really sure what had happened. The priest made eye contact with me to make sure that I knew what was going on and then send him out to me. I took him downstairs and scrounged for the kitchen until I found a cookie to feed him. He was fine, but he decided not to go up finish serving. He just sat with us for the rest of the liturgy.

 

[Erikaspirit16]

Afterward, I did find it strange that only one gentleman and I jumped up immediately to help. The Mass attendance had at least 350 people.

This is certainly not on the same level as what happened to you, but I go to the movies a lot, and every so often something happens–the sound is too low, the sound is not in synch, they leave the lights on, etc. and I’m always the one who has to go tell management there’s a problem. I’ve actually discussed this with my friends–why is it always me? Why doesn’t anyone else take it upon themselves? And I don’t jump up before anyone else has a chance–I always look around waiting for someone else to go. And other people are always in a better position to go–I always sit in the middle, not the aisle. I think it says something about our society. A lot of sheep out there.

 

[c1949]

right – fasting from midnight – especially tough for an afternoon Good Friday communion. A fellow altar server was in trouble. He had the right idea – the genuflect then exit, but he genuflected to the side door, not the tabernacle. I knew he was in trouble.

So often the rules are pounded into Catholics without the common sense exceptions. I’m diabetic, and I carry my own orange juice, in case my blood sugar drops. I wouldn’t think that the parish has any provisions for that common emergency. Takes 15 minutes to recover from low blood sugar.

As a paramedic, I had to administer a dose of glucose to someone who was already unconscious. The dosage is 50 grams, directly intravenously. That’s like the equivalent of a snickers bar or 1-1/2 cup of orange juice. 4 packets of sugar in a cup of water is a cheap alternative for an initial dose by mouth, if they are conscious. Very low blood glucose can cause a heart attack.

Elsewhere, we had a young priest (55) suffer a massive heart attack in a distant rural parish. Was choppered in to a coronary care unit and expired the next day. That surely must have been a chaotic seen in that church.

 

[13pollitos]

Altar servers faint or become ill quite regularly. I keep bottled water, orange juice and granola bars on hand just in case. Normally it is a new server that doesn’t eat before Mass, but even well seasoned servers will have this happen at times. They get hot—really hot— on the altar.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

funny that you should mention this as tonight at the 5PM mass, an elderly man (late 80s-early90s) died just after communion

If one has to die, that’s a blessed time to go. Reminds me of a homily a couple weeks back where the priest said wouldn’t it be nice if when the world ends, we all happened to be at Mass when it occurred.

 

[therese1998]

A lot of sheep out there.

LOL Indeed!

Sounds like a vasovagal nerve response with syncope

Certainly could be. It’s also not completely unusual for girls in adolescence to have periodic fainting. I had nosebleeds. In the absence of seizures and with a quick return to apparently nuerotypical functioning, it was probably nothing. Dad can call MD and ask for a return call if worried.

an elderly man (late 80s-early90s) died just after communion. Father ran and anointed him

Wow…that could be seen as quite a blessing! I would be shocked and grieved if that were a loved one of mine, but also mightily comforted…

Takes 15 minutes to recover from low blood sugar.

I’m diabetic as well and my sugar is more commonly high than low, but after surgery once I had a lot of low blood sugar episodes and they are not pleasant. I would say 15 minutes give or take is about right

4 packets of sugar in a cup of water is a cheap alternative for an initial dose by mouth,

My father did this (and I did it for him) many, many times when he had taken his insulin but the staff was slow to bring his dinner

Reminds me of a homily a couple weeks back where the priest said wouldn’t it be nice if when the world ends, we all happened to be at Mass when it occurred.

This would be ideal! I will pray for this for sure!

 

[YoungCatholicGuy]

Saint Joan of Arc quote: ‘When you act, God acts.’

 

[His_helpmeet]

Yup, about 15 minutes is standard. I’m a nurse and our protocol for low blood sugar is to give the person carbohydrates (sugar) and check the blood sugar again in 15 minutes. Just as an aside - fruit juice isn’t recommended anymore as fructose takes longer to raise blood sugar than glucose or sucrose (table sugar). Something like regular pop, hard candy, or table sugar is better.

 

[therese1998]

There also sell glucose tablets that you can carry with you like the little purse containers for aspirin. They’ve helped a lot on more than one occasion. I didn’t realize that about fruit juice…interesting.

 

[Mary888]

As to your dubia of whether you did the right thing or not I am thinking of the crippled man who couldn’t get to the healing water because he had no one to carry him to it. Jesus got mad at the situation as I recall. He healed the man but got mad that there was no one who would help that man.
So how can you have gone wrong by helping this girl even if no one else got involved (because they saw you do it maybe)?