Well...I had issues with passing out and frequently have dizziness and light headedness that will come on me very suddenly and I need to sit or grab onto something to steady myself. When I was stuck in a wheelchair and couldn't stand or walk (when my RSD spread in 2011) that was when it all started. Even when I was getting "better" and able to walk with physical therapy I still felt trapped because I did not feel safe to drive. These episodes were happening ALL the time and would last anywhere from a few seconds to an hour or so. In fact...my first episode of passing out came shortly after I got RSD and prior to the diagnosis...but we all just blamed it on a sudden spike of pain (which I still think it was).

At any rate...this was a huge problem for me and one of my primary focuses for my treatment...even more so than the pain because it was keeping me from living a "normal" life even once I started to get more of the function back. We tried a lot of different meds and nothing really worked. Then I went on clonidine patches and now my episodes are few and far between (and usually related to spikes in pain or me doing too much).

This was something I read about on the RSD Puzzles and for me it worked and was the solution to my problems. Apparently the "spells" were caused by sudden changes in my blood pressure and the clonidine regulates the blood pressure so that doesn't happen. Because...you know...blood pressure is something controlled by the sympathetic nervous system which goes all wonky when you get RSD. I like the patches because they are easy and I just put on one for a week and change it out every Sunday (rotating locations because if you keep putting the patch on the same spot it will irritate the skin).

Not sure if this will help you or not but it did help me. I actually printed out the RSD Puzzle and brought it in for my doctor to review. We had already tried a bunch of things and tried one more before we moved onto the clonidine patch...nothing to lose at that point and it kept me hopeful through the trial and error process that there was another option to try. We also ruled out other potential caused for these issues because neither me or my doctor like to instantly blame the RSD for everything goes wrong with me and potentially let something else go undiagnosed or untreated.

Take care and good luck.