I've been a fainter most of my life. There are many different circumstances that might bring it on. Illness, shock and dieting all tend to bring out the "Southern belle" in me.

The first time I remember feeling that I was going to faint was when, as a little girl (maybe 8?), our family went on a vacation and visited an old ghost town in California. There was an old cemetery in this ghost town with gravestone after gravestone of babies and young children. Someone had left a toy on one of the gravestones and I think the idea of it all was too much for my 8 year old self.

The next time was when we went to a relative's funeral. It was at about the same age, I think. It was open casket and I went through the line. This time I did faint.

I had the mumps at age 13 and ended up taking a face dive into the carpet after fainting. I ended up with carpet burns over the entire right side of my face. LOVELY!

I've fainted in grocery stores (embarrassing!), parking lots (scary!), and of course, at home.

One time I fainted in the doctors office. I was there to have fluid removed from a large ganglion cyst in my wrist. The doctor was on one side of the table, I sat on the other side. When he inserted the needle, it made a really AWFUL sound and, of course, I fainted (wouldn't you?). I ended up falling face down on the table, and then bouncing back and falling from the chair to the uncarpeted floor before the doctor could catch me. I ended up with a concussion, but I guess if that's going to happen- there's no better place to do it, eh?

Fortunately, it doesn't happen too often and I've been doing this for so long that I recognize the precursor to fainting. I hear weird sounds in my ears (it reminds me of that sound they played while the bionic man was doing his 'thing'), I start to get tunnel vision, and my face and hands start to go numb. Usually, if I sit down some place (if there isn't any thing to sit on close by- I'll sit on the floor), I avoid fainting.

Last night, wasn't one of those times. I got out of bed for a "bio break" and somewhere between the bed and the bathroom I fainted. The weird (and good) thing is that instead of taking a face dive into the carpet (bad for the skin), I landed flat on my butt (without using my hands to soften the fall) and then fell over. Do you know how loud that sound is? Trust me, it's loud. I remember in a weird dream-like way making the loud boom, and then the next thing I remember was being flat on my back. It was so loud that it woke the bearded eye-roller out of a deep sleep.

I've mentioned before that I don't have a lot of junk in my trunk, so today I have a bruised butt and wince every time I sit down.

Perhaps, once I purchase the padding for my trunk, I should consider wearing it at night in case this happens again. And maybe a helmet with a face guard.