[TowerTalk] Passing Out When Looking Up

[Roger (K8RI) on TT]

On 9/19/2014 10:04 AM, Ward Silver wrote:
>> As he described   he looked to the SKY and that was IT  He Fainted
> This is a common precursor to trips to the Emergency Room for older
> adults, usually male.  The most usual situation is working on a ladder

Not always.  If there are moving clouds, looking up can be far worse 
than looking down.  Looking up the tower with the only background 
reference being blue sky and moving white clouds, the sensation of 
falling can be overwhelming, even for many of us who climbed for years.

Like many, I started out free climbing, then purchased a good Kline free 
floating belt.  I also had pole climbers and helped service a local 
telephone line.  The kind with two steel wires on green insulators and 
magnetos for ringing.

Then I purchased a full body harness with fall arrest.

I have to admit that I much prefer either deep open hooks or those with 
the old spring snap locks.  I found the new ones much like carabiners 
(sp?) to be too tedious to use.

People who are afraid of heights should never climb.  I had to get one 
down from only about 60 feet.  That was the hardest work I ever did on a 
tower.

73

Roger (K8RI)

> - like cleaning gutters or putting up lights or something.  Pass out,
> fall off ladder, go to the hospital.
>
> The doctors on the list can clarify/correct but the cause is
> restricting blood flow in the arteries at the base of the brain when
> tipping one's head back.  It seems to be a condition that becomes more
> pronounced with age.
>
> You can test this on the ground.  Stand straight and tall - then tip
> your head back as far as it will go without bending your back.  A few
> seconds of readjustment in equilibrium is more or less normal.  If the
> condition persists or if you get really dizzy or worse, you have a
> problem to have checked out by your doctor.  It is better to find this
> out at ground level than aloft.
>
> 73, Ward N0AX
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-- 

73

Roger (K8RI)


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