Well my name is Chris, iam or was a 57yr old hgv 1 artic driver for a scaffold firm. about seven months ago , i was  working up in london on a site near vauxhual bridge .it was a hot day and the nature of the work is very physical  ,so to keep hydrated i was drinking carbonated water, also at the time i lived on coffee. i was talking to a scaffolder ,and a strange feeling came over me ,i felt all the strengh going out of my body and my speach sounded slow and strange, i knew what i wanted to say ,it just wasnt coming out right,next minute i was on the floor.i was taken to hospital ,i was given a couple of scans ,heart monitor and saline,all results clear .the hospital took alot more care than perhaps they would normally do because of my  lorry driving i was released later in the day.i took a few days off to recover and went back to driving a week later .the next time i went with the wagon i  collapsed as soon as i arrived,and ended up in hospital for 3 1/2  weeks. i was released after this with outpatient appointments on going, i have been unable to work since june 2017,told not to drive by the doctors, my employers have been good ,told me my job is waiting whenever i recover.the" vassy vogal  " , has worked a proper number   on me no energy most days ,afraid to go outside the house ,in case i pass out and hit my head. but now after 6mths ,a few days ago i had a tilt table test ,which gave me a positive result for pre syncope ,the specialist nurse told me ,no cure but the symptoms can be controlled. so no coffee ,no fizzy drinks or carbonated water, and 1/2 teaspoons of salt a day , plus exercises , two weeks after the test  the change is ridiculous, i can walk up the town by myself and i hav,nt had a single episode ,i will point out that all my vital signs have always been normal ,if anything my heart rate was brachicardic  low ,so the salt was not a danger and was needed to retain hydration, i still take precautions if i go into a shopping centre , if i feel hot i take off my hat and coat  ,i still avoid crowded places where i might need to que up for more than 5mins. of course this is still in the winter ,and i am not driving  , add the hesat of summer and stress of driving ,things might go backwards again . the best bit of advise i can give is to plead for all your worth to get a tilt table test as soon as possible if i had one of these 6 mths ago i would have been back at work months ago. lastly it takes ages to recognise the symptoms, the tightness in the neck ,walking slower lack of energy, speach slower foggy feeling in the head ,confusion and vision changing ,the eye lids coming down like a lead weight , anyway try not to let the condition get on top of you ,take the reins and control it  instead, i hope this helps all the best chris