'I have an ultra-rare condition that makes my heart stop whenever I swallow'

A 50-year-old mother from St Albans, Hertfordshire, named Sarah Hall, lived in constant fear of her heart stopping whenever she swallowed due to an ultra-rare condition called cardioinhibitory swallow syncope. The condition, which affects fewer than 150 people worldwide, caused her heart to pause up to 12 times in a single day, triggering dizzy spells, blackouts, and terrifying collapses during meals. Hall’s symptoms began at age 39 with fainting episodes and vomiting, worsening over time until she regularly blacked out by age 48. She initially dismissed the symptoms as perimenopause or dehydration, but after losing consciousness in front of her children during a family lunch, she sought medical help. Doctors confirmed her heart had paused 12 times in 24 hours, diagnosing her with the rare condition where swallowing triggers an overactive vagus nerve response, slowing or stopping her heart for up to a minute. Conventional treatments failed to help Hall, who stopped driving, took months off work, and avoided eating in public. She was then offered a place in a medical trial for cardioneural ablation (CNA), a pioneering procedure supported by the British Heart Foundation and the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre. The treatment involves inserting catheters into the heart through the groin to map nerve activity and destroy problematic nerve cells responsible for the dangerous heart-slowing response. Researchers found CNA dramatically reduced blackouts among participants, with episodes dropping from an average of 19 a year to just one. Hall now says she has her life back, no longer fearing meals or public outings. Dr Mohamed Zuhair, a syncope researcher at Imperial College London, noted that while fainting is often dismissed as minor, severe cases can be debilitating, and CNA offers hope by targeting the root cause of the condition.