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Table 1 Differential diagnoses in our patient showing possible symptoms of the different pathologies that can cause or mimic transient loss of consciousness or syncopes

From: Transient hypoglycemia as a rare cause of recurring transient loss of consciousness: a case report 

Differential diagnosis

Possible symptoms

Rule-out criteria

Herpes zoster oticus

Vertigo

Patient could clearly differentiate between the vertigo and the syncopes

Hypertensive emergency

Dizziness, impaired vision, headaches

No loss of consciousness during hypertensive episodes

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizure

Unintended childlessness as a stressor

Syncopes occurred after stressor had been relieved

Histamine intolerance

Flush symptoms (heat, sweating, dizziness)

Complete avoidance of histamine-rich food for more than 1 year

Cardiac syncope

Syncope with or without prodromes

No structural heart disease detected in echocardiography or magnetic resonance imaging; normal electrocardiogram and normal treadmill test, no pathological ajmaline test, no arrhythmias in telemetric monitoring

  1. We also included the rule-out criteria for each pathology in our patient