Are there any new treatments for syncope in the last ten years?

[kayakfiremedic]

I had a fairly sever syncopal episode  ten years ago.

I had a complete cardiac work up. I went through a number of tilt tests. I was put on at least six different meds and given tilt tests to see if the meds were helping.

None of the meds helped, but many of them had harsh side effects. Theophylline for example, my heart rate was running about 30 beats per minute faster than normal, I felt like I was burning up most of the time and I could only sleep about 2 hours a night. I lost ten pounds in a week. And I am in pretty good shape to begin with.

Fast forward to now and I had another syncopal episode. Are there any newer treatments? Looking on the internet I see the same drugs mentioned that I was put on ten years ago with out good results. Then and now there is talk of using pacemakers, but not any enthusiasm.

I saw two electrophysiologists. Talking with the better of the two as I now understand, the problem, at least in my case isn't the heart. It is the medulla, the primitive part of the brain that controls blood pressure, heart rate and the other autonomic nervous system functions.

In the end, the best advice I got was try and avoid triggers for syncopal episodes. I live a healthy life style. But there are triggers you can't avoid, now matter how much you try.

So what are the latest treatments?