Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Strange

Forgive me this momentary bout of introspection, Gentle Reader. But since this blog is my de facto journal I’m going to talk a little bit about a strange experience I had last night. From an e-mail I sent The Boys today:

Speaking of dieing... This isn't to alarm either of you, coz I'm fine this morning. But the strangest thing happened last night. I ate late...around 2300. I had nuked one of those Stouffer Flatbreads (steak fajitas...in name only), and had finished two of three slices when I was overcome...very quickly... with this strange "flushing" sensation in both my arms...down to my hands, which quickly spread to my neck and shoulders...on both sides. Then I got a ringing in my ears and became extremely dizzy. I quickly stood up...thinking WTF!??! And almost fell over. So, I sat back down. Then my vision began to blur and I got severe tunnel vision and was unable to focus on anything. All of this in the space of about a minute. I thought I was having a stroke. My vision almost went black, and I thought "Wow. So this is how it ends, eh?" In a rather strange sort of move, I decided it would be best to die lying down, so I moved to the couch and did just that...Laid down, that is.

As soon as I hit the couch I was overcome yet again, this time by a wave of nausea...severe nausea....violent nausea. I got off the couch, staggered to the bathroom as best I could (remember: tunnel vision) and threw up, violently, followed by about five minutes of dry heaves. My vision cleared almost immediately and the flushing sensation went away. I washed up, returned to the couch, laid back down, and immediately fell asleep.

I'm fine this morning. The only thing I can think of is severe, radical food poisoning. I base that theory on the fact everything cleared up after I threw everything up. I had NO pain, and my breathing was normal...aside from being a bit quick, because I was about as frickin' scared as I've ever been.

Weird, eh?

I’ve been thinking about this lil episode off and on all day. A couple of amplifications and clarifications are in order, though. When I said I had a “strange flushing sensation,” I meant flushing as in “warmth.” I got downright hot…which is why I described the feeling as “flushing,” as in being flushed. Second, I wasn’t all that frickin’ scared, in retrospect. I didn’t panic, I didn’t grope for the phone so I could dial 911. I did think exactly what I said to the boys in my note, i.e., “Wow. So this is how it ends, eh?”

And this is where the introspective bits come in. Why didn’t I think to dial 911? Why was I ready to just lie down and die? I’m not being melodramatic in the least, Gentle Reader. This was a serious event…with some serious danged symptoms, especially the progressive, yet quick, loss of vision and hearing. I’ve never had an episode like this in my life…nothing even remotely close. I was rational enough to eliminate the possibility of a heart attack (wrong symptoms), and rational enough to realize something was very, very wrong. Yet the only thing I thought was “so this is how it ends?”

I didn’t think about the event at all last evening after returning from the bathroom and laying down. I was simply glad my vision and hearing had returned, my temperature was back to normal, and the nausea was gone along with my dinner. My brief thoughts before falling asleep, which happened almost immediately, were about food poisoning. And that’s pretty much where I am today.

I got the UCR response from SN1: get thee to a doctor. And I will. I usually have my annual physical in my birthday month, but this weirdness will move that Happy Event up on the schedule. But I’m still perplexed over my reactions last evening.

Strange.

15 comments:

  1. That was scary, Buck! Strange how we reject the idea of calling for help at times like those, isn't it?
    Almost like there is a voice in our heads that says, "Now don't make a fuss. Everything is going to be okay."
    Those hot flashes you describe - along with the nausea, dizziness and vision thing are what some of us older women have to contend with but YOU shouldn't have to worry about that.
    The violent and sudden vomiting and retching sure sounds like food poisoning. Although would it be that soon after eating?
    The tunnel vision and ringing in the ears sounds like an anxiety attack or food allergy or side effect of medicine.
    Anyway, seeing your doctor - soon - would be a wise course to follow IMHO.

    Take care, Buck!!

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  2. Had you called 911, I would have been really worried. Our police scanner is on 24/7 and I would have heard the call go out. If I had heard the RV park mentioned, I would have immediatly wondered if you were ok or not.

    Speaking of 911: PFD having a VERY busy night tonight! At least 5 ambulance calls and two fires since 5:30pm. One of those included a house blowing up (?!) and the ambulance meeting the aerocare chopper at 70 and 202. And yup, it's a full moon tonight!

    Back to you: glad you are feeling ok today. See the doc just to be on the safe side. One sign of a stroke (even mild) is to stick your tongue out and see if it is straight or goes to one side (look in a mirror). But sounds like food poisoning here, too (but strange that suddenly then over as quickly!).

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  3. Buck: Doubt if it was food...I worked during my Environmental Health days with restaurants and food poison...IMO, it(you symptons) came on just too fast t be food...most, depending on the issue, take from 2-4 hours up to even 36 hours.....

    Now it could have been an allergy attack(to food or something else)...get it checked out and good luck!

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  4. Uncle Buck,

    i must admit at this point with you being ok and all...every time you said..."so this is how it ends eh?" i cracked...must be the side of darker humor. I would side with Pat here...that does sound much more like an acute allergic reaction than poisoning, especially with the immediate relief and non recurrent episode. As you know, food poisoning can take awhile to get out of the system. Try the ginger soup recipe to burn out the rest!

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  5. It sounds like a severe allergic reaction. Allergic reactions are instantaneous, food poisoning is not. That is very scary Buck. Like all the others i recommend that you see a doctor.

    Allergy tests are not fun. The put the allergens on almost like sharp plastic tooth picks and place the on you back and twist. It does not really hurt but when there are 200 of them it gets very annoying.


    Get Better!

    Oh i must admit this. I laughed when you said you wanted to die lying down, so you went to the couch, and when you said "so this is how it ends eh?" Morbid i know.

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  6. I vote for allergic reaction. Although for some reason I worry about blood pressure. Sometimes dizziness and vision problems can bring on the nausea, but then it probably would not have gone away so quick. Obviously, I know nothing - I also vote for the doctor.

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  7. Thanks all y'all for the suggestions, comments, and good wishes.

    After some serious thought, I'm thinking "allergic reaction," followed up by tainted food. I think the most likely suspect would be the mushrooms used in the flat bread topping. The fly in this ointment is I've consumed virtually every commercially available mushroom there is (and a few that aren't commercially available) and have never had this sort of reaction. As for the tainted food angle... you normally don't get that sort of thing with frozen food, almost by definition.

    OTOH, It could be... fallout from that picture I posted of TSMP in her school uniform, specifically the implementation of contract I was afraid she'd put out on me. Given her Liberal-Left-Academic position, it's not hard to imagine she knows some sort of Peruvian sorceress from her Womyn's Studies Group or something, and I'm sure she's got a picture of me around somewhere. Or if not, a pic of me ain't hard to find, e.g.,

    Open EIP Blog...

    scroll, scroll...

    right click, save as...

    print.

    "Hey Tchopalottafez...bring those candles, incense, and pins over here and let's get started!"


    Makes as much sense as food poisoning, right?

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  8. Hey Jenny! Just curious, but since you keep the scanner on a lot... has P-Ville had another water main break recently, like this past Monday night/early Tuesday morning? I was without water all flipping day Tuesday, and I KNOW I "set the drip" before going to bed Monday night...

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  9. Yikes! I voted dr. too of course.

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  10. yep, listen to SN1 and get to the dr... not likely to be "the end" , but get checked out anyhow.
    glad to hear you're feeling better now.

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  11. Hmm, no water main break that I know of this week. I remember last Tuesday I wondered if there was a main break. I had to go to town twice that day and it was extremely wet (and icy that morning), especially by the square. There was that huge fire south of town Tuesday afternoon last week, but that wouldn't have had anything to do with the water then.

    This last Tuesday night I was also in town and don't recall water in the roadways. But according to my weather station here at the house, the temp was 17 with a windchill of 2 on Tuesday morning, so it was pretty damn cold. I've about had enough of winter. Bring on spring, please.

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  12. Oh, but I should mention that I wasn't home much of Monday evening for a 4-H meeting. And I wasn't home Tuesday evening because of basketball practice (which wouldn't have been relavent for Monday night/Tuesday morn anyway).

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  13. Wow, Buck, that sounds scary. I'm putting my vote in for allergic reaction as well. They can happen all of the sudden like that, and to things you've eaten a million times before. Also consistent with allergy is that removal of the allergen (by throwing up) brings immediate relief.

    Funny thing about allergy testing. Like Ashley said, they put the allergen on a pin-like object and poke it into your back. Well, my lower back and sides are very ticklish. When the nurse was poking me with the things, I felt pain, but it was also setting off a tickle response. It was the weirdest feeling.

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  14. I would look at that food container to see what sort of stuff was in it. Might get some ideas from it. I vote for allergic reaction also.

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  15. Jenny: Thanks for the water works info. :-)

    "They" may be doing some work on the water lines here at Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park. I was out of water for half of the day Monday, too. Forgot to mention that.

    Becky: I've heard that about allergy testing... i.e., the tickle thing. It IS weird.

    One other thing I know... I'm NEVER gonna eat another Stouffer's Steak Fajita Flat Bread. EVER.

    Dan: The packaging for that meal is long gone...

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