June 2024

Had a bit of a scare today.

Woke up feeling pretty normal. Stayed in bed for about an hour doing some things. Got up. Went outside to smoke.

It was hot and humid. These are two things I don’t appreciate at all. Extended exposure doesn’t go well either. But, long enough to smoke a cigarette has never been a problem.

There’s a transient gentleman who wanders the neighborhood and we talk occasionally. Most days he’s pretty calm and lucid. Today, he was a bit agitated, but nothing threatening. It did get my anxiety up a bit. I gave him a cigarette per our usual interaction. He definitely wanted to talk more than usual, but I started not feeling great, and wanted to get back inside.

Made it through the main door, up the flight of stairs, and through the front door. The feeling of needing to vomit started increasing. I locked the door, hooked my keys back on my belt loop, and slid off my shoes. I decided I would walk to the middle of the living area to lie down.

Next thing I was aware of was Becca shouting from the distance, “Are you okay?”

I opened my eyes and found myself crumpled on the floor. “No,” I replied. I couldn’t see much beyond the wood floor and my knees.

“Where are?” Becca’s voice came again.

I pried my eyes open again, but seemed to have serious tunnel vision and an inability to keep my eyes open. “Foyer,” I replied.

She came running to where I was folded on the floor.

If you kneel three or so inches from a wall and let yourself fall against the wall allowing your forehead to get as close as possible to your knees as you can, that was me.

I was oddly comfortable, so, when Becca asked, “Do you want to try and move?”

My responses were something from the movie Warm Bodies, single words with a lot of deep breaths in between. “No.” Inhale. “Comfortable.” Exhale. “Sweating.”

And, boy, was I sweating. Literally dripping from my face as though I had been working the fields all day. I wasn’t hot, though.

I just kept breathing as deep, long, and slow as I could. Trying to convince the scared animal part of my brain that we were safe.

“Did you hit your head?”

“Don’t think so.” This is when I realized I wasn’t in the foyer. I somehow managed to land in the empty spot where we put our mail and a table. Literally just enough space for my crumpled body to fit. “Wasn’t expecting to be here.”

Becca said “I’m gonna get you a juice box.”

“That would great,” I replied. “Towel would also be helpful.”

She brought apple juice (I think, didn’t really care), an electrolyte tab, and a towel. The juice box lasted less than 10 seconds, the electrolyte tab didn’t come with any of the normal bitterness or flavor, and the towel operated as expected. All the while, I’m still crumpled on the floor breathing.

Eventually I sat with my back to the wall and my legs in front of me. “For what it’s worth, my chest doesn’t hurt. In fact, there is no severe pain yet.”

Another juice box and electrolyte tab and I was starting to feel better. Becca remarked how pale I was. So, we just sat there and had a strained conversation.

Do not recommend.

After a while my color came back, and I decided to repeat the morning; including stepping outside for a cigarette.

Made an appointment with my doctor. Current hypothesis is vasovagal syncope.

There are a lot of possible contributing factors, which I think just landed as a perfect storm.

Becca and I dropped off my Mac mini that sold, and that was pretty okay. And I’ve pretty much been lying in bed in the dark bedroom ever since.

Some point while I was sleeping, WHOOP says my heart rate hit 160 beats per minute at the peak of a four minute spike. Prior to the spike it was less than 60 beats per minute. I’m hoping this was just a glitch in data readings.

While I was working from bed, heart stayed around 60.

When I went outside, it was up around 100, which is normal for me while standing. Then there’s a rapid drop to about 60, a spike, and a gradual decline while I was on the floor. When I went outside the second time, it was about 90.

My strain level increased dramatically after eating first meal. 3 mini croissants, banana smoothie, 12 ounces of green peas, about two cups of potato salad, and the various protein supplements.