(no subject)

[lesmisloony]

Weird day yesterday. I slept a LOT, like at least ten hours, maybe more. Then I ate leftover pasta and brownies that Vincent and I had made the night before while still lying in bed watching shows online. Because I'm not sure what else to do with my life right now. There was cream cheese in the fridge so I ate a bunch of that too. (By the way, my ability to stuff my face is still down from the two or three weeks I spent eating scraps of leftovers, so when I say "a bunch" consider that it wasn't really a lot, but felt like a lot to me.)

Anyway then I went back to lying down watching shows and without realizing it fell asleep. The window was open and it was really cold out, but I was enjoying that after the hot summer we'd suffered here in France. I woke up just before Vincent and I were scheduled to go back over to my most recent wonderful host family and have dinner. I felt kinda weird having just woken up, but I was excited for the dinner and all that stuff so yay. I felt kinda lightheaded/groggy, but I figured it was because of all the unnecessary sleep I'd gotten.

Well we were about two streets away when suddenly I got really dizzy. I told Vincent to wait and went to lean on a nearby storefront for support. I felt the dizziness totally take over and the next thing I knew, I realized I was dreaming or something and felt pavement against my hip and hand and heard a lady's voice asking from a long way away if I needed a doctor. I mumbled I was fine and then I was on my feet again somehow, wondering what the hell was going on, and staggered a few feet away to sit on the curb while my hearing slowly came back. I remember mumbling "Whoa I think I might have fainted!" to Vincent, who said "Yeah, you were unconscious for about two minutes."

I felt really nauseated and my stomach was burning so I wondered if I was going to be sick, but I still tried to get to the dinner date. We crossed the street, Vincent hovering awkwardly nearby, and I realized I needed to sit again and I wasn't going to make it. We went back to the apartment, only about two blocks away, but I needed to stop and rest at least six times and really doubted my ability to make it. I just wanted to lie down.

The worst is that I'd noticed that taking deep breaths kind of made my lungs burn a little bit for about a day, but ever since I fainted I've had something that's not quite heartburn, more like a dull throbbing pain in my chest. I was secretly terrified it was a heart attack for a while, but it's nowhere near that severe. I talked about it on facebook and a friend who's a nurse told me it sounded like my blood pressure was really low and my heart was having trouble getting enough oxygen. I've been taking deep breaths and the pain has decreased but even now, the next morning, it's there. It wasn't there when I first woke up, but by staying awake I've made it come back.

So yeah, color me freaked out. I've never fainted before in my life so I honestly thought it was cool and was rather disappointed that I only had Vincent to tell me what had happened, because he thinks of himself as a writer but he sure as hell isn't a storyteller and I had to ask him fifty times for various details before I got a vague idea of what he saw. Apparently I was about to lean on the building when suddenly I just dropped--the other way, so it wasn't even a graceful slide down the side of the store window or whatever--and Vincent's reaction was to try to drag me back to my feet. He said I said something about being fine (crazy because I was absolutely unconscious then with no memory of this but I wouldn't be surprised since "I'M FINE" is my immediate reaction to everything that goes wrong) but as soon as he got me up I collapsed again, so he said he was holding me on my knees for a while and that was when a passerby asked if she needed to call a doctor. At that point I was coming to and quickly responded in English about how fine I was.

Super weird! I'm planning to be on my feet a little more today, but unsure if I want to risk leaving the building in case something happens again. I'm thinking I'll start doing a TLC-level cleaning job on Vincent's place, one pile of mysterious items at a time, which will at least keep me walking around this little room. I might try taking some of his empty wine bottles down to the recycle bin in the courtyard if I feel up to it.

Comments

[cerberusia.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that is strange! I've been known to faint/feel about to faint on occasion, and usually there's some kind of trigger. For me it's obvious: blood tests and taking too-long, too-hot showers, particularly if I'm ill. Temperature is a common trigger, but usually heat rather than cold, so idk. Hope it doesn't happen again, though - fainting is Not Fun.

[mrs-tribble.livejournal.com]

If this is the first time you've ever fainted, please see a doctor and get your blood pressure and blood sugar levels checked.

[ulkis.livejournal.com]

Didn't you say you'd been only eating scraps for the past three weeks? That probably had something to do with it.

[carolynj (from livejournal.com)]

One other thing to consider is if you might be anemic, which could lead to low blood oxygen levels, feelings of dizziness and weakness, overall lethargy. Def a possibility if you've been eating erratically for several months, or not getting many iron rich foods.

[yobambam666.livejournal.com]

I just heard what happened on Facebook. I hope you get better quickly. That's some serious stuff, and I'll be praying for you for sure.

[apollinnaire.livejournal.com]

I does sound a lot like your blood pressure just dropped - did you say you had been sleeping just a while before? Blood pressure is a lot lower during sleep, if you basically woke up groggy and dragged yourself to the steets, the sudden change of position from lying down sleeping to walking might have caused insufficient oxygen to rise to your brain. Similar to what happens due to orthostatic hypotension. You also said you'd been eating poorly, you could be hypoglycemic. The symptoms are those of a typical collapse, sudden weakness, dizziness, loss of consciousness for a short while and then an onset of nausea and funny noises in your ears. I'd vote more on the hypoglicemia hypothesis since you felt really weak afterwards.

The only thing that worries me is the "heartburn" thing. I have fainted before exactly like that (and thanks to my underweight body, I experience near-fainting episodes a lot) but never got prolongued symptoms such as chest pain. Do you know anything about the current status of your health? How long since you've gotten your blood tested, a heart rythm exam...? I'd seek a doctor a.s.a.p. If you can't, at least go to a pharmacy to get your blood pressure and glycemia tested (it's for free in France, I think. At most 50 cents each test).

[yvonnejanvier.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry about faiting that much, but any pain outside that is not a good sign, and you should get the blood work done if possible. Try to drink more water and maybe eat some garlic, it helps to stabilize wobbly blood pressure. It could very well be a sign you weren't eating well and resting enough, so try to take better care of yourself, bodies can be very unforgiving ;-(