Friday, August 3, 2012

Synocope

I had been looking to this evening for some time: a night out with my friend who has flown in from the West Coast. We are eating outside one of my favorite restaurants on a toasty night that should be less toasty once the sun goes down. I am drinking a raspberry margarita and having a good conversation with my friend and then suddenly I am struck with a wave of nausea and dizziness. I see stars: my surroundings spin around me. I am profusely sweating. I am not drunk or even close but I know that if I try to walk, my legs would buckle. WTF? Am I having a heart attack? I have no chest pain or actually any pain yet I am profoundly uncomfortable. I perform a mental checklist: is my heart racing? Doesn't seem like it though I can't see my watch to take my pulse. Am I having trouble breathing? No. But I am having trouble getting blood to my head. I am balancing on a tall stool and think that soon I will crumble to the sidewalk unless I have help. I tell my friend that something awful is happening but I am not sure what. I need to be closer to the ground. The hostess and the bus person help me inside where it is cooler. I think I will be OK but then I start to black out again. I put my head on the table acutely aware how weird this must look  and that people probably think I am drunk. My friend has left to get the car and the restaurant personnel wonder where she is. I feel stupid. I am helped into the car and recover. By the time we are home, I feel much better as I lay on the couch. But I am disappointed. This is not how I wanted to spend the evening.

Dehydration? I had run a while while it was in the 80s in the late morning. I felt OK afterwards and drank quite a bit of liquids. In the afternoon , the grandbabies and the their moms came over. It's like watching puppies play. They are cute.

But now I am afraid to go out and exercise on my own. I am still a bit queasy.
I am so tired of the heat.

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