lost consciousness ?!

I'm actually not that worried about this incident. but I thought I'd put it out there since this group has a wealth of medical knowledge (and some world-class health worriers), and you guys might be a source of good advice. Maybe you'll tell me I should be worried.

I don't think this is related to benzo withdrawal in any way, since I am long recovered from my benzo ordeal. Though it may be related to other drugs...

I was on vacation recently in a tropical paradise when this incident happened. It was a warm sunny day. I was hanging out with a beautiful young woman from the island. We had been going around looking at real estate - I am thinking of buying property on this island - and I was getting hot and thirsty. So we went to a beach bar. Just a little local place, the funkiest most irie beach bar in the world, with this awesome slow trance-like reggae music playing and a lot of cool people hanging out. Once there, the Red Stripe beers kept appearing in front of me, and the cannabis joints kept getting passed to me. Now, I don't normally do either of these things; since my benzo ordeal I've been living "clean" and staying away from both prescription and recreational drugs. But I was on vacation, so I partook... Also I should mention another drug in my system: I had taken some Cialis earlier, because, well I'm a 60-something guy who wanted to keep up with this 20-something woman I was with, should things move in that direction later on. So I was sitting there, listening to the music and enjoying. But then suddenly I felt hot and sweaty. I got up, thinking "I'll take a little walk to get some air", and started to walk, and ... I felt dizzy and my mind lost focus ... and I must have completely lost consciousness. I think someone caught me and put me in a chair. The next thing I recall, I was looking up at a sea of concerned-looking faces. It was like I was in a parallel universe looking through a long tunnel at the people in the real world. They were asking questions like "can you hear me?" and "can you get up?". At first I felt like I couldn't respond, like I was struggling to get back to the real world. Then some guy took charge and said "Look at me. How many fingers am I holding up?". I can do this I thought, and I said "One". Then, he raised another finger and I said "Two", then "Three". Then I said, "can you call an ambulance and take me to a hospital?". "No ambulance, no hospital" was the reply (like: what do think this is, a first-world country?). So instead they put me in a taxi who took me to a local doctor. By the time I reached I was fully conscious again and back to normal. The doctor examined me, took blood sugar and blood pressure and EKG, and declared everything to be normal. He didn't have a theory of what happened. He told me to see a doctor when I return to the US (and I was thinking, so what are you, chopped liver?). He also told me to drink a lot of coconut water and no alcohol, and stay away from the weed, for the rest of my vacation.

The rest of my vacation was uneventful and I am back home. Still not completely sure what happened. My best theory is a sudden drop in blood pressure from the combination of drugs in my system. They say Cialis can have that effect in conjunction with certain other drugs; maybe cannabis is one of those other drugs?!. I think I'll lay off the Cialis in the future. Possibly dehydration played a role too. Wasn't used to the tropical heat. I haven't seen a doctor since returning - my feeling is they'll just order a bunch of expensive tests which will find nothing.

What do you guys think?

CP

 

What do you guys think?

 

CP

Pretty simple.

Time to buy an electric guitar with a decent amp, as well as a bunch of overdrive and distortion pedals and start listening to Bob Mould .

 

What do you guys think?

 

CP

 

Pretty simple.

Time to buy an electric guitar with a decent amp, as well as a bunch of overdrive and distortion pedals and start listening to Bob Mould .

I like the spirit of that! (And I like the imagery in the video of the guy leaving the office with his box of belongings (fired?) and going off into the woods to live naturally)

Near death experience => go out and *enjoy* the remainder of life !

Any other great suggestions?

"It was neither the quality nor the quantity that was at fault - it was the mixture.  Grasp that and you have the very root of the matter."  Evelyn Waugh in Brideshead Revisited after Sebastian Flyte parties too much, throws up into an open window and passes out in the yard

Chessplayer, IMO it wasn't any single thing that you did in trying to seize the day, it was the mixture and the totality of all you did and ingested.  Post benzo withdrawal, 60+ age group, alcohol, MJ, Cialis, the heat, dehydration, trying to keep up with the 20 year old, the damn enchanting setting.  It seems to have been too much and passing out was the result.  Many a man has met their end this way and you would say "What a way to go!" and you might be right.  The trick is to enjoy all  life has to offer and go on to enjoy it another day too.  I think if you limit the combinations and permutations to one or two of the variables, you would be fine.  Don't give up your search for the good life, just moderate it a bit perhaps.

She

I think it was the Cialis (can cause low blood pressure) along with the Valsartan that you're taking (a blood pressure drug) along with a benzo reaction (not used to any other drugs in the system) along with the hot weather = dizzy, disoriented, feeling faint, ready to pass out.

And if you were nervous about impressing this girl, that would have added to everything.

"It was neither the quality nor the quantity that was at fault - it was the mixture.  Grasp that and you have the very root of the matter."  Evelyn Waugh in Brideshead Revisited after Sebastian Flyte parties too much, throws up into an open window and passes out in the yard

 

Chessplayer, IMO it wasn't any single thing that you did in trying to seize the day, it was the mixture and the totality of all you did and ingested.  Post benzo withdrawal, 60+ age group, alcohol, MJ, Cialis, the heat, dehydration, trying to keep up with the 20 year old, the damn enchanting setting.  It seems to have been too much and passing out was the result.  Many a man has met their end this way and you would say "What a way to go!" and you might be right.  The trick is to enjoy all  life has to offer and go on to enjoy it another day too.  I think if you limit the combinations and permutations to one or two of the variables, you would be fine.  Don't give up your search for the good life, just moderate it a bit perhaps.

 

She

For the record, she was 24, not 20 . Just so you don't think I was robbing the cradle

Seriously, thanks for your reply. I think you are 100% correct.

I think it was the Cialis (can cause low blood pressure) along with the Valsartan that you're taking (a blood pressure drug) along with a benzo reaction (not used to any other drugs in the system) along with the hot weather = dizzy, disoriented, feeling faint, ready to pass out.

 

And if you were nervous about impressing this girl, that would have added to everything.

Thanks, Terry. Boy, you do pay attention (Valsartan, correct). I think you are right.

BTW, though passing out may not be the best way to impress a girl (!), she was very sweet and stayed with me through the doctor visit and afterward took good care of me. "Night nurse", as that old Gregory Isaacs song goes...

If you are able, alcohol may be something you'd want to taper down. My father passed from colon cancer at 61. There was no history of cancer in the family. He started drinking as a teenager and never really tried to stop. I will never know for sure, but will always wonder about the role alcohol played in him developing colon cancer. It sure wasn't doing him any favors as far as his GI tract went.

As horrible as cancer is, I consider my father lucky in some ways, because he never really liked any prescription pills of any kind, so he was fortunate not to experience the horrors of benzo withdrawals in his life.

If you are able, alcohol may be something you'd want to taper down. [...]

Hmm, am I also going to get advice to stop gambling and to stop beating my wife? Because I don't do those things either.

I did have a couple of beers at that beach bar that afternoon. But in general I do not use alcohol on a regular basis. In fact I think the incident in question arose from doing a number of things I don't regularly do ...

If you are able, alcohol may be something you'd want to taper down. [...]

 

Hmm, am I also going to get advice to stop gambling and to stop beating my wife? Because I don't do those things either.

 

I did have a couple of beers at that beach bar that afternoon. But in general I do not use alcohol on a regular basis. In fact I think the incident in question arose from doing a number of things I don't regularly do ...

My father did not use alcohol on regular basis, either and he never drank alone. But he'd overdo it on quite a few social occasions, and there were many situations where he was so lucky to get out of relatively unscathed. Very, very lucky. He had a lot of friends that had his back. Yes, the stereotypes never really apply. He was an extrovert though, so his personality was very different from many people on this forum.

One thing I was also thinking about is that in hot weather bp pills work a little bit too much. You might have been very dehydrated. If you had some beers, that would have added to it. You could have been sweating a lot and didn't realize how much. Electrolytes could have gone out. I can't even go out when it's hot. I feel extra dizzy during those days.

I'm glad it worked out okay!!

I lost consciousness in many a benzo binge.

Painfully un losable these days.