I forget where exactly the dosage calculation got screwed up but it was also one of those things where I wasn’t feeling it yet so I took more and when it finally kicked in I was fucked. I felt my blood pressure drop (and verified it actually, my anxiety med is also a blood pressure med after all) and wound up calling an ambulance. It turned out I didn’t need the ambulance for the blood pressure but just because I probably would have aspirated my puke.
I remember thinking every single thought possible and them branching out infinitely from each individual one of those and also thinking the opposite of them all at the same time. I was convinced I was somehow aware that I was having a seizure (which like, isn’t a thing). I remember feeling like that bit in 2001 A Space Odyssey where he goes through the monolith like I was being dragged across the universe by a rope around my neck. Then I got thrown into whatever that thing bender was talking to was in the Godfellas episode of futurama.
Then I woke up in the ER having been propped up over the siderail of a stretcher over a bucket full of puke with IV fluids running. 2/5 stars. I’d give it less but I’m pretty sure I met god and I’d hate to be rude. It was a lot less nice than the time I passed out on my first day of work, although I don’t remember much of the unconscious period of that one either.
ok final story; I have to get some sleep at some point.
my very first healthcare job was as a phlebotomist going around room to room in the hospital collecting blood samples. So possibly one of the few jobs on their feet as much or even more than the nurses. But I didn’t really understand how hospitals were laid out yet so I had just been trying to keep my eyes out for a water fountain and just couldn’t seem to find one. So I got a little dizzy but figured we’d go for lunch or something soon so I’d just push through.
Finally I was starting to get real dizzy though so I went and asked a nurse for some water and she was like “oh, you mean the nutrition room!” and pointed it out in the nurses station. So I turned and looked where she was pointing, then looked back, and the world narrowed into a pinpoint and disappeared. I vaguely and briefly remember walking on a beach and talking to someone at this point, but I don’t remember who it was or what was said.
Then I woke up sitting in a rolly chair with like ten people around me and I couldn’t move my mouth because my lips were completely numb. Somebody took my blood sugar and it was fine, but also I got really nauseous suddenly and I wanted to warn them but I couldn’t speak. But then I gagged a little and there was an eme-bag under my face SO fast.
Anyway at that point a stretcher showed up and some lady introduced herself to me as the intensivist and they started wheeling me down to the ER and the only word I was finally able to get out was nooooooooo and she was like “oh yes honey, we’re definitely going to the ER.” And then my supervisor (my brand new supervisor, this was my FIRST. DAY.) came down while I was still puking everywhere and helped clean my puke off me.
pretty much, yeah. there’s not much else to say! I didn’t stay at that job long but it was less to do with that in particular and more it was ultimately just because it wasn’t meant to be.
I remember thinking every single thought possible and them branching out infinitely from each individual one of those and also thinking the opposite of them all at the same time.
I ate a bunch of caffeine pills once. Between bouts of intense nausea I remember being in bed, feeling distinctly like a giant rectangular slab of jello, with my emotions and memories being little pockets of jelly suspended in my form.
I forget where exactly the dosage calculation got screwed up but it was also one of those things where I wasn’t feeling it yet so I took more and when it finally kicked in I was fucked. I felt my blood pressure drop (and verified it actually, my anxiety med is also a blood pressure med after all) and wound up calling an ambulance. It turned out I didn’t need the ambulance for the blood pressure but just because I probably would have aspirated my puke.
I remember thinking every single thought possible and them branching out infinitely from each individual one of those and also thinking the opposite of them all at the same time. I was convinced I was somehow aware that I was having a seizure (which like, isn’t a thing). I remember feeling like that bit in 2001 A Space Odyssey where he goes through the monolith like I was being dragged across the universe by a rope around my neck. Then I got thrown into whatever that thing bender was talking to was in the Godfellas episode of futurama.
Then I woke up in the ER having been propped up over the siderail of a stretcher over a bucket full of puke with IV fluids running. 2/5 stars. I’d give it less but I’m pretty sure I met god and I’d hate to be rude. It was a lot less nice than the time I passed out on my first day of work, although I don’t remember much of the unconscious period of that one either.
Please, continue.
ok final story; I have to get some sleep at some point.
my very first healthcare job was as a phlebotomist going around room to room in the hospital collecting blood samples. So possibly one of the few jobs on their feet as much or even more than the nurses. But I didn’t really understand how hospitals were laid out yet so I had just been trying to keep my eyes out for a water fountain and just couldn’t seem to find one. So I got a little dizzy but figured we’d go for lunch or something soon so I’d just push through.
Finally I was starting to get real dizzy though so I went and asked a nurse for some water and she was like “oh, you mean the nutrition room!” and pointed it out in the nurses station. So I turned and looked where she was pointing, then looked back, and the world narrowed into a pinpoint and disappeared. I vaguely and briefly remember walking on a beach and talking to someone at this point, but I don’t remember who it was or what was said.
Then I woke up sitting in a rolly chair with like ten people around me and I couldn’t move my mouth because my lips were completely numb. Somebody took my blood sugar and it was fine, but also I got really nauseous suddenly and I wanted to warn them but I couldn’t speak. But then I gagged a little and there was an eme-bag under my face SO fast.
Anyway at that point a stretcher showed up and some lady introduced herself to me as the intensivist and they started wheeling me down to the ER and the only word I was finally able to get out was nooooooooo and she was like “oh yes honey, we’re definitely going to the ER.” And then my supervisor (my brand new supervisor, this was my FIRST. DAY.) came down while I was still puking everywhere and helped clean my puke off me.
The end!
What was the fallout afterwards? Did they just say “you need to stay hydrated,” or what?
pretty much, yeah. there’s not much else to say! I didn’t stay at that job long but it was less to do with that in particular and more it was ultimately just because it wasn’t meant to be.
I ate a bunch of caffeine pills once. Between bouts of intense nausea I remember being in bed, feeling distinctly like a giant rectangular slab of jello, with my emotions and memories being little pockets of jelly suspended in my form.