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Dizziness

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 12:14 pm
by SSCBen
Some of you may have noticed I haven't been here for the past few days. I want to post an explanation before I disappear for potentially a longer time.

I work at a gas station on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. When I nearly was off work on Sunday, I started getting lightheaded and a little dizzy. The day before I gave blood without any consequence, so I thought it was odd that I was getting lightheaded now. When I got home, I passed out on the couch and woke up about an hour later. I woke up the dizziest I've ever been and I have been that way for the past 20 or so hours. If you ever rode a roller coaster repeatedly, you know the feeling when you get off... try having that feeling for 20+ hours straight. Most everything I've been doing in that time period has been lying down.

I am feeling somewhat better this morning, but it's not a complete recovery. We're going to see a doctor later today. My mother called the Red Cross about this to see if there was anything we could do, but the only thing they said was that this wasn't caused by giving blood the day before, which confuses the heck out of me even more than I already am because I have no idea what could be causing it.

I'm hoping when I go to the doctor, they give me a prescription for a similar condition like seasickness... I really can't stand this much longer.

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 1:30 pm
by totokan
Sucks, man. Hope ya' feel better. You say you were working at a gas station at the time, maybe there was a gas leak.

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 2:05 pm
by Silence
Hope things get better for you, Ben...this summer sounds like an important one. I'd normally trust the Red Cross, but who knows.

If you have a blood pressure measuring device at home, have somebody give it a try. I'd presume the pressure would be lowest right after donating the blood, but even if donating the blood wasn't the cause, you might still have low pressure for some reason or another.

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:53 pm
by Specter
it could also be caused by the gas fumes you are breathing in. just a suggestion. But anyways hope you feel better soon.

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 8:50 pm
by DX
I'd also venture a guess at gas fumes. It seems highly unlikely that you'd feel delayed effects from blood donation. Nibordude once got a massive headache from gluing a Douchenator, and it only took a couple minutes without proper ventilation. Fumes can have a strong effect rather quickly. Then again, I'm not a doctor, so it's just speculation. Hopefully it wears off soon. :cool:

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:06 pm
by Spinner
Yeah, petrol fumes were my initial suspicion as well. Either way, I'm sorry to hear of your current malady, and hope you recover soon.

Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 11:19 pm
by forestfighter7
That sucks. There is nothing worse than the feeling of dizziness/nausea. I have been nauseas for the past 5 months nonstop. I know how you feel. I also think it is probably the gas fumes that made you dizzy. :( I hope you feel better soon.

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:54 am
by SSCBen
I just went to a doctor. My blood pressure is fine. I didn't hear any exact numbers, but the nurse said "It definitely isn't blood pressure." They were concerned however with my paleness and took some more blood to get a red cell count. Those results won't be available until tomorrow sadly due to the late appointment time.

I doubt that gasoline fumes were the problem. The station is air conditioned and I hadn't smelt anything suspicious all day.

The doctor said hopefully it will go away and if it doesn't they'll see what they can do. With luck I'll be better tomorrow. I have been improving slowly throughout the day, though I still feel slightly dizzy and nauseous. Currently I can walk around nearly unimpaired. The problem right now is more of a headache and lightheaded feeling than anything else. I'll also have to admit I nearly feel as if there's some sort of "mental block" going on because I'm having trouble thinking sometimes. Oh well. The doctor didn't say this was anything serious, so I'm not worried.

Word trivia: I thought nauseous might have been spelled wrong and the spell check here was wrong, so I looked it up in Google. Turns out I feel nauseated, not nauseous. I don't care either way it is said, but I thought that was pretty interesting.

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:05 pm
by SSCBen
I seem to have made a complete recovery today. Yesterday I was better for the most part, however I had become dizzy on a few occasions when I tired myself out. I suppose I'll have to take it easy for a few more days to prevent that again. ;)

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:41 pm
by Silence
That's a relief! I see you're posting a bit more now, which is certainly a good sign. Still..."occaisons" and "eazy"? :)

Interesting find about nauseated though. The link even mentions there is a proper use for "nauseous"...weird.

Anyway, I hope this isn't a recurring problem. :cool:

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:52 pm
by SSCBen
Yeah, I noticed those errors after reading my post and fixed them. Okay, perhaps it's not a complete recovery yet! But I do feel a lot better.

This shouldn't be a recurring problem. Those who suffer from chronic dizziness from what I know don't start just one day and continue. They have it all of their life sadly.

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 6:30 pm
by forestfighter7
Ben wrote: Those who suffer from chronic dizziness from what I know don't start just one day and continue.
Well, I have had chronic nausea for 5 months starting exactly on June 12. Of course, nausea and dizziness are 2 mostly different things, but they are pretty similar.

It's great that you are feeling better. That sure is a relief.