Seriously! I thought I was having a stroke!

[IRGuy]

Having spent a good deal of my career working in rather hazardous industries (chemical and nuclear materials processing) I try to spread the word about safety whenever I think it might benefit someone. If I err, I try to err on the side of being overly cautious and I may say too much, rather than too little. Some of you might already feel that after reading my posts over the past few years.

Last week something happened to me that scared the living hell out of me! It could happen to any of you, or someone in your presence. Throughout my life I have thankfully enjoyed good health, but last Saturday I thought the world was crashing down on me like a ton of bricks. I thought I was going to die!

Within the space of half an hour I went from feeling normal to being very light headed, I lost almost all control of my arms and legs, I began to sweat profusely from every single pore in my body, I felt cold, and my arms and hands went numb. I was extremely nauseous.

From the first aid course I took to get my captain’s license I thought I recalled these were the signs of someone having a stroke.

Rather than taking a chance to be a dead hero I decided to have my wife take me to the hospital. They poked and prodded me, asked a bunch of questions, took blood samples, did a chest X-ray and who knows what else. After about an hour (the longest hour of my life!) they told me I was not having a stroke or heart attack.. they finally concluded I had a very severe case of food poisoning.

This episode caused me to spend some time on the internet investigating how a layman could know if he or someone else was having a stroke. Here is what I found…

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Doctors have said in the past a bystander can recognize that a person has had a stroke by asking three simple questions:

Remember the first three letters.....
S T R

S Ask the person to SMILE.
T (Talk) Ask the person to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE
(such as “I like chicken soup”)
R Ask the person to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

Now there is a new sign of a stroke…

Ask the person to STICK OUT THEIR TONGUE!

If the tongue is 'crooked'… if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency services immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. They may be having a stroke, and you may be the one to save them from severe brain damage.. or you may even save their life!

[Charlie J]

frank
glad to hear your ok, scarry

[CaptPatrick]

Frank, thanks! Glad you're OK...

[Harry Babb]

Thanks for sharing Frank.

That's good info.....Really glad you are okay

hb

[Capt.Frank]

Frank glade you are OK. You are correct with knowing the signs of a stroke early. There are a few new meds they can give to you at the hospital to cancel the effects of strokes. The key is early treatment. Being a fireman I know of a few people that got treatment early and have no effects from the stroke truly amazing.

[CamB25]

Frank - What did you eat to have such a severe reaction?

[bob lico]

Some years back working on a house under construction I received a phone call so I hop up on the kitchen counter while sitting I felt dizzy for a split second and did not even have time to get off counter I past out and fell to the floor.i woke up with one of my men trying to shake me . As it turn out I had KFC for lunch ! i. can never imagine food poisoning hitting so fast that I could not at least sit on floor and call for help.thank God I was not driving a car,boat.you never know and cannot prepare for something like that.Frank we both made it out without scratch!

[Rawleigh]

Bet you never thought you would be glad you had food poisoning did you Frank!! Glad you are OK. I had no idea that food poisoning came on that quickly or that those were the symptoms. I always thought it was just nausea and diarrhea!

[IRGuy]

Thanks guys for all the kind words.

Yes.. this thing hit me all of a sudden.. and after about 90 minutes it went away rather quickly. And yes.. All possibilities considered, I was happy to have food poisoning.

Bob.. We dodged a bullet.. our symptoms were similar.. probably I ate more bad stuff or at least worse stuff than you did, so mine were more severe.

I will confess that looking back on the situation I was stupid. No.. my wife is a great cook, and she says she wasn't trying to kill me.. it wasn't anything to do with her.

Looking back, here is what led up to my incident...

I had been working in my shop most of the day on stuff for the boat. I had the overhead door open, and the day was hot. On days like this I often go into my adjacent garage and crack open a beer from the refridgerator there.. taking sips of it throughout the afternoon to quench my thirst. I had about a third of the bottle left when my wife called me and asked if I would do some meat on the grill.. so I put everything away and washed up. I downed the rest of the beer, and felt a little hungry, since I had skipped lunch. Looking in the fridge door next to the beers there I saw a single pickled sausage package I had put there.. maybe as much as 4-6 months ago. The kind that is about as long and fat as your finger.. "sealed" in a tube. They sell these things often next to the cash registers in convenience stores. I opened it and it smelled OK, but I noticed the red liquid that usually surrunds the sausage was gone.. but the sausage was moist.. so I ate it. Apparently either there was a pinhole leak in the package or somehow over time the liquid had evaporated through, but whatever happened, the thing was a food poisoning bomb! Two hours after I ate it my incident stared!

I will never even think of eating another of these lethal time bombs again!

[CamB25]

Oh my...old, pre-packaged, mystery meat from 7-11!!!

[IRGuy]

Cam.. Yes.. some kind of mystery meat. I guess I am a mere mortal after all!

When are you coming back down? If you wait another month or so Charlie J can join us for lunch.

[Gert van Leest]

Frank, thanks! Glad you're OK... Gert

[Mikey]

Frank,
Glad you posted the S.M.I.L.E. routine. I serve on the Board of our local hospital and we are just getting stroke certification. Only a handful of hospitals have this training (not encouraging, huh?) but because we serve four of the five oldest populations in the State we felt the necessity. First day it paid dividends and the patient is alive and recovering nicely, thank you.
The other thing is I belong to a men's club whose membership is more seniors that younger guys. We just installed an automatic defibrillator. If we have a suspected heart incident this machine not only can do the deed it guides the panicky bystanders through the procedure. It was less than two grand and just seeing it standing vigil over the out-of-control members gives us a feeling of security.
Glad your outcome was good.

[Rawleigh]

Just keep it out of the hands of the drunks Mikey! I know a lot of your members!! LOL!!

[IRGuy]

Thanks Gert and Mikey

I wasn't going to say anything about my incident, but when I found the info on the stroke symptoms and tests I thought that any of us could either have a stroke or be present when someone else did. and the tests are so simple everyone could remember them. Add the fact that we all go out in our boats where there are no readily available doctors or nurses to take over and I decided to spread the word. Having been through what I did I would hate to know someone else here had or witnessed a similar experience to mine but didn't know what was happening or how to decide what to tell medical assistance personnel because I didn't take the time to post the tests.

As the saying goes.. if only one person is saved because of what I learned and posted, that would be a tremendous reward.

[Morning Wood]

Glad you are all right.

[CamB25]

Frank - I'll be in town 6/20 - 6/24, sometime around the 4th, and then it gets fuzzy...I would love to see your Bertram in the water. Mine has been on dry land for so long that it's growing legs and is starting to eat red meat (after it consumed my wallet). It's resting comfortably (and cheaply) at the Lost Sailor boat shed on my land up in Pender county.

Maybe I'll run the whaler down to your place next time?\

Cam