Feeling stoned without drugs?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was gonna put this in GQ, but what can I say…I like you guys better! :smiley:

Okay, so I spent last night with my boyfriend in ER. Why? Because, well, he wasn’t himself. His short term memory was shot; this man I love, who abhors redundancy, made the same comments over and over again and didn’t realize it. One comment was repeated four times in a ten minute phone conversation, then two more times when I met with him in person about fifteen minutes following. It was said like a new idea each time. He’d called me concerned for his peculiar mental state and I said I was coming over; when I showed, he said, “Hey baby!..Oh…yeah…you were coming over.” He’d forgotten.

He described himself as having that feeling when you are suddenly awakened from a vivid dream–unsure as to whether or not he was awake, what was real and what was dreamed. When he tried to take a nap to “sleep it off,” it only intensified the disorientation.

ER did blood and urine tests and a CAT scan; all were normal. By midnight (when we left), he was feeling his normal self. But for about 4 hours, he was most certainly NOT. I’ve never seen him like this–and I’ve known him for 8 years.

FWIW: He does not drink, do drugs, smoke, or sleep around. (Well, except with me. :wink: ) His only allergy is ampicillin. He is a very healthy individual who generally avoids doctors unless absolutely necessary (twice in two years, maybe). The fact that he felt a need to go to the doc was alarming enough for me. He’d had plenty of sleep the night before, had nothing unusual to eat, and takes no medications/prescriptions whatsoever.

We both think it sounds like a narcotic–but what? Where? How? He hates feeling out of control–recreational drugs do NOT appeal to him in the least. The only thing he could think of was a student (he teaches 6-8 grade music, with several hoodlums-in-training as students) slipping something in his water. Still, his symptoms showed at 4pm–more than three hours after his last contact with students. His cup didn’t look suspicious, but who knows. We don’t want to assume the worst of the kids, anyway.

Does anyone have any similar experiences, any anything they can relate? He is completely bewildered by this, as am I. Any input would thrill us both!

2

Those symptoms could be rophynol or “rophy” (pronounced “roofie”). Its a sedative/hypnotic and causes short term memory loss and disorientation. I tried it once and my experience sound similar to what he went through- except for the hospital part.

3

Did he happen to have an EEG done at the hospital? What he was experiencing sounds like maybe a series of petit-mal epileptic seizures. I’m epileptic myself, and I’ve had similar experiences.

I wouldn’t completely rule out the drug thing, though. If that’s what it was, I hope they really nail the kid that did it.

4

Did the hospital check his blood sugar level? I’m thinking possibly some kind of diabetic stupor? Blood sugar levels in a diabetic are known to rise and fall rapidly. Maybe he should take a fasting diabetes test. I’m no doctor; however, it’s just a suggestion.

5

No, no EEG was done. He has no history of epilepsy or seizures, but still, it’s something to watch for.

I believe they checked his blood sugar level, although I don’t know for sure. I think they did standard blood panels, which includes drug screens as well as blood sugar. I think. Bah, I’m no doc. Still, he hadn’t starved or gorged himself on anything; in fact, as the evening progressed, he felt better despite eating nothing.

He’s fine now. Yay. I’m going to send him a link to this thread page, so he’ll silently lurk, too.

::::Jaws theme in background:::

6

My guess is that it was a “confusional migraine.” This is a medical term for an occurrence of the symptoms you describe, with no apparent underlying cause.

Yeah, I know it doesn’t explain anything, but that’s how doctors talk when they don’t know what caused something. I’m told that for a one-time occurrence, all the docs can do is say “shit happens” and hope it never turns up again. (Quite often, this is exactly the case.)

Of course I don’t fit in; I’m part of a better puzzle.

7

My father is an epileptic and he describes some of the same symptoms. His has been under control for a decade or so now but his first experiences with it didn’t come until his 20’s or 30’s. I would suggest being watchful of him though. When my dad was at his worst he would just fall over out of a chair and once when we were working in the barn just fell over from a standing position. He said he usually got a feeling of deja vu whenever an episode was about to start so you might want to ask your SO if he felt that way.

8

This sounds like a serious medical problem and should be treated as such. Keep a close eye on him and be ready to drag him back to the ER.
Don’t be distracted by the national “drug-crazed teenaged zombies rule our schools” hysteria.
Hell, bag the cup and keep it as evidence, but completely eliminate the medical explanations first.

9

I concur with Don & the others – this sounds like your BF had a ‘minor’ stroke! An EEG would certainly seem to be called for.