How I ended up in the hospital in rural Virginia, far, far from home.

[wolfman]

Reading Your symptoms I was reminded of times when I had Heat exhaustion, and altitude sickness.

The same things(except the altitude sickness gave me a screaming headache from hell as well.)

Just a kind of vague unwellness, that quickly escalates into a an all-consuming shitty from the core horribleness that has no location and no physical control left. I started panicking and thinking I was gonna was gonna die, and I had no idea what from. Like I caught some sort of two-hour fatal Ebola in the middle of Iowa.

I guess the body has only one basic shutdown protocol when something it needs isn’t there anymore.

[Ann_Onimous]

@Ogre

I pulled over near the Natural Bridge exit, and they ended up taking me to Lexington. Nice folks in Lexington.

Most definitely! Great hospitals in Lexington. Next time you’re through there (and not dehydrated) stop at Joe Bologna’s.

Glad you’re feeling much better!

[may_be_ignorant]

@Autolycus

If it makes you feel any better, I think your stories are always entertaining, even the bad ones. (Perhaps especially those?)… I kid I kid! Seriously though, how did you not get one helluva dry-mouth or feel faint, or something, before it reached that point? I feel weak-as-shit if I go even 12 hours without adequate hydration. **It’s a testament to your testicular fortitude that you pushed yourself to the point of dying before realizing what a state you were in **

Awesome.

[YogSothoth]

Here’s something I’ve always wondered when someone gets taken to a hospital while they’re on the road: What happened to your car? Do they tow it and tell you where to pick it up later? Do they even bother to lock it? Leave it on the side of the road? Can you tell them to tow it to the hospital?

[LouisB]

Been there; done that. I wish I could describe the symptoms as well as you but the diagnosis was the same. It’s a scary thing; I didn’t feel thirsty either. Glad you’re okay now.

[Ogre]

@YogSosoth

Here’s something I’ve always wondered when someone gets taken to a hospital while they’re on the road: What happened to your car? Do they tow it and tell you where to pick it up later? Do they even bother to lock it? Leave it on the side of the road? Can you tell them to tow it to the hospital?

Check post 14. Basically, they towed it to an impound. I had to catch a ride out to it later.

[Broomstick]

Just two things:

1. I’m one of those Samaritans who calls in stuff to 911 that I see happen on freeways. It’s really the only time I use a cellphone when driving (and only if I feel it’s safe enough to do so). I’m happy to hear I’m not the only one, and I sincerely hope we’re plentiful out there. The young’uns have no clue what it was like before cellphones. These days, even if you can’t make the call there’s a good chance someone else did and help is on the way.

2. I seldom feel thirsty, so I’m at risk for dehydration. On long trips I bring water with me in the car and make a point to stop regularly to both drink and pee. If the pee diminishes then I drink even more. At least half of what I drink must be plain water.

And finally - I’m glad you’re OK. Yes, dehydration can sneak up on you and it can mess you up that bad.

[user_hostile]

Wow, Ogre, that’s a great story. I’m glad you didn’t get into a wreck. Your symptoms are something to file for future reference since I exercise in hot weather. I use to commute on I-81 from Roanoke to Front Royal (and then on to Dulles via I-66). Beautiful commute, did not have the hate it had for you, just the hugh amount of time–this was a round trip I did from NC once a week for years.

When I flew to Baikonur, it was a twenty-two hour flight with two stops-- I drank 6 bottles Newcastle Brown Ale and two water bottles during the trip. I didn’t urinate till an hour before landing and it wasn’t all that much. I’ve never had that happen before or since. I thought at first my kidneys had shut down, but I’m not sure what kind of climate control they have on an Ant-124; perhaps they were prepping us for the humidity of the great Kazakh desert steppes. Post-hydration therapy consisted of gallons of Baltika Five along with a lot of bottled water (plus three baby aspirin before bed).

***Baltika Five--when in oblivion, we'll keep you there.***

                   (The official beer of  US launch teams)

[Motorgirl]

The hospital diagnosed you with dehydration because they didn’t know how to recognize the signs of acute Wegmans withdrawal.

[evilbeth]

Glad you’re okay. That story could have turned out way worse than it did.

I experienced my first and only bout of severe dehydration earlier this year with a bowel obstruction. Of all the kinds of sick I have ever been, that is the top of my list of ones to never, ever repeat.

[a35362]

Ogre, what happened with your wife? Did she hear your phone message before anything else? (The hospital must have called, right?)

And are you going to stop smoking now, and eat better, and lose weight, and all that?

[pravnik]

Sorry for your scare, but super glad your story had a happy ending. As frightening as that was, you really can’t hope for a better outcome than hearing “It’s treatable. You need water.”

[The_Hamster_King]

@Hello_Again

I don’t know the medical reason for this (or if there is one, or maybe a psychological reason), but having experienced a few people who were definitely overheated and dehydrated, they all INSISTED they were not thirsty whatsoever.

I didn’t get as far gone as Ogre, but I flirted with dangerous dehydration on a desert hike once. The air was so dry that I didn’t realize how much water I was losing. I didn’t feel hot, or particularly thirsty, just light-headed and wobbly. Fortunately one of my hiking buddies realized instantly what was going on and got me to sit down in the shadow of a boulder and spend 20 minutes rehydrating. If I’d been alone I easily could have kept walking without knowing the danger until I got myself in serious trouble.

[drastic_quench]

This is why I love my Nalgene bottles. I drink at least two of them daily. I used to let myself get way too dehydrated in college, and I didn’t know why I felt so shitty. I am still surprised at how much better I feel by drinking 64 fl oz of water a day in addition to whatever else I’m having - coffee, beer, etc. It really does make a difference.