I left work, tired but eager to get home, a bit hungry and very thirsty. I had a fresh bottle of Pepsi with me, but didn’t want sweet. There was a bottle of water in the cupholder, with just a little left in it…uncapped, and been there for a day or two, but it is snowing and it was cold and wet and I drank it without really thinking too much about it…and it tasted funny…sort of cherry-flavored. I looked at the bottle to see if somehow my daughter had left a flavored water there the other day, but no, it was plain water. I smelled it, didn’t smell or see anything odd, and figured it was my imagination, and took the last sip.
Within about a minutes I felt drunk. really drunk. My lips were tingling, my hearing sort of became muted, and I really had to focus on driving. Did I mention I was driving at the time? Now, I had a gastric bypass, so I’m used to alcohol hitting hard and fast…but I hadn’t drunk any! I had a small bag of flavorings in the car that someone had given me, and one was cherry. I thought perhaps my son, who had been looking at the bag the other day, had decided to put a few drops in the bottle to see what it tasted like, and not told me, and that I was reacting to the alcohol in that. So I called him and asked…I had trouble making a coherent sentence. But I really didn’t feel as drunk as I feel when I drink…I just really had to focus. He told me to concentrate and just get home safe.
I decided I’d better dilute whatever was happening to me, and I reached for my Pepsi, and found an orange in my bag. I devoured it…and the half a turkey sandwich, which tasted…more bland than usual. Then I started chugging the Pepsi. By the time I got home, I was feeling better, and within a half hour the numbness in my lips wore off, my hearing returned to normal, and I felt fine again.
I hadn’t taken any medication for my blood pressure for hours. I’m been battling my bowels all day, and had eaten too much sugar earlier in the day (talk about self-medicating!) but that effect had worn off. The symptoms came on so fast after drinking that water, it had to be that. Could bacteria have grown in there and made me ill? It was just water, and it didn’t look or smell funky…just tasted like cherry, vaguely.
Any ideas?