so, what happened last night?

i made it to ferndale a few minutes after 22:00, thinking the headliner would be on between 22:00 and 23:00. i know it was a wednesday, but i've still never seen a headlining band come on at 21:00, anywhere, ever.

they were done by 22:00; people were walking out as i was walking in.

so, what do you do after you bike an hour to get to a show and find out you missed it because it's absurdly early? i guess you either go home or you find something else to do, and i didn't want to go right home, so i went to hamtramck to catch the tail end of the show there. it's less surprising that they were finishing up when i got there around 23:00. 

i decided to catch a quick beer at a local techno spot and head home. that turned into a big beer, and eventually into being offered a taste of marijuana as a gift. i didn't finish that big beer until around 00:30, and realized quickly i was hanging out for the night.

so, i got another beer and went to the washroom, and quickly noticed that my thumb was bleeding. there is no cut on the thumb; rather, the blood was spurting out of my finger nail, like a blood vessel burst. somewhat baffled, i grabbed a little piece of toilet paper and went back outside to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. i don't know why my thumb was bleeding, but it seemed to be bleeding from the inside rather than the outside.

after sitting for a few moments, i started getting a little bit light-headed from the pot, which is fairly normal for me. i know that the way to deal with this is to sit still for a few minutes and let it pass; i know i'll be fine, soon. why does this happen to me? do i have a marijuana allergy? is it just low tolerance? is it dose dependent, and a consequence of relying on gifts (is the issue not having control over dosage)? i think i should start to get a better understanding of this.

so, i was sitting still, waiting for the intense part of the high to pass, when i fainted, and fell to a concrete floor, where i landed hard on my right side. i have substantive bruising on both my arm and my head.

i am certain that i fainted and fell, that this is what actually happened and not a gloss over some other event. i remember falling, and losing consciousness before i hit the floor; i then remember quickly regaining consciousness and jumping right back up again. so, i seem to have lost a small amount of time between the point that i fainted and the point that i got up.

i do not remember seizing; i'm told i was experiencing one.

let's recall. i took a pass on a j, then my thumb is randomly bleeding and i'm feeling light-headed so i sit down. i then faint, and fall over; i either went into a seizure as a consequence of hitting my head, or a i fainted for the purposes of having a seizure. i know i lost consciousness before i actually fell over.

i felt great immediately before this. in fact, i had just finished bicycling upwards of 15 miles, so i was feeling a pretty strong post-exercise natural high. i was not experiencing headaches, i wasn't tired, i wasn't sick.

the trigger was clearly the pot, and i'm left to wonder if the bleeding thumb isn't evidence that i accidentally inhaled some kind of upper, but i'm increasingly wondering if there's an underlying condition that i need to take seriously.

i was refused further service at that point, and while i had only had two beers and do not believe that the beer was a cause of the fainting or the seizure, i can hardly blame the bartender. so, i got another beer at a different bar down the street, then found myself talking with some people in the park until 5:00.

i stopped at the emergency room for observation on the way home, and just talked briefly to a nurse about the possibilities of a concussion. i was not having difficulty recalling information. my head did not hurt. i was not vomiting. my pupils were fine. so, i went home without seeing the doctor. i just needed somebody to tell me i'm ok....

not the best night, even if it worked out ok in the end.

and, how do i feel?

well, i got some rest. i'm a little tired from 20 miles of biking yesterday, and experiencing a bit of a pot hangover. i'm not vomiting. no headaches. no seizures, yet.

this is not the first neurological event i've experienced, and what i've tied previous events to is the combination of smoking (anything) on an empty stomach. these events are rare, and it's been years now since the last one, but it's not completely out of nowhere. this is the first time i've experienced any kind of injury from it, and i think it's partly because it's been so long that i forgot about it. in the past, i may have sat myself closer to the floor when i felt it coming on, rather then bend over on a bench. a part of the reason i fell over is due to the awkward way i was sitting.

so, i can't explain exactly what happened, but i can point out that it was triggered by the pot, may have had something to do with a lack of recent eating or lack of sleep, has happened before and doesn't appear to have long lasting effects. i just hope the bump on my head clears up soon; otherwise, i may be in for the weekend for that reason.

the event was at 1:00 am on thursday morning. i had last eaten around 7:00 am on wednesday morning. while i didn't feel particularly hungry, i think the direct takeaway is to ensure that i have something - even a piece of bread - in my stomach before i go out partying. and, in fact, i'm usually pretty good about this; i wasn't expecting to end up in a bar overnight last night, i was expecting to hit the show and catch the last bus home. i don't know the mechanism, but i've at least determined the correlation. i was a little sloppy, and need to be more conscious about it.