My son passes out without much warning every once in a blue moon. We have no idea why other than it is sometimes preceded by some sort of sudden pain. I can tell you: it scares the hell out of me!! He knows that if he feels lightheaded, gets that cold sweat, or whatever, to immediately lie down. This summer he had to lie down at work in the middle of the kitchen of the restaurant he was working. And he still passed out. Freaked everyone out!
Oh man, I know how he feels. As far as I know, mine can mostly be attributed to my relatively low blood pressure. It’s still in the normal range, but on the low end. That combined with the vasovagal syncope response, I go dark easily. Basically it means when something happens to me, which can be things like pain as you mentioned with your son, my body pays too much attention to that area and not enough to my brain. And you know the rest of the story. Laying down is pretty much the best (and maybe only?) way to manage it. It’s not fun but I have to say I’ve been extremely lucky health-wise other than this issue. I hope for all the best for your son (and you!).
Lyle, I'm so glad you had time off with your brother, and that you're reminding all of us again, to be awake in the present, being present and aware, because that's all there is. So right to close out with doing the things because when else are we?
"But through my experiences with the unconscious, I’ve come to believe that there’s nothing beyond our conscious lives."
Yeah, I agree, from a similar experience. One time in college I was hungry and exhausted and fell asleep / passed out in a library waiting for class to start. I woke up several hours later and realized that I had no dreams, no sensations, no thoughts, nothing -- pure nothingness, not even black or closed-eye nothingness but pure absence -- the blindness of the area behind your head, you don't see "black" at the edge of vision, vision just ceases to be part of reality.
I had always been kinda atheistic but that experience really landed for me that death isn't worth worrying about. It's not even painless, it's absent any register of pain to painlessness. It'll feel and be just like how your life felt and was before you were born.
Not to knock on life. Life's pretty fucking cool. I like life. And there's the whole, I may not mind death but my loved ones will have pain if I die thing. I'm not a nihilist. I just firmly know that dying is not worth worrying about.
Insightful Lyle, hope you and the fam are well. Did Allison take a pause from writing? Not finding anything recent. Thanks again for all your work
Yeah, she did pause for now. She’s had a lot going on recently but she’s doing well and will publish more in the future.
I'm sorry to hear this. It must be incredibly frightening!
It can be, for sure. Thanks, Dorie ❤️
My son passes out without much warning every once in a blue moon. We have no idea why other than it is sometimes preceded by some sort of sudden pain. I can tell you: it scares the hell out of me!! He knows that if he feels lightheaded, gets that cold sweat, or whatever, to immediately lie down. This summer he had to lie down at work in the middle of the kitchen of the restaurant he was working. And he still passed out. Freaked everyone out!
Oh man, I know how he feels. As far as I know, mine can mostly be attributed to my relatively low blood pressure. It’s still in the normal range, but on the low end. That combined with the vasovagal syncope response, I go dark easily. Basically it means when something happens to me, which can be things like pain as you mentioned with your son, my body pays too much attention to that area and not enough to my brain. And you know the rest of the story. Laying down is pretty much the best (and maybe only?) way to manage it. It’s not fun but I have to say I’ve been extremely lucky health-wise other than this issue. I hope for all the best for your son (and you!).
Lyle, I'm so glad you had time off with your brother, and that you're reminding all of us again, to be awake in the present, being present and aware, because that's all there is. So right to close out with doing the things because when else are we?
Thanks, Edward! Been enjoying your writing, by the way.
"But through my experiences with the unconscious, I’ve come to believe that there’s nothing beyond our conscious lives."
Yeah, I agree, from a similar experience. One time in college I was hungry and exhausted and fell asleep / passed out in a library waiting for class to start. I woke up several hours later and realized that I had no dreams, no sensations, no thoughts, nothing -- pure nothingness, not even black or closed-eye nothingness but pure absence -- the blindness of the area behind your head, you don't see "black" at the edge of vision, vision just ceases to be part of reality.
I had always been kinda atheistic but that experience really landed for me that death isn't worth worrying about. It's not even painless, it's absent any register of pain to painlessness. It'll feel and be just like how your life felt and was before you were born.
Not to knock on life. Life's pretty fucking cool. I like life. And there's the whole, I may not mind death but my loved ones will have pain if I die thing. I'm not a nihilist. I just firmly know that dying is not worth worrying about.
I agree, DB. Life is pretty fucking cool!