On the Bright Side...

[kyra_ojosverdes]

... I know exactly what to do for a broken toe. This is good, see, because given the swelling, bruising, and pain, I'm reasonably sure I just re-broke mine.

Ow.

Comments

[polymorphously.livejournal.com]

My right big toe is the only bone I've ever broken.

It sucks!

[kyra-ojosverdes.livejournal.com]

I broke my right clavicle in 1999. That was very painful. It took a while (I have no idea how long but it seemed like forever) before I could even inhale, the pain was so bad. Then I was partly distracted from the pain by the auditory and visual hallucinations I had from landing on my head (yay bike helmets). The hallucinations were very interesting. :-)

[ivy]

Wow, I've broken foot bones and ribs before, but never anything that was hallucinatey pain. (Codeine hallucinations from Tylenol-3, sure, but not just from getting kerwhacked.)

Sorry about your toe.

[kyra-ojosverdes.livejournal.com]

The hallucinations were from landing on my head at roughly 45mph. The bike helmet was a sight to behold... and the reason I broke my collarbone instead of my neck. I saw spots and stars for about 30 minutes, and could hear my friend (who was biking with me and drove me to the clinic) telling me, between checking on how I was, about her son and his friend walking up the wall and blowing bubblegum pizzas on the ceiling. I was reasonably sure that said friend would not actually say this and that my mind must be manufacturing it in the same way it was manufacturing the swirly spots and glittery lights, but wow. That was fascinating. And really helped distract from the pain. *grin*

[ivy]

Neurology is fascinating. Yeah, very much a WTF kind of moment. [grin] I have similar mechanisms for trying to figure out what's real and what's not when my blood sugar is screwed up. I've gotten reasonable at it, but the only time I really failed badly was when trying to convince my former boss that no, really, I did need to leave work and go to the hospital. We were really understaffed that day, and he didn't want me to leave. In frustration, I said, "No, really, you don't understand. I need to GO. The coffee pot is talking to me and telling me how to fix the router. That's not real. I need to go to the hospital." He looked at me and said, "What coffee pot?" Doh. He did let me go, but made me get drug tested, and shortly after that I got fired for missing too many days of work. !@#$%^&(*&^%^$.

[kyra-ojosverdes.livejournal.com]

Yikes... on the coffeepot and the boss who can't deal with reality testing procedures!

I've had visual hallucinations when my depression got really bad. (I have this special scale I use for my own depression, see, and "really bad" means that if you ask me how I'm doing, I laugh at you in what I'm told is a fairly disturbing manner...)

"The furniture and wall are melting into each other. I am reasonably sure that this behavior is inconsistent with the nature of both the furniture and the wall, but it is right there and they are obviously melting into each other. Oh, and I'm melting into the sofa, which presents a more immediate problem. Hrm. Okay, back to 'what I commonly accept to be true about the nature of matter.' I do not lose definition at my edges and seep into furniture. Furniture does not seep into me. Maybe I should go for a walk or something. Um, apparently I can't move. Okay, I'm fairly certain that the paralysis is not in fact because I'm seeping into the sofa, but is attributable to the same thing which is causing me to see and feel things which are not actually happening. I hope. A lot."

(I also have to do reality testing at night before going to the bathroom, because, well, I have really realistic dreams...)

Gad, neurology. What fun!