Mysteries regarding consciousness locale and mindbodyspirit integration, separation, and reintegration
The author on the morning after falling losing consciousness.
Lost consciousness and smashed my face into a railing of wood, metal, and concrete. The rest of the body hit the floor hard. This ugly fall happened on a Saturday afternoon in the Downtown Seattle store where I work. Was the 15th of March 2025, the day before my oldest daughter’s birthday and five days after I had periodontal surgery under heavy sedation with dental implants and bone grafts. My Dysautonomia Complex, which I have been struggling with since the late 1980s, had flared up yet again. Also was recently discovered I may have some degree of HCM or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. For the entire rest of the day my sense of consciousness felt bifurcated with half my mind partway outside my body and bobbing along with my flesh with every step while the third entity of self observed the other two engage in a strange tango as if two chained-together men struggled to become one person.
Moments earlier, as I hurried down a ramp to help a customer, dypsnea (shortness of breath) kicked in, possibly after an initial burst of EIB or exercise-induced bronchioconstriction. Postural hypotension quickly followed, which meant the blood vessels in the lower half of my body overdilated as blood basically drops out of my brain and upper body. I remember as I rounded the corner at the base of the ramp into the Climbing department feeling a major head rush and dizzy spell. I paused, grabbed onto the railing, feeling self-conscious as the customer, a middle-aged, clean-shaven White man in a blue-gray shirt, was standing there probably wondering what is going on. “Wow,” I thought to myself, “this is one heck of a head rus… .” Never finished the sentence in my mind as I lost consciousness and collapsed. Continue reading