gosling | the hazards of sudafed

So I got up at Far Too Early this morning to go to work, and my head felt rather full of cotton wool (either allergies or a mild cold, not sure which) so I took some twelve hour sudafed as a preventative thing, as a sinus infection just in time for Baitcon would have been decidely sub-optimal. And over the next half hour I got progressively more dizzy and wobbly about the knees, until I was decidely no longer a biped. At which point I decided I'd best call my boss and tell her that I wasn't going to be much use in a classroom today. After that I tried to stand up. A mistake, as suddenly there I was in a rather ungraceful little heap on the floor, not able to get up. I think I terrified Chip. I had to go to work anyway, because I was opening, so I did, but Chip went with me, to take me home when the substitute finally got there. (I decided that falling over on the bus on the way home, or perhaps down the stairs in the subway station, was a little too likely, and besides which we weren't sure at that point it was safe to leave me alone in case I got much worse.) But when we got back we called my sister, who is a nurse practioner and hence possessed of Medical Clue. And after I described the whole thing, she said I was just overreacting to the synthetic ephedrine and not to worry, it would wear off. (But no more taking sudafed on an empty stomach and probably not to take the really strong twelve hour stuff any more either.) In retrospect it makes sense. I've had the exact same reaction a few minutes after getting out of a hot tub a couple of times, just from the heat, and here I was essentially flooding my system with adreneline and then getting in a really hot shower. (Which I'd set extra hot to try to get as much steam as possible to clear out my sinuses.) So I'm already feeling fine and feeling REALLY guilty for going home from work. (But I suppose at the time I made the best decision I could with the available data. It was SCARY how dizzy I was.) And Chip was supposed to be helping a friend with painting his house today, but by the time we realized I would be fine and could be left alone it was too late to go over there.

At least my sinuses are clear now. :-)