Summer warning! Heat exhaustion/stroke

So today and yesterday I've been working hard doing carpentry. Tearing down one old building, and building a new one to replace it. It was 65-70 degrees outside this day (was lately only 40 degrees max), I wasn't drinking a lot of water, just a glass or two over the course of half the day (same for the day before too). I had been eating right the day before, but yesterday I only had a bowl of soup in the afternoon.

here's what happened:

While I'm working I get a call from my uncle saying he's received a package in the mail that's got my name on it, and when I get up there he'll smoke me up. So I get up there a few minutes after we hang up, and we smoke a couple bowls while sitting in the kitchen... After 15 minutes, I get up to leave and grab my package and as I'm walking towards the door a few feet away I black out..... I come to, and I'm mumbling something about the chickens telling me to fall, and I say "noooo" to what the chickens are saying, and at this point I have partial vision loss (just due to being very high, I guess) and I can't see the real linoleum floor but instead think it's hay and dirt, and that I'm sitting up in the rafters and I'm trying not to fall all the way down there, which is also where the chickens are.....The reality is, I managed to get up onto his counter and his sink is about 5 inches from the edge of the counter so as I sat there I thought it was a beam in the rafters, and his floor was a damn barn and I kept trying to keep myself from falling back into his sink and forwards to the floor of the barn, and my vision was off and on, but mostly off, so I had no way to tell what's real.... I blacked out again, and when I came to, my uncle was tying to hold me up because otherwise I would've fell to the floor, and I am mumbling some more crap, and my body is convulsing and I have almost 0 control over my body.... I blacked out two more times (that I remember) while he was holding me up. Then I black out again and I'm sitting on the floor leaning against the chair I was previously sitting in, and I fell like I'm actually in my body and have some control now, and I guess he could see that and asked if I wanted something to drink, "...sure..." so he hands me a glass with pepsi in it and the more of it I drank the better I felt. He said I was pale as a ghost, and wasn't sure he should let me drive home.... After sitting there another 10 or so minutes I felt well enough to drive and stood up again and went outside and started to walk to the car (I was keeping an eye on how well I can walk, and I think my uncle was too), and I got to it without any problems, I got in, turned the air conditioner on cause I felt kind of hot, yet damp and cold. I sat there for a couple minutes talking with him, and once I felt like I was fully back to normal I began my drive home, I made it no problem.

I can't say it was scary going in and out of concienceness like that so many times within a short amount of time, and not knowing why it was happening, and then feeling like I'm on shrooms, and also having no control over myself, and the mumbling about chickens and crap.... but it was a trip, very interesting, and confusing and the only thing if I had to say something bad about it would be "wtf.".... lol, it was an experience.

After I got home I drank a glass of water and ate something, and laid down to get some rest. I was asleep after a few minutes and woke up around 4 in the morning. So I came on here and did some searching on strokes (what I thought it was), and found out what I thought, heat stroke.
Here's some information about it:

Excessive exposure to a hot work environment can bring about a variety of heat-induced disorders.

Heat Stroke
Heat stroke is the most serious of health problems associated with working in hot environments. It occurs when the body's temperature regulatory system fails and sweating becomes inadequate. The body's only effective means of removing excess heat is compromised with little warning to the victim that a crisis stage has been reached.
A heat stroke victim's skin is hot, usually dry, red or spotted. Body temperature is usually 105oF or higher, and the victim is mentally confused, delirious, perhaps in convulsions, or unconscious. Unless the victim receives quick and appropriate treatment, death can occur.
Any person with signs or symptoms of heat stroke requires immediate hospitalization. However, first aid should be immediately administered. This includes removing the victim to a cool area, thoroughly soaking the clothing with water, and vigorously fanning the body to increase cooling. Further treatment at a medical facility should be directed to the continuation of the cooling process and the monitoring of complications which often accompany the heat stroke. Early recognition and treatment of heat stroke are the only means of preventing permanent brain damage or death.

Heat Exhaustion
Heat exhaustion includes several clinical disorders having symptoms which may resemble the early symptoms of heat stroke. Heat exhaustion is caused by the loss of large amounts of fluid by sweating, sometimes with excessive loss of salt. A worker suffering from heat exhaustion still sweats but experiences extreme weakness or fatigue, giddiness, nausea, or headache. In more serious cases, the victim may vomit or lose consciousness. The skin is clammy and moist, the complexion is pale or flushed, and the body temperature is normal or only slightly elevated.
In most cases, treatment involves having the victim rest in a cool place and drink plenty of liquids. Victims with mild cases of heat exhaustion usually recover spontaneously with this treatment. Those with severe cases may require extended care for several days. There are no known permanent effects.

My dad had a heat stroke back in 96 while we were back in NY visiting family (We're from there, moved here permanently back in 76). He was outside doing a lot of physical stuff, and not drinking a lot of water, and had heat stroke.... His was bad though, he was out long enough to be unable to speak properly afterward (it was like he had the right side of his face injected with Novocaine), and all the symptoms. I guess because he had one and I was there to see it is why I figured what I had was a heat stroke.


So everyone, remember to drink a lot of liquids during the hot summer days! Having this happen isn't good, you can die from it, or have severe brain damage. I know that with us smoking we get cotton mouth, and thirsty, and that isn't good either in this temperature. So be careful, and drink a lot!

Have a good summer everyone!

 

Lol, that'd suck waking up to medics and everyone else standing around you with it hanging out... good thing it wasn't that bad. It's funny how our bodies think we're not doing things right, and then 'push the reset button' on us...

Yeah it was a really weird experience... I thought maybe I took some kind of other drug and forgot about it or something, and it's effects were just coming on now (or it's repercussions). I had no clue what the hell was going on, just all of a sudden I was trippin'

Today when I woke up, I was thinking about what happened, and it kind of gave me a renewed feeling about life. Like how I used to feel about it... So today I had a good one, and I was drinking a lot of water to make sure it doesn't happen again while I'm working, and I was also able to finish my greenhouse today! Now all I have to do is pick up the covering for it, and I can start growing.