Hello Susan and thank you for the reply.
First off let me say the issue of safety wasn't neglected or not important, It's just that at this point it's past history and not a pressing matter. Of course if I was working and feared the worst, that would be of primary importance. At this point I'm still trying to figure out what actually happened and why my abilities seemed to drop when at altitude.
The embarrassment part comes from vivid memories of that very long 1 hour flight as a child. Of course that should not be an issue, but it's hard to ignore feelings that strong, even though I do believe that everyone involved on that flight did care about my health and no one was intentionally trying to make me feel bad. Most people had said they hoped I feel better as they exited the plane. I know they meant well, but at 14 that was a bit uncomfortable to be the talk of the flight no matter what reason.
At this point we don't know what it is. My reason for posting was to hear some feedback to see if anyone had similar issues since I was in an unusual situation where most people don't generally operate. As I had said before, I was also told that I seem to sit right at the borderline of hypoglycemia as well. At this point, I am trying to figure out if the difficulties were the result of one or the other. Being that I don't believe I have had a seizure in over 25 years, my first instinct would be to say it's not epilepsy, but being I didn't pursue medicine studies, I can't say for sure. I do know that when I miss meals or eat poorly I will find myself weak and quickly develop really bad headaches and quite miserable nausea until I eat again. Once I eat, it is amazing how quickly my discomfort disappears.
So as you can see the whole thing is odd for me. To be honest, if it is one of those issues, I would pray it was hypoglycemia and not epilepsy. From what I am told, hypoglycemia is easier to combat and not as likely to require a major lifestyle change. My diabetic friends joke that life is easy for a hypoglycemic, all they have to do is eat a snickers bar if they drop too low. Of course that's surely not all there is to it, but I imagine from a diabetics point of view it seems much easier to deal with.
It is interesting some of the things to avoid you mention. Pilots are instructed to turn off the strobe lights in clouds because the flash can cause seizures for any pilot. 8 hours of sleep sounds good, but when changing several time zones in a day, it's hard to truly get a full 8 hours since your body doesn't adjust as fast the airplane travels through them. As far as eating right, it's impossible to eat yoru own meals and we are forced to eat in restaurants. Even though sometimes we were able to get to a store and buy items to cook, we were in a hotel room and obviously unable to heat anything. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking this sounds more like an issue of low blood sugar than neurological malfunction. If I had not had the 2 childhood seizures, I would not even ponder the idea of possible epileptic issues.
Out of curiosity, I had checked my blood sugar at a friends home with his glucose meter. It read 82, which at first he said was too low. As we researched information on the internet, it seems that for a diabetic, medically controlling his blood sugar, that would be too low but for a natural occurrence it is ideal. I am assuming you are in the US, so you know those numbers. Apparently other places use the metric system and the numbers are different.
Like I had said before, it's just an odd set of circumstances to me. I worked as a police officer before and had no problems completing training or operating daily in high stress life threatening situations, but of course I was at ground level breathing full pressure oxygen. I also did many high risk, mentally and physically demanding activities as well, all at ground level without issue. It wasn't until I tried similar activities in reduced atmosphere that I found I could not perform as I should. If my blood sugar dropped too low, is it feasible that by adding oxygen deficiency to the problem, I would lose cognitive skills?
It's all a big "what happened" at this point in my life. Unfortunately along with losing my dream job, I also lost my medical insurance so visiting with a doctor is not as easy as just calling one up and going for a check up. I do get physicals every year for my pilots license and they check for diabetes, but they don't do EEG's or blood work. Apparently they can see diabetic issues via urine tests.
Thanks again for the response. If you or anyone else has any input I am more than appreciative. Hopefully I can afford to be fully tested and discover any issues I am not aware of. I know they have altitude chambers to see how certain people react, but I have no idea how much that costs or if doctors even perform tests in that environment.
Comment Reply
Hello Susan and thank you for the reply.
First off let me say the issue of safety wasn't neglected or not important, It's just that at this point it's past history and not a pressing matter. Of course if I was working and feared the worst, that would be of primary importance. At this point I'm still trying to figure out what actually happened and why my abilities seemed to drop when at altitude.
The embarrassment part comes from vivid memories of that very long 1 hour flight as a child. Of course that should not be an issue, but it's hard to ignore feelings that strong, even though I do believe that everyone involved on that flight did care about my health and no one was intentionally trying to make me feel bad. Most people had said they hoped I feel better as they exited the plane. I know they meant well, but at 14 that was a bit uncomfortable to be the talk of the flight no matter what reason.
At this point we don't know what it is. My reason for posting was to hear some feedback to see if anyone had similar issues since I was in an unusual situation where most people don't generally operate. As I had said before, I was also told that I seem to sit right at the borderline of hypoglycemia as well. At this point, I am trying to figure out if the difficulties were the result of one or the other. Being that I don't believe I have had a seizure in over 25 years, my first instinct would be to say it's not epilepsy, but being I didn't pursue medicine studies, I can't say for sure. I do know that when I miss meals or eat poorly I will find myself weak and quickly develop really bad headaches and quite miserable nausea until I eat again. Once I eat, it is amazing how quickly my discomfort disappears.
So as you can see the whole thing is odd for me. To be honest, if it is one of those issues, I would pray it was hypoglycemia and not epilepsy. From what I am told, hypoglycemia is easier to combat and not as likely to require a major lifestyle change. My diabetic friends joke that life is easy for a hypoglycemic, all they have to do is eat a snickers bar if they drop too low. Of course that's surely not all there is to it, but I imagine from a diabetics point of view it seems much easier to deal with.
It is interesting some of the things to avoid you mention. Pilots are instructed to turn off the strobe lights in clouds because the flash can cause seizures for any pilot. 8 hours of sleep sounds good, but when changing several time zones in a day, it's hard to truly get a full 8 hours since your body doesn't adjust as fast the airplane travels through them. As far as eating right, it's impossible to eat yoru own meals and we are forced to eat in restaurants. Even though sometimes we were able to get to a store and buy items to cook, we were in a hotel room and obviously unable to heat anything. The more I think about it, the more I'm thinking this sounds more like an issue of low blood sugar than neurological malfunction. If I had not had the 2 childhood seizures, I would not even ponder the idea of possible epileptic issues.
Out of curiosity, I had checked my blood sugar at a friends home with his glucose meter. It read 82, which at first he said was too low. As we researched information on the internet, it seems that for a diabetic, medically controlling his blood sugar, that would be too low but for a natural occurrence it is ideal. I am assuming you are in the US, so you know those numbers. Apparently other places use the metric system and the numbers are different.
Like I had said before, it's just an odd set of circumstances to me. I worked as a police officer before and had no problems completing training or operating daily in high stress life threatening situations, but of course I was at ground level breathing full pressure oxygen. I also did many high risk, mentally and physically demanding activities as well, all at ground level without issue. It wasn't until I tried similar activities in reduced atmosphere that I found I could not perform as I should. If my blood sugar dropped too low, is it feasible that by adding oxygen deficiency to the problem, I would lose cognitive skills?
It's all a big "what happened" at this point in my life. Unfortunately along with losing my dream job, I also lost my medical insurance so visiting with a doctor is not as easy as just calling one up and going for a check up. I do get physicals every year for my pilots license and they check for diabetes, but they don't do EEG's or blood work. Apparently they can see diabetic issues via urine tests.
Thanks again for the response. If you or anyone else has any input I am more than appreciative. Hopefully I can afford to be fully tested and discover any issues I am not aware of. I know they have altitude chambers to see how certain people react, but I have no idea how much that costs or if doctors even perform tests in that environment.
Greg.
May 28, 2011 - 4:40amThis Comment
Reply