I have to mention something that happened almost a year ago to me. I'd gone to sleep around 10PM or so, and I woke up in the middle of the night, but not in a normal groggy state. I just opened my eyes, as if I'd only "blinked", and I wondered why I woke up completely conscious and wide awake. I didn't need to pee and couldn't remember dreaming at all. I looked at the clock: 2:20AM.... And that's when it happened....
My entire body began to shake.....violently! I've had "fever chills" with very high temps before, but this was like the worst case of that times ten thousand. My internal organs felt like they'd been instantly plunged into liquid nitrogen, my eyes felt like they were going to boil out of their sockets, and the rest of me was vibrating/shaking out of control. (Later, it reminded me of those sci-fi movies where someone is injected with something that alters their genetics and they look as if they're having a seizure. Only I wasn't having a seizure or anything, and I'm not epileptic.) My entire body was just shaking out of control! I couldn't keep my arms at my sides, my legs were jumping everywhere, my teeth were chattering so much and so loudly that I was certain I was either going to chip one or bite my tongue off (or both!). Meanwhile, I felt like my insides were frozen, and I couldn't get warm (although my eyes were the only thing on my body burning extremely hot).
I got up grab more blankets because I felt like I was suffering from extreme hypothermia, and I had to focus all my concentration on just placing one foot in front of the other without spasming out of control. My (4) cats all gathered in a circle around my feet, spitting, hissing and batting at my feet! I tried to say to them, "What's wrong with you guys?! Calm down. It's okay, I'm just cold." but my voice came out like it sounds when you're on a really bumpy train or airplane, all shaky and vibrated. I actually scared myself when I heard the sound!
I finally got back to my bed and could only manage to flop onto the edge, sitting, with all the covers and blankets wrapped around me and my knees up to my chin (like a sitting fetal position). I couldn't think. I tried to calm down, though, and figure out what was happening because I knew I wasn't feeling sick at all before going to bed. But I knew that whatever was going on, I wouldn't "make it" until morning in such a state.
I thought I might have somehow died in my sleep and spontaneously come back, and my body temp must have fallen dangerously low (which is stupid, now that I think about it), but I touched my arm (expecting it to be ice cold) and it was warm; not hot, just warm. I wanted to take my temperature, but my teeth were rattling so badly (and the more I tried to control it, the worse it got) I knew that if I'd put the thermometer in my mouth, I'd involuntarily snap it in half and maybe injur myself in the process.
I tried to lay down, but every time I tried to stretch out into a horizontal position, I was too cold. It's hard to explain if you've never felt such cold inside. So I concentrating on breathing and trying not to bite my tongue off by accident. I sat in a crouched position like that for a few minutes trying to get warm and stop shaking, but all the shaking and rattling was wearing me out, and I felt sooooo weak. I finally managed to tip over onto my side with the covers still around me.... and then I guess I must have either passed out or fallen asleep. The only thought that I kept repeating in my mind like a mantra was, "I HAVE TO CALL DR. REYES!! I HAVE TO CALL THE DOCTOR!!"
The next thing I remembered was my cell phone ringing. It was my dad calling me to just say "hi". I felt great and fully rested (it was past noon when his phone call woke me), and I'd absolutley forgotten about what happened during the night before. We talked about normal small-talk stuff for a while, when I suddenly blurted out, "I NEED TO CALL DR. REYES!!" He asked me why and if I felt sick, and I was completely confused for a few seconds... but a tick later, the events of the night came back to me like a lighting bolt (like accessing a repressed memory). If it wasn't for my own version of post-hypnotic suggestion, I'd have forgotten about it completely!
I began rattling off over the phone what had happened, and I knew that I sounded like I must have been over-eggagerating, but my dad listened patiently and reacted with, "well, take care of yourself, and call the doctor right away if you feel anything like that again." There was absolutely no way to convey how intense it had been, and it wasn't just a dream either. I was absolutely awake.
Life went on as usual, but about 2 or 3 weeks later, my dad called me in a near panic. He said he now understood what I was trying to tell him because he woke up the previous night around the same time that I'd awoken, and the SAME EXACT thing happened to him. He said that he had managed to make it to the washroom to relieve his bladder, but that he wasn't sure how he'd made it back to his bed, and he just remembered getting about 3 feet away from the bed and falling over onto the edge before he passed out. He also said that the next morning, he'd woken up feeling so refreshed and "just good"... He said he couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so refjuvinated from a night's sleep. (minus this "thing" that happened) The only thing was that he couldn't figure out how he got all the way into bed and sleeping on his back again. From the way he last remembered flopping onto the bed, he'd expected to wake up face down on the floor!
We didn't know what to think or even how to ask if someone else had ever experienced something like this and what happened to them later, if anything, so we just went about life as if nothing had happened. Whenever we talked about it we referred to it as "the innoculation" or "the tweak".
A few months later, when summer arrived and the heat waves struck (and the temps soared to 100+ degrees fahrenheit with 100% humidity) we then realized what part of this "tweak" must have been for. We were in the midsts of remodeling the garage. (we live in the same house because it's economically convenient, as I've not married and we and get along well enough; it's a big house and we respect each other's privacy)
Anyway, we were building shelving out there, cleaning out the attic (where it was probably over 120 degrees), moving and rearranging tools, machines, and whatnot, and we both physically felt perfectly fine. The air (which we knew must be extremely warm and heavy) felt like cool, dry air when we breathed. My dad (who's 59 yrs od) has arthritis in his knees and hands pretty bad, but he said he felt like he was 19 again, more agile and flexible than he'd been in years! I don't have arthritis, but I can guarantee you that neither of us was able to handle heat and humidity before this "tweak". Before last year, during the previous heat waves of summertime, even when in air conditioning, we both were like most people; a bit sluggish and extremely prone to heat stroke. But now, it's all changed. We're at our best when it's ungodly hot.
I think it feels like what an amphibian must feel like. As soon as I break a light sweat in hot weather, my skin feels like the hot air around me is only about 75 degrees (when it's really over 100!), and when I breathe in the humid air, it almost feels like there's an invisible "mask" around my nose and mouth, and the air that comes into my lungs feels cool, dry, and light. My muscles feel strong and joints flexible. There is no desire to drink or eat. Only very small amounts of water and fresh fruits or vegatbles is all it takes to feel full and comfortable, yet still energetic. When I ate or drank anything more than that, I got sluggish and tired. I thought that maybe at first we must have been experiencing some strange form of heat stroke, but day after day of the heat wave last summer, we were perfectly fine... great, in fact!
Maybe it doesn't sound as "radical" as I feel this thing has been, but I wonder if maybe something either got activated in our DNA or if maybe "someone" literally "tweaked" us in for the coming weather changes.
I'm really curious to hear if anyone has had anything similar like that happen to them or anyone else they know, and if so, have you noticed any other major changes besides the temperature tolerance?
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it." ~ Mark Twain
