Friday, March 6, 2015

The conscious experience of me fainting.

I just fainted and here is the list of the relevant conscious experiences I had in chronological order.


  • I step out of the bath
  • I open the door
  • I feel a cold rush of air
  • I see my wife
  • I tell her I have been in the bath for awhile and I am feeling dizzy
  • I am vigorously washing my face. 
  • I see Amy calmly looking down at me with the shower head in her right hand asking if she should spray me with water.
  • I am confused why she would ask that as I am not thirsty.
  • I notice I am laying in the bathtub incorrectly - I was lying perpendicular to the tub intersecting it in the middle with my body.
  • I stare up at Amy confused in a new way.
  • I think - I had just gotten out of the tub.  Why would I get out, see Amy, get back in the tub in such an unorthodox fashion, and wash my face?
  • I notice the sensation you get on your palate after you inhale water through your nose.
  • Amy says I fainted.
  • I laugh



What is interesting about this is once Amy believes I am not dead she starts to recount her first hand experience observing me faint.  She points out a powerful moment of me staring up at her with eyes wide open.  I also recall that moment as when I realized it was odd I was in the bathtub when I was just recently standing up.  However, there were 4 conscious events in between that moment and when I told Amy I was dizzy.  I was fully conscious yet clueless I had fainted for 4 full conscious moments.  It wasn't until I had made the connection that I should not be in the tub did confusion set in and I reconnect with Amy emotionally.  

So the big question is, during those 4 conscious events, where was I emotionally? 

My justification for why I would be able to consciously wash my face after fainting and not think it is weird is because when the blood left my brain from standing out of the bath too quick, I fell back into the tub.  As the blood came back to my brain my conscious mind realized it was under water.  It also recalled it was in a bathtub and it knew the only logical reason it would be under water in a bathtub was to wash the face.  So that is what it told me to do.

My justification for being able to see Amy offering to spray me with water and be confused but still not be aware I had just fainted was because of how calm her face was.  If she had been all panicky, I would have been irked out of my ignorant state and figure out something weird just happened.  But she was so calm.  When I finally stopped washing my face and looked up to see her offering water, my brain could only interpret it as she thought I was thirsty.

To get the account of Amy my wife, please follow this link.

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