Wednesday, September 21, 2005

On perception durring drug use. Don't expect it to make too much sense

I had my wisdom teeth taken out yesterday, and it hurts right now way more than it did durring the procedure. I opted out of the IV sedation, because I wanted to experience the other wacky stuff they put in me. The nitrous oxide is probably the closest I'll get to using recreational drugs of any kind, and it's probably not nearly as strong as stuff people use on the street, but the effects were interesting. The entire time I was on my nitrous high, I was completely aware of it. I knew the stuff was supposed to make me silly, and I knew what I was saying was an effect of the drug. I had some interesting conversations with the nurse, who obviously knew that I would be incoherent and rather silly, but held an interesting discussion with me until it was time to do the actual removal. I knew exactly who I was and where I was, and the drug just made me a little dizzy. It got stronger after a while, and I tried to fight it. It was like little bits of me were being turned off and on. I don't mean in the sense that suddenly my arm wouldn't move when I told it to, I mean that peices of my personality started talking to and about each other and began to separate themselves (myselves?) in a manner not disimilar to a friend of mine who has created a sort of alter ego. Any part of me could retain coherency at any given time, but the aggressive part of me kept trying to fight the drug while the part of me that knew why I was there had to restrain him. It was like trying to roll a will save against myself. All the while, I was completely aware that the drug was making me think like this, and if I tried hard enough, I could simply ignore its effects. As for the rest of my body, its connection with my brain was slightly weakened. I'd probably have to concentrate a bit more on things that would normally be muscle memory, but I do that when I'm really tired anyway, so I've had practice. It seemed like my body was far from my brain; my proprioception was really weird. It was as if my body were a giant machine, and I controlled everything from my brain, sending commands to different bits of me. I guess that's what actually happens, but you can't usually feel it happening, because it's so fast. The whole experience was very interesting, but I don't think I could do it again; there's too much for one part of my mind to take control of at one time.

3 comments:

Erin said...

With me, there wasn't so much effect afterwards. I just remember thinking during the procedure that if I hadn't had that stuff I would have been majorly freaking out. Like, "Huh, wow, that's a scary noise. If I didn't have these drugs I would totally be screaming probably. But look how calm I am. Rock."

Christin/Grace Marie said...

sounds like fun. well maybe it'd only be fun for a minute, before that whole bit about the split conversations with yourself. i know that's no fun. anyways, i don't mean this to diminish your posting glory, but at least you had enough drugs. my sister ran out in the middle of her wisdom teeth episode. she was not a happy camper.

Anonymous said...

sounds like lots of fun..:) Haveing an alter ego is always fun so.. :D talk to you later. Annamarie