2024_06_26 Circuitous reminder to water the plants and ask my doctor about breathing

I went out to water the plants around 9:30. I’d just woken up, and the day was already hot. Alerted by my activity, my cat came to check the catnip plant for new growth. Not wanting to startle him with the hose, I opted to trim back some weeds.

Each time I bend over and straighten back up, my stamina takes a hit. It’s worse in the heat. I know this. The second time I stood up, the lack of air through my nasal passages and the brief dimming of vision suggested to me that I should go get the Flonase. 

On the way in, I noticed the hose and my distractible mind momentarily considered watering the plants ‘before I forget’. The ADHD (or injured, or degenerating) brain reacts to environmental stimuli, not abstract concepts of priority. In other words, the knowledge that these body signals indicate impending collapse is secondary to what can be done right now. Or, the tank is not entirely empty, so we can keep going.

Neurological symptom note:

Sometimes when someone is talking, for a few seconds, though I can hear them distinctly, I cannot parse the words they are saying. I feel as if it should resolve into meaning, but it is only sound. My attention is on it. The sounds are clear.

Sometimes when I am speaking, or thinking, I blank out. Whatever I was going to say or think is suddenly gone and I cannot return to the preceding thoughts. Earlier versions were limited to a word, a phrase, or an unverbalized intention (i.e. ‘what was I looking for?’); I could get around that. This is abrupt, complete, too disruptive.

Sometimes when I reach for something or stretch my arms, it hurts like being hit. Initially I noticed it in the legs, too. I think it corresponds to specific types of movement. I suppose it could be deconditioning, except that these are movements that I am used to doing (and I’m not entirely sedentary).