sickness: a natural high

[samsa]

swim rarely ever gets fevers, which is why he was supprised when he poped the thermometer out of his mouth and it read 102F. he recently recovered, but while sick, and at the time unmedicated, he enountered breif "head changes" as well as halucinations and felt a familiar high, but couldn't pinpoint which substance it was simular to. The feeling was not at all uncomfortable, but certainly interesting. in anycase, swim was wondering if anyone knows what happens, chemically, in the brain at this point of a fever.

Reputation Comments on this post:

damn good question

[cosmicruler]

ha,thats interesting that swis brings up this topic..because swim has just had a really bad flu for about a week now and is just starting to recover and swicr was feeling almost like swicr was on a real low dose of lsd or soemthing yesterday...felt a little light headed,images had a sort of fuzzy type haze to them(similar to swicr experience of a mild hallucinogen comingon) and swicr had real trouble concentrating on even simple tasks etc...

any1 no what causes these type symptoms?

[Paracelsus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweat_lodge

It might just be the elevated temperature that causes the brain to function in "other ways."

[Panthers007]

Bongo rather noted similarities between fever-dreams and a plateau 4 on DXM.

[Matt The Funk]

SWIM knows people who have started going delusional from high fevers...

[N0ly]

SWIM enjoys being sick when he can breath through his nose. he feels relaxed and easily rested. nodding is quite common, going to that lively dreamland. He feels similar to a good opiate

[mightohiorun]

swim got strep throat last year and had bad fevers, around 105. swim would feel light headed and laughed at everything. balance was iffy, as well. felt like a light high

[Greenport]

SwiM once heard that high fevers can cause the trigger of a chemical in the brain that is also triggered when one is on PCP. As a result, the fevers can cause hallucinations and the like. She also heard that this chemical is released by people when they are speaking in tongues.

However, don't forget that it could be just a combination of the drugs you're taking to combat the illness. DXM, (Pseudo)ephedrine,Caffeine (Excedrin),and all the other stuff you take can cause drug interactions which for the most part are alright and rather fun, kind of like a light high.

[Omalley]

SWIM really enjoys a good fever when SWIM is recovering from a sickness, because SWIM gets so WARM and FRIENDLY when he makes sort a "hut" out of really fuzzy blankets with only a small opening for SWIM to look out of. it feels like SWIM banged some high quality herion into SWIM's veins because SWIM gets soooooooo warm and soooo sleeepy and relaxed.

[moda00]

Swim has found that when she has a really bad cold, she gets waves of wooziness and altered perception that feel like a cross between.. coming up on a low dose of a psychedelic, and perhaps a benzo or GHB. It is rather pleasant, but as one says, when the other symptoms are bothering one, like headache or congestion/trouble breathing, you don't really notice the positives.. And since swim occasionally takes otc meds when she is sick, it could simply be occurring because of the pseudo-ephedrine/DXM/diphenhydramine/etc. in many common cold pills, as she has not really monitored it. She hasn't had a fever in years, she can't really remember it.. but on that note, she remembers watching a family guy episode where Stewie hallucinates some crazy shit in a feverish haze, so apparently this is a common idea, along with common phrases such as feeling "feverish" for feeling different sensations and perceptions, such as altered or cloudy mental states, as well as for sexual desire.

That said, an 'altered state' is simply a change in perception or sensation which is generally accompanied by a change in brain function of some kind, and being ill definitely qualifies- it's just that usually the negative symptoms cloud out awareness of how one's perception and feelings are altered in other ways aside from the "sick" feelings and symptoms? Since one can have altered perceptions from lack of food, water, or sleep, it makes sense that when the body is stressed the mind and perception are affected.. Just swim's two cents.