Weird Event

TheFishBox said:
So a couple years ago I was antelope hunting and found myself out in the hot sun with a dead antelope several miles from a road and one bottle of water between my dad and I. I placed the entire antelope in my pack, then proceeded to pack out. After a mile or two I noticed I wasn't sweating anymore that was shortly followed by slight cramping and the immediate feeling to vomit. I was able to get the pack off, rest for a bit and then continue on. But in a mile this same event occurred, then a half mile followed by a quarter mile. I finally made it to some shade and my dad went ahead to bring water back, everyone I spoke to said it sounded like heat stroke.

Fast forward to last year where I shot a decent mile deer buck a couple miles from the truck. Got it quartered up, my cousin took the smaller half and I took the larger portion with the head. As I proceeded ahead in the 70'ish degree air I noticed the same feelings as before and was able to sit down to take it easy while my cousin brought the truck closer and we packed the meat a shorter distance. This time though I was sure to drink more water and take some electrolytes thinking that was what I didn't do before but it didn't seem to help.

Now to this year I shot a bull in the backcountry by myself, the days leading up to the season I had drank a fair amount of water, taken some supplements and took it easy the day before I got the bull. As I was working on it in the 70'ish degree weather I noticed the first sign (no sweat on my arms) so I drank more of my precious water and rested for a bit. Continuing to process the bull the second sign followed shortly after with a hand cramp now I drank some more water and decided to stash my meat but when stashing it I immediately began to feel like I was going to vomit, being five miles from camp some panic began to set in. I dumped everything from my pack and took the slow walk back to where help could get to me.

Each time this has happened it follows a kill but that seems to be the only denominator. After the feeling of nausea I am sapped of my energy to the point where just carrying my own body becomes a difficult task, the following couple days I feel as though I am hungover but even the next day I am able to proceed to hiking again. Just curious if anyone has suffered something similar, or knows what could be going on. I have a doctors appointment scheduled but would like to see if anyone has some real world experience.
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Let us know what the doctor says. You didn't state your age. Hope all goes well.
 
It would sound like dehydration also because of the no sweating but there is another thing to consider is the way a body sometimes handles adrenaline rushes etc but maybe a combination of a couple things but that hunting hard in 70 plus degree weather in my opinion more brutal than cold when it comes to breaking down a kill n packing out
 
Let us know what your doctor thinks. As I've gotten older (61 now) I've needed to up my preparation for hunts with elevated hydration. Water used to do it for me just fine but not anymore. Now a couple weeks before I add supplements into my hydration routine. I suffer from extreme leg cramping at night while sleeping if I don't hydrate properly (my father had the same issues as he aged). So bad that it will wake me from a sound sleep and put me down hard. It's extremely painful and stresses the entire body big time. I've also added a magnesium supplement to help with the cramping. It's a work in progress for sure and is always something that's in the back of my mind when in the field. Hope you figure it out soon!! Good luck!
 
I am in my mid 30's, but still think I'm in my 20's so I haven't gone to the doctor for any type of checkup in over ten years.

I am in good shape overall though six foot 180 ish pounds and I run five days a week roughly 20 miles total. This year I ran two relay races with no symptoms showing.

I have always packed 3 liters of water in a bladder along with most of the guys I know not that this means anything, I purposely don't drink so much that I am constantly peeing clear but trying to drink enough to pee occasionally. Food is usually just some gummy bears, cliff bar probably don't eat enough when packed in but again this hasn't been a constant problem and inconsistent.

As far as getting sick from killing things it doesn't take affect until after I have cut the whole animal up so if that's what's going on it's a delayed reaction for sure.
 
In my mid 40s I was a very strong cyclists. Then what you described started happening. People I knew I was stronger than started dropping me. I'd watch them pedal away. Clogged artery in my heart, two stents and I'm back to riding again. My family practice Dr. Was a fellow rider and he checked everything under the sun looking for what might be causing this. But never my heart until it nearly killed me.
 
TheFishBox said:
I am in my mid 30's, but still think I'm in my 20's so I haven't gone to the doctor for any type of checkup in over ten years.

I am in good shape overall though six foot 180 ish pounds and I run five days a week roughly 20 miles total. This year I ran two relay races with no symptoms showing.

I have always packed 3 liters of water in a bladder along with most of the guys I know not that this means anything, I purposely don't drink so much that I am constantly peeing clear but trying to drink enough to pee occasionally. Food is usually just some gummy bears, cliff bar probably don't eat enough when packed in but again this hasn't been a constant problem and inconsistent.

As far as getting sick from killing things it doesn't take affect until after I have cut the whole animal up so if that's what's going on it's a delayed reaction for sure.
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Are you consuming any alcohol before these hunts ? .
 
No alcohol consumed on or even weeks before the hunt.

One thing I did notice in this hunt was in the evenings my heart was pounding harder than normal but I chocked that up to just not eating my usual meals and maybe not drinking enough water, but the day before the opener I took it easy and was sure to get/drink more water.
 
Definitely have your doctor conduct a stress heart test and check for diabetes. I was in superb shape and started having similar events while under physical stress. Self-diagnosed myself as dehydration. WRONG. Ended up being a heart problem - the widow maker blockage position. Same exact blockage position as the 25 year old professional basketball player had that died from it while on the court and also a young marathon runner. I had no cholesterol problems, no medical problems, etc. Doc said it has been seen often in extreme athletes and they don't know what causes it. I ended up having a stent inserted into the artery that feeds 2/3rds of the heart muscle - the lower anterior descending artery I believe it was called. Doc said it was 90 percent blocked and if a blood clot, which travel around our bodies, had found the blockage, it would have killed 2/3rds of my heart = massive, unrecoverable, heart attack. Remember, I was young and in superb shape and thought nothing was wrong with me. Both my GP doc and Cardiac Surgeon looked at my physical shape and EKGs and said they probably wouldn't find anything while doing my angiography. They were surprised. Haven't had a problem since the stent in over 40 years. Don't self-diagnose!!!
 
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TheFishBox said:
No alcohol consumed on or even weeks before the hunt.

One thing I did notice in this hunt was in the evenings my heart was pounding harder than normal but I chocked that up to just not eating my usual meals and maybe not drinking enough water, but the day before the opener I took it easy and was sure to get/drink more water.
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I had a stent put in at 38 yrs old. I honestly believe it was due to a blood pressure pill they put me on. But no way to prove it. I would do as Rosebud suggested. EKG are cheap. But I also noticed when they were reading my EKG. You need a Doc that knows what he is looking at. I heard 2 Docs I'm assuming at the time saying they didn't see nothing wrong. And then a Doc walked into the room. Looked at the EKG readout for a split second. And said there's the problem. I was in awe to say the least. Not sure if the first two looking at the EKG really were Docs or just practitioners.
 

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