Question: Greetings,
This past Saturday PM, my wife (59 yrs of age) and I went to dinner at a sushi restaurant, where we shared a meal of crab salad, baked mussels and spicy tuna sashimi... She ordered 2 glasses of Pinot Grigio wine with dinner and I had tea. Nothing seemed unusual or out of the ordinary during our dinner. As we drove home, I began to notice that my wife's speech and delivery was slurred and she seemed to be having difficulty organizing her thoughts... much like she was intoxicated. I know this is not the case, because I watched her consume only 2 glasses of wine with her meal. When we arrived home, she let the dogs out and retired to the bedroom. When she failed to return to the living room, I went to check on her... In the bedroom, I could hear her faintly calling out to me in a very plaintive and disturbed tone of voice. When I entered the bedroom, she was crying and leaning against the bed, her upper torso prostrate on the bed. She indicated that she was having difficulty moving and was unable to right herself. She was crying, emotionally distressed and her communication was fragmented and disoriented...again, it was very much like communicating with someone who was intoxicated. I helped her into bed and tried to make her comfortable...elevating her feet. She had a good pulse and was not feverish...more cool to the touch. Outwardly, she appeared fine...she was breathing fine, her eyes were not dilated, she did not exhibit any any tell-tale signs of stroke and she had no pain or other symptoms other than feeling intoxicated. As she lay in the bed, she started to feel better and began to calm down. She was still speaking to me, but in whispers and rambling on about her inability to go let the dogs back in... Since my daughters are both medical professionals, I reached out to them for input and advice... They listened to my description of her symptoms and were both puzzled, since nothing seemed to provide us with any meaningful medical issues or concerns. I closely monitored her for the next hour until she fell asleep that evening. When she awoke the next morning, she seemed back to normal, no complaints of hang-over symptoms or anything other than feeling fine and ready to go... We enjoyed an active day and took a long hike with the dogs. After several days of thinking about this situation, I am concerned that she may have some how been exposed to something in her drink that may have caused her to become disoriented and feel intoxicated...do you see anything in my write-up that might cause you to arrive at a diagnosis ? We have agreed that if such symptoms should return in the future...we will immediately head to the ER for a more detailed exam...
Thanks from a concerned husband in SC...