He suddenly couldn’t speak in space. NASA astronaut says his medical scare remains a mystery

Silence will fall.

So… [hush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hush_(Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer))?

"In space, no one can. Here, use cream"

That was freaky. I never had a panic or anything, but when that stretch was like that, giant trucks were coming around a corner at you about a foot away. Legit did not feel safe.

Definitely panic attack. Everything feels like jello. Like when you dream and can't punch or run correctly. Such a strange way our brains handle life!

Psychosis is a wild one. Pulling one’s self out of it is a trip in both trusting yourself and doubting yourself at the same time. Grounding in sensation, trusting your past self, then reality testing is such a weird feeling when half your brain is freaking out and telling you otherwise.

>Oh then I developed steroid induced psychosis from the prednisone and was questioning everything about life and was severely f****** depressed for three months. "Hooray im fixed!!!!!.....F***!!!!.......who said that??!!"

Hiya. Am nurse that worked thru COVID. How f****** terrifying. I hope you are doing better nowadays.  Cheers 🍻 

Can confirm, I had this happen in primary school and I couldn't explain what was happening properly because I forgot what I was saying as I was saying it. Total aphasia, I went to the nurse and they tried washing out my eyes because I couldn't see properly and couldn't communicate that it wasn't something in them even though I wasn't sure if it would help or not. I was completely confused and panicked as you know I was unable to function, I would be incapable of playing video games or communicating or having fun or doing anything. It was mentally terrifying, the pain and discomfort was whatever. Really bad of course but nothing to the feeling of hopelessness. Plus I didn't feel right for a couple of weeks after, sort of like it had done damage (probably didn't but felt like it), hungover. All of those feelings and not being able to express what was happening, looking like I'm just trying to get off doing my school work.

My go-to for migraines is quiet dark room as soon as the aura appears, close my eyes, and listen to a boring podcast to wait it out. I've had ones so severe that I could not understand the words being spoken during the podcast... I could hear the words, but I couldn't make sense of them. Fortunately none of those in the past couple years... those were scary enough that I did wonder if I was stroking out.

Only had it happen once, but it was super scary for me too. I couldn't speak or type any of the right words

I had a migraine with aura. I'd had migraines but this was my first sparkly orb of darkness. I got sent to the hospital and placed in a room with all the stroke posters.

My dad used to have bad migraines, and idk if you've ever had the tingling and numbness in your hands/limbs. When he had a stroke he said it felt like that and also probably didn't go to the hospital as immediately because it was similar.

Yeah, i get those more often now that I'm on a couple migraine meds. Auras, but usually no headache.

One day I had one of the worst headaches of my life, I was doubled over on the floor in pain waiting for the meds to kick in. My headaches are normally very mild so it stood out. The next day I deep cleaned my house and was fine. The day after that I got to relax, I lit a scented candle and just watched cartoons for a while until I realized I couldn't see any of the characters' faces. There wasn't an obvious hole in my vision, I just couldn't see whatever I tried focusing on specifically. Then it started radiating out into rainbow static shaped like a crescent. I realized I was experiencing a migraine with aura (my spouse had a similar experience the previous year) and immediately took ibuprofen and braced myself for intense pain. The aura crescent worked its way out of my vision over the course of about 45 minutes but the pain never came. That was how I found out about silent migraines. No idea what triggered it.

I'm on a medication for my migraines that's reduced the frequency from every other week to maybe one a year, but I've kinda sorta suspected I maybe still get the migraines I just don't feel the pain. This has given me something new to look into.

Yep. I had a bunch of neurological tests for chronic dizziness and it ended up being silent migraines. The dizziness sucks but I guess I should be grateful I don’t have the horrific pain too.

I’ve had these. I definitely look like I’m having a stroke since the whole left side of my face goes numb.

Same! No idea what caused mine, but I remember it very vividly. Oddly enough, the only thing I can't recall is the exact year (but I know the date). It's been at least 14 years though, and nothing since.

With space being the trigger. I'm sure it's a possibility

I had typical migraines all my life, had my first ocular migraine (lost vision in one eye, confused about why the hospital had a clock with only one hand) at 50. Bodies are weird!

Same. It's super weird but I'm super thankful to not have the pain others have. I've learned to just go lay down and enjoy the light show. Not much else I can do until it's gone. Mine usually last less than 30 minutes. Now that I understand what they are, I realize I've been having mild ones since childhood.

I get them as well- lose peripheral first always- then I get a lightning bolt pulsing. I’ve learned to just nap through it…

We call that classic migraine, because it was the one that was written about first. My first one, I was struggling to talk, I had pins and needles crawling up my left arm, I was sweating and feeling kinda feverish. I got a blind spot and was really worried, kinda freaking out. I remember looking at a url in a Firefox window, I could read the text after but the site name and and tld just looked like convincing laptop screen colored noise, trying to fill in where I couldn't see. Then about ten minutes later, my head starts to hurt, and I'm suddenly very relieved, thinking to myself "oh this must be one of them migraines." Fortunately it hit me kinda mild... that time.

Go and get it checked. Mine was from a brain tumor and it had been there for at least a decade.

I've had these a handful of times and absolutely terrible couple of hours afterwards for sure... Had to call my boss to go home because my desk faces floor to ceiling windows and the Sun and yeah no thank you

If you have the means, go see an opthamologist and get your eye pressure checked. You may have something going on that's causing it.

Bread crumbs

God I wish they'd bring back free awards.

But I would assume the NASA docs already gave him a head CT or MRI to rule out a tumor.

Thanks - I was confused too. That makes a lot more sense.

Thank you for confirming. That's what I thought but the way it was worded "related to his 549 days of weightlessness" gave me the impression it was consecutive. I wish the writer would have added "related to his *overall total of* 549 days of weightlessness".

meh, i connected the dots, lasted about ten minutes at onset which is common, had no reoccurrence. physical was three months later. people wonder why healthcare is so expensive (I’m in the US) but will have every test run for any symptom as there are no real diagnosticians anymore… I’m not anti medical science, just practical, maybe to my detriment but otherwise feelin’ fine.

Drivers in the US should obey traffic laws.