The Secret Society of Lightning Strike Survivors
February 17, 2021 7:41 AM Subscribe
After the sudden and intense drama of getting hit by lightning, they suffered from devastating symptoms that wouldn’t go away. It seemed like no one could help—until they found each other. [via]
Horrible that this woman got her worker’s comp taken away because “it sounds like you’re just stressed out.” What an injustice.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:33 AM on February 17, 2021 [23 favorites]
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:33 AM on February 17, 2021 [23 favorites]
Here's (slyt) a thirty minute uk documentary from 1980 on lightning strike survivors. Bizarrely, it's directed by Peter Greenaway with his symmetry obsessions in full effect.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 8:36 AM on February 17, 2021 [11 favorites]
posted by thatwhichfalls at 8:36 AM on February 17, 2021 [11 favorites]
I know someone who survived a lightning strike. He didn't have these specific effects, but for about an hour afterward he fried any electronic device he touched, a condition which spontaneously recurred for a little while years later.
posted by Ragged Richard at 11:44 AM on February 17, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by Ragged Richard at 11:44 AM on February 17, 2021 [10 favorites]
Of COURSE the insurance company challenged her claim.
posted by gottabefunky at 12:34 PM on February 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 12:34 PM on February 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
My car was almost hit by lightning once, with me in it, driving up out of the Qu'Appelle valley at night. Must've been flash-blinded because the only thing I could see, for like a half hour afterwards, was the purple afterimage of a huge vertical line.
...which was a lot of fun as someone who'd been doing 100kph just moments prior. At least it hadn't started raining yet.
Can't imagine actually being hit.
posted by aramaic at 1:43 PM on February 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
...which was a lot of fun as someone who'd been doing 100kph just moments prior. At least it hadn't started raining yet.
Can't imagine actually being hit.
posted by aramaic at 1:43 PM on February 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
This article might be a fascinating topic but I couldn't read it because it just became a rage-inducing story about the horrifying and typical failures of the American health care system after the first paragraph.
posted by daisystomper at 4:44 PM on February 17, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by daisystomper at 4:44 PM on February 17, 2021 [6 favorites]
I don't think I even realized that people survived getting hit by lightning. Very fascinating article.
posted by biggreenplant at 5:16 PM on February 17, 2021
posted by biggreenplant at 5:16 PM on February 17, 2021
Pynchon talks about this in Gravity's Rainbow:
"Most people’s lives have ups and downs that are relatively gradual, a sinuous curve with first derivatives at every point. They’re the ones who never get struck by lightning. No real idea of cataclysm at all. But the ones who do get hit experience a singular point, a discontinuity in the curve of life — do you know what the time rate of change is at a cusp? Infinity, that’s what! A-and right across the point, it’s minus infinity! How’s that for sudden change, eh? Infinite miles per hour changing to the same speed in reverse . . . That’s getting hit by lightning, folks."
posted by yinchiao at 6:45 PM on February 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
"Most people’s lives have ups and downs that are relatively gradual, a sinuous curve with first derivatives at every point. They’re the ones who never get struck by lightning. No real idea of cataclysm at all. But the ones who do get hit experience a singular point, a discontinuity in the curve of life — do you know what the time rate of change is at a cusp? Infinity, that’s what! A-and right across the point, it’s minus infinity! How’s that for sudden change, eh? Infinite miles per hour changing to the same speed in reverse . . . That’s getting hit by lightning, folks."
posted by yinchiao at 6:45 PM on February 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
I know someone who survived a lightning strike. He didn't have these specific effects, but for about an hour afterward he fried any electronic device he touched, a condition which spontaneously recurred for a little while years later.
I have a relative who routinely fries electronic devices when terribly stressed (televisions, cell phones, one time he got terrible news at a CVS and the whole store's power blew!) -- I wonder if he has had any kind of lightning-related mishap in his past.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:13 PM on February 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
I have a relative who routinely fries electronic devices when terribly stressed (televisions, cell phones, one time he got terrible news at a CVS and the whole store's power blew!) -- I wonder if he has had any kind of lightning-related mishap in his past.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:13 PM on February 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
Southerners are quick to add something like, "Well, God must have a plan for your life!" after an event like this, which quickly segues into something like, "He ain't been right since he was struck."
As simple as it is, at least it acknowledges the fact that something is, in fact, not right.
It's very odd that "regular folks" can plainly see the changes, yet the medical and insurance communities seem to quickly dismiss it as something they can't "find." There cannot be zero quantifiable results after a zillion volts course through your body, even if they don't leave an exit burn. Victim shaming at its very stupidest.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 2:47 AM on February 18, 2021
As simple as it is, at least it acknowledges the fact that something is, in fact, not right.
It's very odd that "regular folks" can plainly see the changes, yet the medical and insurance communities seem to quickly dismiss it as something they can't "find." There cannot be zero quantifiable results after a zillion volts course through your body, even if they don't leave an exit burn. Victim shaming at its very stupidest.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 2:47 AM on February 18, 2021
When, if ever, is medicine as a practice going to stop tripping over the tied-together shoelaces of its own immense arrogance and actually start meeting and helping people where they are, instead of refusing to treat anything that doesn't look like its own (immensely arrogant) idea of disease or ill health?
This is a tangent to the original focus of the thread, but I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about the fact that the west has basically one model for how a person learns to practice medicine, which is by all accounts gruelling and often punitive/abusive. I wonder how many people who'd make fantastic physicians opt out or are forced out of the profession (or never enter it to begin with) because the only model we have for training a doctor seems to involve belittling, humiliation and incredibly physically and mentally demanding working conditions. There are plenty of types of medicine that don't require one to have been able to survive an ER rotation in order to practice, and plenty of people who'd make good, compassionate, humane doctors in those disciplines who currently can't or won't join the profession because the profession insists that it can only be taught the way it's always been taught.
To be clear, I'm not calling out any individual doctors here, more like the entire system that believes it knows what is and isn't possible about a person's health or body better than their own experience of living in that body. I suspect I'd be in much better health myself these days if I hadn't already had so many traumatic medical encounters where it was assumed that I couldn't possibly be a reliable witness about my own symptoms or experiences that I now basically refuse to seek medical attention unless it's an emergency. People like Shana give up and seek out communities of people who actually validate their experience. People like me give up, without necessarily having any kind of community that can step in and comparable offer support.
posted by terretu at 7:50 AM on February 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
This is a tangent to the original focus of the thread, but I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about the fact that the west has basically one model for how a person learns to practice medicine, which is by all accounts gruelling and often punitive/abusive. I wonder how many people who'd make fantastic physicians opt out or are forced out of the profession (or never enter it to begin with) because the only model we have for training a doctor seems to involve belittling, humiliation and incredibly physically and mentally demanding working conditions. There are plenty of types of medicine that don't require one to have been able to survive an ER rotation in order to practice, and plenty of people who'd make good, compassionate, humane doctors in those disciplines who currently can't or won't join the profession because the profession insists that it can only be taught the way it's always been taught.
To be clear, I'm not calling out any individual doctors here, more like the entire system that believes it knows what is and isn't possible about a person's health or body better than their own experience of living in that body. I suspect I'd be in much better health myself these days if I hadn't already had so many traumatic medical encounters where it was assumed that I couldn't possibly be a reliable witness about my own symptoms or experiences that I now basically refuse to seek medical attention unless it's an emergency. People like Shana give up and seek out communities of people who actually validate their experience. People like me give up, without necessarily having any kind of community that can step in and comparable offer support.
posted by terretu at 7:50 AM on February 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
I've not been directly struck by lightning, but like many people (?) I've been in an airplane that was struck. We were coming into Detroit during a storm, and I remember hearing a very loud 'WHUMP' sound, like a muffled mallet had struck the side of the plane. Then, the air filled with the smell of ozone.
A few seconds later, the captain came on the loudspeaker and with practiced drawl announced, 'uhhhhhhhhh for all of you on tonight's flight you've now got a story to tell when we land. We were, indeed, just struck by lightning. But dont worry - these planes are designed to be struck, and it happens fairly regularly. We'll have you safe on the ground in just a few minutes or so.'
And he was right.
posted by jordantwodelta at 8:00 AM on February 18, 2021 [6 favorites]
A few seconds later, the captain came on the loudspeaker and with practiced drawl announced, 'uhhhhhhhhh for all of you on tonight's flight you've now got a story to tell when we land. We were, indeed, just struck by lightning. But dont worry - these planes are designed to be struck, and it happens fairly regularly. We'll have you safe on the ground in just a few minutes or so.'
And he was right.
posted by jordantwodelta at 8:00 AM on February 18, 2021 [6 favorites]
A blast of lightening once hit near to me while I was driving on the highway at night. Apart from being blinded by the flash for a bit the only other "damage" was my radio turning off on its own. Thankfully I could turn it right back on and nothing had gotten fried. I have no idea how close I actually was--- for all I know it hit 50 feet away--- but whatever the distance it was intense. I simply could not imagine being hit directly and without any protection. Crikey.
posted by drstrangelove at 11:01 AM on February 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by drstrangelove at 11:01 AM on February 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
potent anti-fatigue medicine called Nuvigil, popular with late-night shift workers.
Anyone need this for their next dystopia-based-on-reality novel?
posted by aniola at 6:09 PM on February 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
Anyone need this for their next dystopia-based-on-reality novel?
posted by aniola at 6:09 PM on February 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
... but overall I felt like this was a really hopeful story. I am so glad they have all been able to find each other.
posted by aniola at 6:16 PM on February 18, 2021
posted by aniola at 6:16 PM on February 18, 2021
So... not sure if this counts as me being struck by lightning, or being electrocuted. But this happened to me also.
During a big thunderstorm, the power went out in my house. After a few minutes, everything came back up again -- except for the things in my living room plugged into an old power strip.
So, after I threw the breakers and checked everything, I walked over to hit the reset button the power strip. Just as I did that, lightning and thunder crashed DIRECTLY over my house, electricity jumped from the power strip into my hand, then bounced in a zig-zag pattern up my right arm. The force of the power coursing through me threw me hard against the wall and stunned me temporarily. When my back hit the wall, it disconnected my hand from the power strip (and thank God, really! because otherwise, I wouldn't be typing this story right now).
I was stunned for a minute. My house smelled like ozone and melted plastic for about a month after that, and the power strip itself melted. The pain was worse than anything I've ever felt in my life. I staggered to the sink and started trying to wash the "black stuff" off my right hand, only to realize that stuff was, in fact, the swollen, split skin of my hands and fingers. Then I called my husband, who was in Mexico, who sent a friend over to check on me.
His friend, Chris, wanted to call 911 or take me to the ER. I refused. Everything was hazy, and I had severe ringing in my ears. The skin on my right hand and forearm looked charred, and I had a zig-zag black pattern up that forearm until probably 2 months later?
Only after I laid down and tried to sleep that night with several frozen beer coozies loosely ace-bandaged around my arm did I realize I felt something sharp in my mouth.
The jolt had popped 2 fillings in the back of my mouth on one side; I no longer have my two hindmost molars on the right side of my jaw. Weirdly, there are NO visible scars today to prove that happened. I definitely wouldn't wish that pain on anyone!
PS. I tried to go to work the next day at Match.com, for some reason. When I staggered in with one blackened arm covered in thick green burn gel, HR practically ran at me screeching to go home. It really did mentally mess me up for about 2 weeks afterwards! I'm glad I mostly turned out fine and have no lasting ill effects (minus 2 lost teeth).
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:15 AM on February 19, 2021 [5 favorites]
During a big thunderstorm, the power went out in my house. After a few minutes, everything came back up again -- except for the things in my living room plugged into an old power strip.
So, after I threw the breakers and checked everything, I walked over to hit the reset button the power strip. Just as I did that, lightning and thunder crashed DIRECTLY over my house, electricity jumped from the power strip into my hand, then bounced in a zig-zag pattern up my right arm. The force of the power coursing through me threw me hard against the wall and stunned me temporarily. When my back hit the wall, it disconnected my hand from the power strip (and thank God, really! because otherwise, I wouldn't be typing this story right now).
I was stunned for a minute. My house smelled like ozone and melted plastic for about a month after that, and the power strip itself melted. The pain was worse than anything I've ever felt in my life. I staggered to the sink and started trying to wash the "black stuff" off my right hand, only to realize that stuff was, in fact, the swollen, split skin of my hands and fingers. Then I called my husband, who was in Mexico, who sent a friend over to check on me.
His friend, Chris, wanted to call 911 or take me to the ER. I refused. Everything was hazy, and I had severe ringing in my ears. The skin on my right hand and forearm looked charred, and I had a zig-zag black pattern up that forearm until probably 2 months later?
Only after I laid down and tried to sleep that night with several frozen beer coozies loosely ace-bandaged around my arm did I realize I felt something sharp in my mouth.
The jolt had popped 2 fillings in the back of my mouth on one side; I no longer have my two hindmost molars on the right side of my jaw. Weirdly, there are NO visible scars today to prove that happened. I definitely wouldn't wish that pain on anyone!
PS. I tried to go to work the next day at Match.com, for some reason. When I staggered in with one blackened arm covered in thick green burn gel, HR practically ran at me screeching to go home. It really did mentally mess me up for about 2 weeks afterwards! I'm glad I mostly turned out fine and have no lasting ill effects (minus 2 lost teeth).
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 8:15 AM on February 19, 2021 [5 favorites]
No lightning strike here. I do want to share my take and frustration with many neurologists.
Had a severe accident with major injuries (fractured skull, subdural hematoma, etc) After surgery, I learned that neurologists are good at triage. After that they have very little clue as to how to heal brain trauma.
I knew that it was important to move and figured out that it was important to do continued crossbody/brain action. At minimum, crossbody abdominals are an example. Yoga was perfect as there are a lot of asymmetrical poses where you do one side, then the other. Breathing techniques are also "one side, then the other." My sense is that you keep engaging one side of the brain with the other. If science has proven that this works, great. If not, I am not waiting around for them.
Have had some seizures off and on the past several years. The doctors immediately connect it to the head injury. I am reticent to fully buy into that in that no doctor will take into consideration the "content" (what one sees and experiences ) during the seizure, which I feel is just as important as the seizure itself.
My model of what doctors do and where they can go in terms of neurology "issues" is:
Western model- "Symptom, Diagnosis, Sign off for insurance purposes"
My ideal - "Symptom, Diagnosis, Research"
Also to note: seizures are often noted as "storms" with increased electrical activity going on in the brain.
posted by goalyeehah at 3:32 PM on February 19, 2021 [1 favorite]
Had a severe accident with major injuries (fractured skull, subdural hematoma, etc) After surgery, I learned that neurologists are good at triage. After that they have very little clue as to how to heal brain trauma.
I knew that it was important to move and figured out that it was important to do continued crossbody/brain action. At minimum, crossbody abdominals are an example. Yoga was perfect as there are a lot of asymmetrical poses where you do one side, then the other. Breathing techniques are also "one side, then the other." My sense is that you keep engaging one side of the brain with the other. If science has proven that this works, great. If not, I am not waiting around for them.
Have had some seizures off and on the past several years. The doctors immediately connect it to the head injury. I am reticent to fully buy into that in that no doctor will take into consideration the "content" (what one sees and experiences ) during the seizure, which I feel is just as important as the seizure itself.
My model of what doctors do and where they can go in terms of neurology "issues" is:
Western model- "Symptom, Diagnosis, Sign off for insurance purposes"
My ideal - "Symptom, Diagnosis, Research"
Also to note: seizures are often noted as "storms" with increased electrical activity going on in the brain.
posted by goalyeehah at 3:32 PM on February 19, 2021 [1 favorite]
I know someone who survived a lightning strike. He didn't have these specific effects, but for about an hour afterward he fried any electronic device he touched, a condition which spontaneously recurred for a little while years later.
A couple of nights ago I watched a YouTube video about a young mother in Texas who was struck by lightning in her own kitchen during one of the bigger lightning storms in Texas history a few years ago.
The story itself is interesting, well told, and emotionally satisfying, but what really fascinated me were the 841 comments, in which many people told stories of being struck by lightning themselves or knowing someone who was.
There were at least two or three accounts by people who experienced things like your acquaintance did, and I’ve seen a number of similar stories. I’m starting to believe there’s something to all this, and it fits with things I’ve been looking at about asthma – things which seem to imply asthma attacks could be precipitated by thunderstorms. And apparently they are, to the tune of 8000 trips to the ER and eight deaths in Melbourne associated with a series of thunderstorms which swept across Australia in the fall of 2016. Similar epidemics have occurred in Saudia Arabia and elsewhere. Hmm!
posted by jamjam at 2:14 AM on March 15, 2021
A couple of nights ago I watched a YouTube video about a young mother in Texas who was struck by lightning in her own kitchen during one of the bigger lightning storms in Texas history a few years ago.
The story itself is interesting, well told, and emotionally satisfying, but what really fascinated me were the 841 comments, in which many people told stories of being struck by lightning themselves or knowing someone who was.
There were at least two or three accounts by people who experienced things like your acquaintance did, and I’ve seen a number of similar stories. I’m starting to believe there’s something to all this, and it fits with things I’ve been looking at about asthma – things which seem to imply asthma attacks could be precipitated by thunderstorms. And apparently they are, to the tune of 8000 trips to the ER and eight deaths in Melbourne associated with a series of thunderstorms which swept across Australia in the fall of 2016. Similar epidemics have occurred in Saudia Arabia and elsewhere. Hmm!
posted by jamjam at 2:14 AM on March 15, 2021
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Decades ago I was sitting in freshman physics and the professor said that lightning rods on buildings are noisy in thunderstorms: snap, crackle, pop. This was in Texas so I didn't have to wait long to find out. The college's science building was 4 stories tall and the highest point for miles around. So during an intense thunderstorm one evening, I climbed the stairs and went onto the roof (the door to the roof was kept unlocked). It was raining hard and there was a lot of lightning. I went to the edge of the building where the rods were--of course--silent.
So I headed back to the door. I got about halfway there when there was a gigantic flash and boom. I found myself lying on the roof tarmac, just moderately soaked so if I was knocked out it was very brief. I was uninjured. I wonder if my umbrella played a role.
posted by neuron at 8:27 AM on February 17, 2021 [10 favorites]