Stranded Woman Survives 11 Days in Rockies

link

A few tidbits will give you the gist of what went wrong.






He is being nice and not saying what everyone reading the story is going to know really happened.



I guess if there is a moral to this story is that driving under the influence of pot can get you into deep trouble, just as driving under the influence of alcohol can, or hiking under the influence for that matter.

I'm surprised she didn't see a Dunkin Donuts or a Krispy Kreme.
That seems to be high on the request list for wake-n-bakers.

I guess it says that the margin for survival even if you don't do anything right is bigger than we tend to think.

I hear AMK is working on miniaturizing this critical piece of survival gear so it can fit in an Altoids tin...

The Denver Post was saying something similar to "...her lack of medication caused some confusion and played a role..." So what happened? She got un-stoned and didn't know what to do with herself? I was kind of wondering why she didn't just follow the road she drove up on instead of leaving her gear (and shoes) in the car and wandering around for 11 days. This "medication" revelation pretty much explains it. The paper also said she was asked if she ran into a bear, and she replied "I had more important things to worry about." She probably meant, "Where in the hell is the nearest place I can score some weed?"

Wreck your first car (I wonder what caused that?), smoke some more weed, wreck your other car (I wonder what caused that?), then wander around for 11 days (I wonder what caused that?)

Dudes, like yanno, lighten up on her. Like wow man, yanno so ok, she is into urban stuff and the woods isn't her thing, yanno. So like, she got her head in a bad place and was all freaked out yanno, like wow, she was flat tripping and seeing stuff, yanno. So like none of yas have ever had a bad day, or a string of them. Yanno, cut her some slack. Sounds like she was prepared though, prolly had her stash with her to keep her head mellow while she waited for rescue. But like wow, wonder if she ate or smoked her shoes man? Also, sounds like she has the ADHD or something, yanno, as she kept getting sidetracked. Just because she has a rectal/cranial inversion doesn't mean she is bad people.

So lighten up on her, or something.

LOL
Most of these types of thoughts went through my head too. I like how her medical conditions weren't really mentioned, or her medications that she apparently needed.

Think she smoked her shoes?

Yaaaaawwwwwnnnnnn.... Who cares?

It sounds like she was on something stronger than a little medical pot.

Sue

What I find particularly odd is that she had so little in her car. I always have a big pot in my vehicle, not just a little pot....

I seriously doubt her medical marijuana use played a very large role in her story, and I wouldn't make too much of it, or assume that it, alone, explains what happened. Even chronic marijuana abuse just isn't all that debilitating. But other medical conditions, or medications she reportedly may have run out of, may have been contributory factors.

Also, she was reportedly an "avid outdoorswoman," but just not planning on going for a hike, and she only had one crash, not two. We don't know why that happened. But hers was not the first car to end up in a ditch for no obvious reason.

She had apparently just been arrested for DUI of drugs, which can also include prescription or OTC medications other than marijuana. We just had a vehicular homicide conviction reversed that was premised on nothing more than a minuscule trace amount of prescription Xanax in the driver's blood. So it can happen unexpectedly to people being treated for legitimate medical problems, too, not just drunks and stoners. I know of DUI convictions based on OTC cold medications alone. Lots of substances have sedative effects.

Things like chronic pain syndromes, diabetes, depression, and other medical conditions, as well as the medications used to treat them, can cause sudden, unexpected, and very debilitating effects or side effects. Patients can experience confusion, blackouts, hallucinations or even psychotic episodes, especially under the added stress of a DUI arrest and possible conviction.

The DUI probably was caused by medical marijuana. Her crash and subsequent seemingly bizarre behavior probably was not. I'm guessing she either screwed up or missed her meds, was pretty stressed out by her DUI (wouldn't you be?) and maybe had an exacerbation of some medical condition, or even a half-hearted notion of suicide, and suffered a bit of mental disconnect in a setting where no help was at hand.

I'm glad she's alive, and I'm not ready to be too hard on her, at least not until we hear more of the story.

I don't have any special knowledge on this case but in my experience with similar cases it sometimes turns out that the lost party was not actualy wondering in the woods for X number of days but was somewhere safe and warm.
One young lady was found clean and wearing clean clothes and fresh make-up, within sight of a housing sub-division, after a 4 day search. She was referred to mental health. No one envolved in the SAR or the medical evaluation believed she had actualy spent even a single night outside.
Just sayin.
leo

I don't know what happened off course, but man ... a person can have a really terrible time sometimes, and really needs a few days alone ... really alone !!! ' cause life is sometimes so hard and people around you can make it even harder !!!

I am glad she is a live and hope she learned something from the experience. Also hope her husband can give her a bit more of what she needs (love/care/attention/time alone ! whatever).

There is a phenomenon called, in the ER, the 'dude factor'; the less socially valuable the patient is, the greater the likelihood that he will survive an injury. For example: a drunk, stoned and tripping college drop-out survives a three-story fall, while a brain surgeon slips in the shower and dies. Happens a lot.

I've always considered the "tooth to tattoo ratio" to be a good predictor of survival.

Funny, I've noticed that a lot, too.

It seems to me that smoka-da-ganja had essentially nothing to do with this situation. It was far, far more serious than that.

From Wikipedia regarding a systemic form of lupus:
"Other common neuropsychiatric manifestation of SLE include cognitive dysfunction, mood disorder, cerebrovascular disease,[20] seizures, polyneuropathy,[20] anxiety disorder, and psychosis."

That's just a tiny bit of the massive effects of this syndrome. Don't know about you, but after I read the whole news article and the Wikipedia piece, I was highly inclined to get down on my knees and thank my lucky stars.

Lupus is so named,after the Genus:Lupus,or Wolf,because of the ability of Defective cells to attack the Nervous system!Most folks with Lupus are prescribed Phenobarbitol,of which in strength, makes Marijuana seem like a School field trip!I have 4 different friends,of whom have Lupus in their lives,at various stages.2 of them are Very Cognitive of Life around them,at ALL times,& are in Constant Pain even with the Heavy-Duty Rx!All of them have Pot Cards,It helps them with Eating,& Digestion.These are Real Good Folks,& are All US Veterans!They continue to work Regular Jobs & Pay Taxes,Like anyone else!

Amen. There are a ton of anti-survival factors out there that never give you a chance to deploy your DRPSK. Include, if you will, the process of aging, or, as I like to perceive it, the swirling acceleration I experience as I circle the bowl of senility. Diminished physical ability can be accomodated, but the thought that age will gradually erode the library of survival information stored in my brain would be terrifying...if I could recall that it was eventually going to happen...or has already...is this the aarp listserv?....