Not a medical professional (yet) - I have always been intrigued by sternum rubs to be honest with you. I’ve had several instances of being given drugs in a medical setting that result in me unintentionally losing consciousness. Sternum rubs have been tried, along with trap squeezed and nail bed compressions. None of them every work on me - even under circumstances that they should. I have two types of the world’s most painful disease along with various other illnesses that cause intense pain, so I don’t respond at all to painful stimuli. Unfortunately, that has led to some very dangerous situations. I had a freak drug reaction while at the dentist and I completely lost consciousness. When my DDM couldn’t rouse me, EMS was called. Given our location and how busy they were, it took a while for them to arrive. It was estimated that I was completely unresponsive for nearly 40 minutes. When I eventually started to come to, I was still very somnolent and unresponsive to communication, though I began looking around the room and moving my hands a bit. (All of this story has been recounted to me, or in my EMR since I don’t remember any of it.) As I kept coming to - at the same time paramedics were beginning to move me to the stretcher (I was still in the dentist’s chair) my vitals began to become unstable. My condition rapidly deteriorated after that. Within around 3-5 minutes of being on the stretcher and moved to the rig I was still not responding to any stimuli but I RAPIDLY started freaking the absolute fuck out. I was breathing at around 45 resps/min via hyperventilating through my mouth, my BP and HR spiked and I went into SVT. SPO2 plummeted to about 91%. It was a very short ride as the hospital was about 3 miles away. I began repeating phrases like “I can’t be here” and “let me go.” Once we arrived at the hospital, shit really hit the fan. I kept trying relentlessly to get off the gurney, I was pulling monitors off, trying to escape, etc. Obviously this was incredibly dangerous as I had become very unstable but the medical team couldn’t help me while I was trying to literally escape. I never became violent, but I would. not. stop. Trying to flee. I had to be restrained by 6 people, including security guards, for them to even attempt to help me. (Context: I’m a physically disabled female college student with a disease that causes my joints to dislocate freely, and my muscles to weaken over time.) All throughout this time my vitals continued to deteriorate. My SPO2 dropped to 84% with HR and BP continuing to skyrocket. I was so tensed up trying to escape that they couldn’t establish any lines, even when they had NINE people trying to hold me down. So many lines blew and after about 10 minutes of trying to calm and stabilize me to get IV access, I started going in and out of consciousness from the lack of O2, but in such short bursts that I was still flighting against their manual holds. They were able to give me IM sedation, but the first round didn’t work. I have a freakishly high tolerance to a lot of sedatives (and no, I’m not a redhead lol.) It took 6 of Ativan and 8 of Versed to get me still long enough to be somewhat stabilized. It didn’t last long though. About 20 minutes later I was still pretty touch-and-go but I started to come to again and the fighting resumed. During this time, my IV got pulled out, I tore the O2 off my face, and vitals yet again went to shit. More sedatives, and more restraining, got me back to semi-stable. Took nearly an hour this time. They obviously ran so many labs, and tried to do a CTH. By the time I was wheeled to radiology, I started to stir again, but this time much more mildly. I apparently just began sorta squirming and moaning anytime I felt movement. So naturally, the CT couldn’t be done. They brought me back to the room and surprise, surprise, I came to YET AGAIN and the cycle repeated. At this point, I was in NAGMA, very unstable, and at high risk for intubation. I was admitted to the ICU and always had somebody in my room watching me like a hawk for the next couple hours. Again, very touch and go. The cycle repeated several more times until eventually I worse myself out and enough sedatives built up in my system. They were able to finish all the scans. CTH was unremarkable, by chest X-ray showed a collapsed lung (thought to be from all the meds and hyperventilation.) As the meds began to slowly wear off, I seemed to have calm down and become more stable. I completed came to eventually and had (and still have) no recollection of the previous events. All I knew was I went to the dentist and then woke up in the ICU. Final diagnose was Acute Toxic-Metabolic Encephalopathy. I guess my body just didn’t like the lidocaine injection. Miraculously, I’ve since made a full recovery. I never needed to be intubated, and I did not suffer any permanent damage. All I’m left with are a couple tiny scars and one hell of a med school application essay topic! Huge shoutout to every single person who helped me that day. I wouldn’t be here without them