Yesterday was a bad day. Today is slightly better, but still a struggle.
Our women's soccer team played at UC Davis (about 18 minutes from Sacramento, which is only 40-45 minutes from me) at noon, while J.D.'s men's soccer team would be playing at Sac State at 1 p.m. So my game plan for the day was to forgo the team bus ride up to Davis and drive both J.D. and myself up there. After his game, the two of us were going to go to the mall in Sacramento or Roseville and use my Macy's gift card, make a Target run and then have dinner at Cheesecake Factory afterwards, since his parents gave us the gift card to Cheesecake and Sacramento's the closest one to Stockton.
10:12 a.m. I make a stop at McDonald's for J.D. to grab some breakfast (bleh) and grab a vanilla iced latte and some yogurt myself.
10:30 a.m. During the drive up to Sac State/UC Davis, I took two Excedrin Extra Strength when my TMJ headaches began to bother me. I didn't want that affecting my drive or my ability to pay attention at the soccer game.
11:05 a.m. I begin having panic attacks, accompanied by slight chest pains during the drive, before dropping Mr. Fox off at Sac State around 11:15.
11:42 a.m. I arrive at the UC Davis campus and make my way to the athletic facilities, trying to take deep breaths and calm myself down. We're up 1-0 at halftime and I eat the (soft PB&J) sandwich I made myself earlier in the morning. That's the extent of what my jaw will let me have.
2:13 p.m. I write my game story from my car (it was freezing and sprinkly and all I brought were shorts and a tee-shirt with a jacket). As I finish 20 minutes later I pop two more Excedrin, after my head and jaw continue bothering me, in order to make the drive back to Sac State.
2:58 p.m. I arrive at Sac State and wait in the parking lot for J.D.'s soccer game to finish in five minutes and for him to let me into his office. After waiting for two minutes, I sprint into the basketball/volleyball gym in search of a restroom where I compose myself and hope not to vomit.
3:03 p.m., heading back towards my car, I see J.D. in the hallway and he takes me to his office, where I plop down on a couch and apparently shiver/tremble/hyperventilate for the next 20 minutes, while he worriedly tries to finish up his story. I make two trips back to the restroom to throw up.
3:30 p.m. We go to the student center to try and find me some food, I cannot walk much faster than a crawl, worried about my twisting stomach. Luckily, Round Table Pizza and the student center are open, so I grabbed some bread sticks, goldfish crackers and Sprite. I eat it all slowly, feeling a little better.
4:15 p.m. I ask J.D. to drive my car back home and apologize for ruining our evening plans. After making all 38 minutes of the drive free, I pop my head out of the car and empty the contents of my stomach in the street, less than 10 feet from our complex.
4:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Without much luck, I try consuming soup or carbonated beverages. I make six or seven trips back to the restroom. Until J.D. gets scared enough to do some research on Excedrin and allergies and overdoses. At 9:30 p.m., he fears I might have overdosed, due to my jittery spasms, panic attacks, heart rate and irritable stomach.
10 p.m. We get to Kaiser's urgent care facility, which is not an emergency room at all, but a specially-open late-night appointment center. I find out that I've consumed way more caffeine than my body could handle over the course of the day, and that I may be allergic to that combination of aspirin and caffeine. She says there isn't really anything for me to do but drink Gatorade or Pedalite to replenish the electrolytes I've lost throughout the day. If I continued vomiting through the night, then I should go to the nearest ER to get an IV or something.
11:15 p.m. after taking very small sips of Gatorade, I have to go one last time. It is at this point that I decide being dehydrated or low on electrolytes is the lesser of two evils. I have absolutely nothing left in my stomach and am throwing up bile at this point. If drinking/eating induces this, then I will not do it anymore until my stomach can handle it. I'll replenish in the morning.
All night long: I toss and turn, sweating, stomach irritated and in a severe twisted knot, praying that I won't have to vomit anymore.
11 a.m. October 19, I finally get out of bed and take a bath, nauseous when standing or walking. I resume drinking Gatorade in small doses.
12:30 p.m. Brave enough to try to eat again, I make the trip downstairs. My body won't hold down the bread I try to eat, nor the orange lemon (caffeine-free) soda I try. I still feel queasy and sick.
12:45 p.m. I sleep for over three hours.
And now here I am, back with jaw pain, but restricted from any pain medication whatsoever for the next 24 hours. My jaw has me limited to eating soft, liquid foods, but my stomach will only allow for bland tasteless foods.
I'm just hoping this has run its course and I'm now at the end.
Our women's soccer team played at UC Davis (about 18 minutes from Sacramento, which is only 40-45 minutes from me) at noon, while J.D.'s men's soccer team would be playing at Sac State at 1 p.m. So my game plan for the day was to forgo the team bus ride up to Davis and drive both J.D. and myself up there. After his game, the two of us were going to go to the mall in Sacramento or Roseville and use my Macy's gift card, make a Target run and then have dinner at Cheesecake Factory afterwards, since his parents gave us the gift card to Cheesecake and Sacramento's the closest one to Stockton.
10:12 a.m. I make a stop at McDonald's for J.D. to grab some breakfast (bleh) and grab a vanilla iced latte and some yogurt myself.
10:30 a.m. During the drive up to Sac State/UC Davis, I took two Excedrin Extra Strength when my TMJ headaches began to bother me. I didn't want that affecting my drive or my ability to pay attention at the soccer game.
11:05 a.m. I begin having panic attacks, accompanied by slight chest pains during the drive, before dropping Mr. Fox off at Sac State around 11:15.
11:42 a.m. I arrive at the UC Davis campus and make my way to the athletic facilities, trying to take deep breaths and calm myself down. We're up 1-0 at halftime and I eat the (soft PB&J) sandwich I made myself earlier in the morning. That's the extent of what my jaw will let me have.
2:13 p.m. I write my game story from my car (it was freezing and sprinkly and all I brought were shorts and a tee-shirt with a jacket). As I finish 20 minutes later I pop two more Excedrin, after my head and jaw continue bothering me, in order to make the drive back to Sac State.
2:58 p.m. I arrive at Sac State and wait in the parking lot for J.D.'s soccer game to finish in five minutes and for him to let me into his office. After waiting for two minutes, I sprint into the basketball/volleyball gym in search of a restroom where I compose myself and hope not to vomit.
3:03 p.m., heading back towards my car, I see J.D. in the hallway and he takes me to his office, where I plop down on a couch and apparently shiver/tremble/hyperventilate for the next 20 minutes, while he worriedly tries to finish up his story. I make two trips back to the restroom to throw up.
3:30 p.m. We go to the student center to try and find me some food, I cannot walk much faster than a crawl, worried about my twisting stomach. Luckily, Round Table Pizza and the student center are open, so I grabbed some bread sticks, goldfish crackers and Sprite. I eat it all slowly, feeling a little better.
4:15 p.m. I ask J.D. to drive my car back home and apologize for ruining our evening plans. After making all 38 minutes of the drive free, I pop my head out of the car and empty the contents of my stomach in the street, less than 10 feet from our complex.
4:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Without much luck, I try consuming soup or carbonated beverages. I make six or seven trips back to the restroom. Until J.D. gets scared enough to do some research on Excedrin and allergies and overdoses. At 9:30 p.m., he fears I might have overdosed, due to my jittery spasms, panic attacks, heart rate and irritable stomach.
10 p.m. We get to Kaiser's urgent care facility, which is not an emergency room at all, but a specially-open late-night appointment center. I find out that I've consumed way more caffeine than my body could handle over the course of the day, and that I may be allergic to that combination of aspirin and caffeine. She says there isn't really anything for me to do but drink Gatorade or Pedalite to replenish the electrolytes I've lost throughout the day. If I continued vomiting through the night, then I should go to the nearest ER to get an IV or something.
11:15 p.m. after taking very small sips of Gatorade, I have to go one last time. It is at this point that I decide being dehydrated or low on electrolytes is the lesser of two evils. I have absolutely nothing left in my stomach and am throwing up bile at this point. If drinking/eating induces this, then I will not do it anymore until my stomach can handle it. I'll replenish in the morning.
All night long: I toss and turn, sweating, stomach irritated and in a severe twisted knot, praying that I won't have to vomit anymore.
11 a.m. October 19, I finally get out of bed and take a bath, nauseous when standing or walking. I resume drinking Gatorade in small doses.
12:30 p.m. Brave enough to try to eat again, I make the trip downstairs. My body won't hold down the bread I try to eat, nor the orange lemon (caffeine-free) soda I try. I still feel queasy and sick.
12:45 p.m. I sleep for over three hours.
And now here I am, back with jaw pain, but restricted from any pain medication whatsoever for the next 24 hours. My jaw has me limited to eating soft, liquid foods, but my stomach will only allow for bland tasteless foods.
I'm just hoping this has run its course and I'm now at the end.
2 comments:
Jeez Mo. I hope you feel better soon! I had too much caffeine once from pain meds and had a bad reaction. I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest and I was unbelievably shaky. Luckily I missed the nausea portion. Anyway, get better and hopefully one of these days we can call and catch up. Feel better!
So I know you are feeling like crap right now, but I just can't resist asking...
... is it cool being like Jessie Spanow?
OK, bad Saved By the Bell joke time is now over. Now, for the serious part, the eating part: have you tried popsicles? Have JD pick up some fruit flavored popsicles on the way home. Those might help. Don't push yourself too quickly on having solid food, stick with clear liquids and when you're feeling better you might even want to start with mushy foods - mashed potatoes, ice cream, etc.
And for the painkillers, DON'T let them tell you you can't have any. Cry, beg, whatever, but get yourself some painkillers. Modern medicine invented painkillers for a reason, so that you can take them and not have to be in pain. Good luck!
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