That was no fun at all

[redbird]

I had a miserable afternoon and not much sleep last night.

The main problem was pain in my torso, from around my navel up to my breasts in front, and in my back, mostly along the spine. I couldn't find a really comfortable position for several hours. Sleep was effectively impossible, walking hurt, halfway-plausible positions for sitting were only plausible for a few minutes.

I took aspirin before dinner, after a few hours of just being uncomfortable. No noticeable effect. I also didn't eat much dinner, and wound up getting out of bed later and having a bowl of milk and cereal before my disinclination to eat returned and overrode my hunger.

Then, still in pain, somewhere around midnight I decided to try ibuprofen.

Five minutes later, I was leaning over the toilet, throwing up small amounts of liquid. Really not fun. I don't know if that was connected to the ibuprofen, or just random timing. Either way, it ruled out any further painkillers.

The pain continued, and I continued to look for tolerable positions. I think it was somewhere between 3 and 4 a.m. by the time I settled into a fitful sleep.



This morning I'm feeling better, but of course tired, and glad I didn't get to the stage of making plans with anyone.

cattitude suggests that the problem is lack of exercise, so (while I am not ready to head out to the gym today), I'll do a few crunches here (in 3s or so, not 15s as I usually do) and maybe even bicep curls.

I expect to be basically home today, but will probably be screening calls even if I'm awake.

Comments

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Blech. Glad you're feeling better today.

A few years ago I had a couple episodes where all of the muscles between my ribs would swell up for no apparent reason. Sounds very similar to what you're describing - very painful and completely impossible to find a position that was comfortable. Painkillers didn't touch it, and the doctor prescribed Tylenol with codeine, but that gave me horrible stomach cramps and didn't help my back. I never did find out what caused it - it would just go away on its own within 24 hours. But I really, really hope it never happens again (to me, or you!)

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

*careful hug* Hope it doesn't happen again.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

Asprin and ibuprofen can both irritate the stomach, so that may have caused or contributed to your nausea, especially if your stomach was already annoyed by missing meals.

If you want to have a pain killer on an upset stomach, something paracetomol based is best, since that has much less of an irritant effect.

No idea what the trade names for these are in the US though. Sorry.

[redbird]

I tend to avoid paracetemol (which is called acetominophen over here) because it can be bad for the liver, and my doctor is already checking my liver function every four months because of possible side effects of my medication. And, well, I didn't have an upset stomach before I took the ibuprofen.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

That's fair enough. You may want to ask your doctor about paracetomol next time you see them since it is a useful addition to the pain killing armory. Its much better at some things than asprin or ibuprofen - flu/cold symptoms for example.

[sneerpout.livejournal.com]

::hug::

Sorry to hear this, and am sending you lots of soothing sleeeep vibes across the ocean. With luck you'll feel back to normal tomorrow.

As for lack of exercise, I can't see it myself, as you seem to work out more than anyone I know! I envy your discipline and wish I had a fitness routine that I could stick to. Mine own fault, of course...

[redbird]

The hypothesis is that my muscles had gotten used to that level of exercise, and were missing it. I haven't been to the gym since before I went to Montreal (ten days or so, which isn't a horribly long break).

I am feeling a bit better: yogurt for breakfast and vegetable soup for lunch, the usual amount of tea (with milk and sugar, which today is going to be a fair portion of my caloric intake, I suspect), and plenty of water.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Aspirin makes me throw up, on occasion.

I find that if I have aches like that and can't get comfortable, having a really hot bath in the tub, preferably with salts dissolved in it (bath bombs are also good) will often help a bit, at least at the time. See also hot water bottles.

I hope that goes away and stays away, it sounds awful.

I'd suggest tea and oranges, but then I would.

[redbird]

The hot bath managed to transfer some of the pain from my breasts to my lower back--my tub isn't as large as yours, so I couldn't really get comfortable.

Tea is good, and is helping. Have I mentioned that the Ti Kwan Yin from the set you gave me at New Year's is very nice? (I haven't tried any of the others yet.)

No Fun At All (In spades, it sounds like)

[freeme6.livejournal.com]

Do you have a heating pad? Then you can lie comfortably on your bed & heat up the sore parts (sequentially if they're bigger than the heating pad, as my back pains have sometimes been). I've found that even if the pain doesn't go away completely, the heat is still comforting.

But really, muscle pain and lack of apetite followed by vomiting sounds like a viral infection (stomach-flu variety) to me. Not much you can do for those unless the vomiting is severe enough for you to head to the doctor's for Composine. Hot fluids & rest is about it, which you are already doing.

I'm glad you're feeling better and hope there are no recurrences.

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry your night was so uncomfortable. Hope your day goes better.

Tea. Soup. Warm liquids. Always helpful.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you had such a rotten night. I hope whatever it is, is fading away and your ideas for taking care of yourself are working.

Do you have any sense about whether the pain came from your muscles or from something else?

Any chance you're dehydrated or your change in exercise routine has put your electrolytes out of whack?

What you describe doesn't really sound like what I have experience with (stomach cramping which results in knotted muscles front and back and occasionally in throwing up a small volume of liquid), but it helps me to stand under a hot shower for a while and then stretch, to get a backrub, or to walk swinging my arms and trying to breathe deeply.

Again, here is my sympathy and best wishes for a speedy recovery