Christmas Thoughts: In which I am sickened by Christmas

[andrewducker]

Last night, at about 10pm, midway through my first ever game of Age Of Steam* I was suddenly struck down by a particularly unpleasant stomach bug. I had, at first, assumed that I'd simply stuffed myself full of Too Much Turkey, but my stomach turned out to be significantly less happy than that. Fortunately, my father is a doctor, so he was able to go to his supremely well-stocked collection of pills and find me some Lomotil so that I could leave the bathroom and continue playing the game. However, about 20 minutes later I was feeling uncomfortable in the presence of bright lights, unable to think straight, and generally wanting to go for a lie down in a darkened room. So I abandoned the game mid-session**, staggered upstairs, couldn't even face the idea of surfing the internet in bed*** and passed out in short order.

I awoke at 2:30am feeling horribly nauseous - my head was spinning in all directions. I tried rearranging myself to be more vertical, more horizontal, and a variety of positions in-between, all to no avail****. Eventually, about half an hour later I bit the bullet and woke Dad up and he gave me some Stugeron, and half an hour later I fell back asleep again.

The rest of the day until 6pm has been spent waking up for short periods, staring into space, and then falling back asleep fifteen minutes later. My body had clearly decided that I wasn't fit to look after it, and was therefore going to render itself insensible and work on fixing itself while I was blacked out. I did manage to fit in a brief conversation with Julie*****, but other than that today has been a complete write-off.

At 6pm I woke up feeling actively happy - my body still feels like it has been put through a wringer twice, and I am wary of standing up to go to the bathroom, nor do I feel like attempting food would be at all wise, but I feel awake for the first time in 17 hours, I can manage to have the laptop on without feeling overwhelmed by its light, and I don't feel like I'm about to throw up. I am counting all of these as significant steps forward. If this continues I will actually feel like a human being tomorrow.

I hope that you are having significantly more merry Christmases than I am, and if not then I hope that the forthcoming year is a definite improvement!

*I've played the Railroad Tycoon boardgame, which is clearly based on the same ruleset, but Age Of Steam is much tougher on players, and somewhat simpler/purer in its ruleset.
**Which is a clear sign of how awful I was feeling. Abandoning a multiplayer game is letting down the remaining players, and makes me feel like a Bad Person.
***I know! WTF?
****I'm very glad that Julie wasn't there, as this would have woken up constantly.
*****Having a pretty awful time in NI.

Comments

RE: "*****"

[meaningrequired.livejournal.com]

Things are a bit calmer here. People are home from hospital and other people are in less agony.

[fub.livejournal.com]

Ow, I feel your pain. I once spent christmas in bed too -- unable to retain even a glass of water. I'm glad you feel a bit more human now!

Oh noes!

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Hope you feel better soon.

[joexnz.livejournal.com]

Yuck, I was ill one Xmas, no fun

If you are feeling the lack festive feasting. Schedule one for when you get back to Edinburgh.

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

I totally understand where you are coming from and I hope you get to feeling healthy, happy, and well soon. :)

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[andrewducker]

thanks!

Re: Oh noes!

[andrewducker]

Thank you.

[andrewducker]

Feasting was, thankfully, yesterday.

[lebeautemps.livejournal.com]

How horrid for you, but I'm glad you managed to sleep some of the way through.

Re: Oh noes!

[sarahs-muse.livejournal.com]

Eeek, it sounds like you had live bugs producing lots of toxins in your DT and you stopped the diarrhoea too soon.

I try and make my self as comfortable as possible in the bathroom [books, music, videos] and spend a while there to make sure my systems doing its best to flush out the poisoned food, to get most of the bacteria out. Is it something you might try in the future? I bet you bossed your dad into those tablets! Don't! =P

"Antidiarrheals such as Pepto-Bismol can prolong salmonella (food poisoning)," says Dr. Ruderman. The medication slows down "gut motility"--that is, the speed at which the food moves through your system--so the bad stuff stays in your body longer. (However, if you have familiar traveler's diarrhea, without fever, Pepto-Bismol may help.)"

Re: Oh noes!

[andrewducker]

Not salmonella in this case - as it's similar to an infection my brother and his wife had last week.

[andrewducker]

Thank you! And yes, very glad that my body basically shut my brain down for 18 hours.

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Sounds much the same as my Antwerp experience. Short, very violent, but a surprisingly fast recovery.
Get well soon.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that

I hope you are fully recovered soon.

[anef.livejournal.com]

It sounds horrid - I'm glad you are feeling better.

[andrewducker]

Thank you.

Still feeling a bit wobbly, but hoping to get there soon...

[andrewducker]

Took me a couple of days, but I seem to be over everything bar the tiredness now. Thanks!