Well. Things escalated quickly on Wednesday night.
If you saw my last post, you saw that I was having cramps and other PMDD symptoms again. It got progressively worse as the night went on. Shortly after posting, I went upstairs and curled up with my heating pad. I was having cramps that were making my back hurt. After some acetaminophen, naproxen, and heat, I was starting to feel a little more human, so I ventured downstairs. I hadn't eaten dinner yet, and I figured that I probably should do that.
Sometimes, my judgement is shit. This was one of those times. I sat down on the couch, winded, and continued to feel like trash. And then the cramps kicked it into high gear. Now, when I say I have a reasonably high pain tolerance, I'm neither bullshitting nor bragging. I have dealt with multiple sprains to both ankles and my right knee, dislocation of my right knee, tendinitis and bursitis of both hips simultaneously, migraines, and most recently, costochondritis (swelling of the cartilage that connects the ribs to the sternum, in my case, from a sprain) all with only rare instances of crying. "Normal" period cramps routinely cause me to double over in pain and force me to breathe like I'm in labor, and have, on occasion, caused me to pass out. Frankly, I kind of wish I had passed out on Wednesday night. Instead, I sat on the couch, my knees tucked to my chin, jamming my fingers into my lower abdomen in an attempt to prevent my internal organs from making their way through my abdominal wall, and ultimately, crying hysterically. For a solid 20 minutes, at least. It got to the point that my husband called his stepmom, who is a pharmacist, to find out if she had any suggestions for OTC remedies beyond what I had already taken.
The suggestion was made to head to the ER. I vetoed the everloving FUCK out of that. We may have good insurance (thank you USMC), but it would still cost roughly one (1) appendage to visit an ER. And what would they do, anyway? Most likely, they would either completely brush off the symptoms (as either exaggeration or drug-seeking behavior) or prescribe me something that would also make me feel like shit in other ways. (There was also the option of an urgent care, but what could they do other than write an Rx for meds that I wouldn't be able to get until morning anway, so....fuck that noise.)
Fortunately, after about 20 minutes (that felt like 2 hours), the cramps subsided somewhat. It was still ungodly painful, and made me want to vomit, but I was able to stop crying long enough to eat a sandwich. I then benadryl'd myself to sleep. It was...not terribly effective.
I did some research on Thursday, and found a place nearby that offers CBD products that are both legal and regulated. They even offered options specifically designed for menstrual issues. So that's where we went Thursday night. One of the products we picked up was a broad spectrum (no THC) CBD oil. Later on that night, I was feeling particularly shitty and having pretty rough cramps again. So I took 1/4ml of the oil (recommended dose is 1/4 - 1ml). Within 15 minutes, cramps had ceased. And I managed to sleep through the night for the first time in a couple of weeks. So yeah, that shit's effective.
Despite this, unfortunately, I still feel like absolute dookie. Near constant nausea, breakouts, headaches, eye fatigue, and tbh, the weird one is that I'm having a bitch of a time keeping hydrated. I'm drinking plenty, but I'm in a near-constant state of being just slightly dehydrated. Which is getting really, really fucking annoying.
Tuesday. I get the stupid fucking IUD swapped out on Tuesday. And then, within a week, I should start feeling more like a person and less like a disaster of hormones and fuckery.
My husband has been doing a great job of taking care of me when I'm particularly bad, and the fucking hormones have me going off all over the place. He does the nice things, and I get weepy. Or I feel like crap and start feeling sorry for myself, and he does nice things, and I get weepy and weird. It's...it's not great. So if y'all talk to him, please tell him he's the best. Because he really is.
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