Friday, April 16, 2010

I'm beginning to doubt the existence of "normal"

Or, at least the possibility that I'll get back to it. Strange, strange period this time -- some good, some bad.

The good: I had hardly any pain to speak of until the day I started my period.

The bad: 15 lbs of water weight.

Wednesday morning I had minor pain -- enough for the heating pad, but not for pain medication. I thought the absence of pain was odd, as I was expecting to start Thursday (okay, actually Friday; once again my math was off), but was pleased that I'd not spent the previous week incapacitated by pain.

Around 11 a.m., I went to the restroom and discovered that it is still possible for periods to sneak up on me.

"Maybe I won't hurt so bad this time," thought I. "Maybe my body's getting back to normal."

By 1 p.m., I'd taken all the pain medication I could have in one sitting, and was still in so much pain I could barely breathe. I had to leave work early.

After two days of gushing, it looks like things are tapering off. Now if I could just get rid of this water weight. I was even keeping an eye on my sodium intake! My only saving grace is that most of my clothes are too big anyway. However, I'm pushing the limits of even my biggest, stretchiest clothes right now.

I'm also in the market for a new heating pad. Mine's giving me that stupid F2 error message again. Why must heating pads be computerized? All they need is an on/off switch and a few heat settings...no need to bring computers into it. I did some research online, and apparently all the heating pads of this model have this problem. Which is just fantastic, as I own two of them. I did some research online, and have come to the conclusion that everyone has a different opinion of what makes a "good" heating pad. Also, price means nothing. Look, I just one one that:

1) comes on when I want it to come on,
2) goes off when I want it to go off (I don't mind the auto shut-off, but want to be able to override it), and
3) gets hot enough to alleviate my pain.

It'd be nice if it were also reasonably priced ($200 for a heating pad is ridiculous, imo), had a washable cover, and didn't leave burns on my back, but I can deal without those things if I have to. With all of my Googling, though, I didn't come up with any that stood out from the rest. So I guess it's back to the crap shoot. I do think I'll avoid Sunbeam in the future, though; have had very poor luck with those.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Hormonal backlash

Day 17. According to the tests (yes, multiple -- I've added urine-based ovulation tests to the spit test, because what self-respecting OCDer doesn't want a second opinion?), I'm still not ovulating. But you'd never know it by looking at me.

Every morning brings another zit (or three), though I rarely break out this early in the cycle. I'm carrying around at least 5 lbs of water weight; my belly is swollen, my breasts are incredibly sore, and I've not seen my ankle bones in nearly a week.

A couple of days ago, I developed stabbing pains in my lower left abdomen; I was convinced it was ovulation pain, but the tests say otherwise. Over the following 24 hours, the pain spread to the right side of my abdomen, and now it pretty much encompasses the lower half of my torso.

I'm moody. Tired all the time, but can't sleep. And eating chocolate in horrifying quantities.

I guess I'm making up for the relatively easy periods I've had the past few months. (Not that they were easy...just that I've had much, much worse.) I've got another 12 days of this mess, plus the 5 or so of my period. Great.

On the plus side, I am pleasantly surprised to find that my periods are pretty regular off the pill. My cycles have run precisely 29 days this entire year. Had I known it would be like this, I'd have gone off the pill years ago.