Places I Have Puked

Adding Dollar General Checkout Counter

Nausea has been my companion throughout my life.  I was a car sick youngster, a pukey adult.  Many things can set me off: motion, odors, dizziness, migraines, headaches, pancreatitis, gastritis, allergic reactions, medications.  Today was no exception.

I took pain medication last night at about 3 AM and woke up at 9 AM and promptly tossed my cookies.  Since what I tossed was undigested food (I know TMI) from what I ate at approximately 7 PM the evening before I know the pain medication was not the culprit.  I had actually stopped digesting what was in my stomach approximately eight hours before taking the pain medication.  This is typical for me and The Headache.  I did wake up with The Headache poking needles through my brain so I am guessing the pain started getting worse the evening before and I didn't notice.  Sigh.

I took 50 mg of phenergan orally, and after a brief nap I tried eating some lunch.  Mission accomplished, or so I thought.  I waited a little while and drove into town with my brother to pick up some meds and buy some cleaning supplies.  While at the checkout line at the Dollar General store I thought - oooo not good.  I had the familiar world is tipping sea sick feeling.  I silently willed the super slow checkout lady to hurry up.  I then took three steps from the counter and said "I don't feel too well".  I hyperfocused on the bright yellow bags in the turnaround bagger device.  Slow checkout lady was ignoring me, but I saw in my peripheral vision all the people in the line behind me take three steps back in horror.  I grabbed a yellow sack and started ralfing in it.  The checkout lady noticed and speeded up. I kept throwing up in the sack and finally quit.  My brother kept saying "She's had the flu, she's had the flu"  - he just did not have the fortitude I do to puke and not bother to explain.  I closed the bag and mumbled something like "At least I didn't puke all over the counter".  My brother grabbed my puke bag from me and started grabbing bags to take to the car.

I turned to pay and then had to grab another bag and puke again.  All the counter lady could do is keep saying "are you going to pay?" I guess thinking that it was a ploy to run off with valuable Dollar General cleaning supplies.  I finished with my vomiting spell and calmly turned to the debit/credit card machine and swiped my card and input my pin number.  I mumbled "At least I didn't puke on your floor" as she frantically grabbed my receipt and almost threw it at me.

I stumbled out into the sunlight (it was a beautiful day in the seventies here in southern Missouri) with my bag o' puke and my receipt and my brother rushed to my rescue, grabbing my bag and disposing of it somewhere, I hope in a dumpster.  I managed to drive home and have spent the entire remainder of my day sick and napping on the couch.  My pancreas is hurting quite a bit so The Belly might be somewhat to blame for my malaise.  That's what I get for eating some take out Chinese food the day before I guess.  I may have to go visit an ER if I can't get this under control.  Big Sigh.

I have no shame or embarrassment about puking in public anymore. I not only vomit, I projectile vomit!

I have puked at:
Formal Christmas Parties (pass the extra garlicky garlic mashed potatoes please - BLEH!)
Restaurants
Right in front of a family having a picnic in their yard
In front of a highway patrolman (I was speeding a bit trying to get to a turn off in order to puke)
On the dashboard of my car (Have done this one more than once)
At my desk at work
Running down a hallway to get to the bathroom at work
At other people's desks at work (using their trashcan)
College classes
On airplanes, both in the restroom and using the bags
in airport restrooms
At client's - thank heavens hospitals have lots of restrooms!
In hotel rooms
On the interstate
In parking lots
In ambulances
In hospital rooms
In emergency rooms
In church
While Shopping
In every room at home
At the doctor's office - Note:  Don't poke me in the stomach.
At the grocery store
Of the loading dock of a pharmacy

There are probably more, but I'm a little too nauseous to remember.  After all it is a thirty year legacy of persistent puking to commemorate!  I sorta feel like Stan from South Park, throwing up everytime he sees Wendy, but for me it could be anything. Hoping you all have a great non-vomiting weekend.

Dejavu All Over Again

Still Sick Still Hurting Still at Home

I tried to go off the pain medication last night/this morning, but got very shakey with burning terrible pelvic pain and leg pain.  Vomiting also, with a great deal of nausea. Hoping that I have not gotten a physical dependence on this already, as I have not been taking it steadily, everyday, or on schedule.  The nausea stayed with me even after taking a dose of medication this morning, but the pelvic pain did decrease to the point I could actually think of something besides the pain.

Went to my PCP this morning to do a urinalysis since I can't tell if I have a urinary tract infection or not.  Nope, no infection.  Was hoping this was the cause of the terrible pain and nausea and vomiting.  I fear that The Belly is acting up and my pancreas is trying to get into the act again.  Not good.  Can't win for losing with pain pills.  I should take one every 12 hours but have only been taking one a day when I absolutely cannot stand the pain any longer so haven't been taking one every day.  Have been taking nausea medication but have been thowing that up too.  sigh.

Talked with my boss today about my ongoing pain issues since I am not sure when this will relent.  The Legs are being very stubbon this time.  It's like they are flat tires and I am afraid they won't reinflate and work again and I'm having to go around on that tiny little spare tire you can only drive so fast on.  My boss was so nice and understanding and I feel so sad that I can't make my legs go and whip into work and get things done.  Hoping that I will snap back out of this and the pain will be manageable again soon.

I feel this fall like I'm in the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray - the same day keeps playing over and over again and I don't seem to be getting the process down pat so I can escape.  Oh well, at least I like Sonny and Cher!

Hurling Contest

Revenge of The Headache

Thursday night, The Headache tried to come to life.  I suffered through Friday with brain fog, but the stimulator kept most of the pain away.  Friday night the pain got worse as did the nausea, so I took 2mg of dilaudid at about midnight along with phenergan.  This got me through Friday night.  Saturday was marathon flying day, so The Headache decided to be extra pesky.  I took 2mg of dilaudid and phenergan, yet the pain and nausea kept increasing - I didn't have time to sit and rest and ice down my head  - so the vomiting commenced. 

I have vomited a lot of places over the years, because that has always been a part of bad headaches for me - projectile Linda Blair in the Exorcist type hurling.  I sorta expect my head to spin around too as the pain gets worse as I hurl and after I hurl.  I know I am in a bad way when I erupt in public toilets.  Putting your face downward towards the bowl that has held the excrement from thousands of butts is not my idea of a good time.  Thinking about it is about enough to make me vomit again!  I threw up twice before I got on my first flight, then I threw up in the airflight barf bag, THEN I threw up in the airplane bathroom/toilet.  Oh. My. God.  The odor of that thing.  My sense of smell is terribly heightened when The Headache is active, and I felt like I couldn't even breathe in that little stinky closet of a bathroom.  The plane was still climbing and banking so I had to brace my self so I didn't just blast vomit from one side of the thing to the other.  The flight attendant brought me a cold cloth from the ice chest and I just sat in my seat leaning over my lap wishing I was home already.  I was able to sleep through most of the flight which was a blessing.

I ate a little bit at an airport restaurant in Denver with my co-workers, but the noise and the odors were too much for me, and I skedaddled before they were finished.  I was able to keep my food down but had a minimum of fluids since The Headache really doesn't like a sloshy belly.  I slept most of the way home on the second flight, drove home, and slept for hours.  Yesterday I woke up and The Headache was still there - building up in the background.

I changed my stimulator settings, I drank caffeine, I iced my head, I used heat packs, I took benedryl, vistaryl, and phenergan.  Nothing worked, and the pain kept building.  At 1 am  this morning I took 4 mg of dilaudid and some phenergan.  It was that or call an ambulance.  I managed to keep the meds down, but have been up all night in pain.  The dilaudid did decrease the pain levels from a 9+ to an 8, but the pain is climbing again.  Not sure what I am going to do - I need to be at work, but I am afraid to drive and get caught with The Headache at full blown fury.  I don't think the travel agreed with It, and It is making me pay!

I'm gonna take a hot bath to see if I can get The Headache to calm down so I can go to work, even if I'm late getting there.  A rainstorm went through Saturday night which I am sure aggravated The Headache also.  I did practice my biofeedback skills last night as I fought the nausea and the itchiness from the dilaudid and The Headache pain  and nausea at the same time.  At least I got through the night without having to call an ambulance - that's an expensive headache when that happens. 

Attaching a picture of the lobby of a neat old hotel we ate at while I was away for work - it was quite unexpectedly elegant with Tiffany stained glass skylights and windows, marble colums and gilt decoration. You do get to see neat things when you travel, but I don't think my body is capapble of keeping itself workable on the road anymore.

Kryptonite Belly

Wish I was Invulnerable

My sister invited my brother and I over to watch the Super Bowl on their very nice, very large flat screen TV. I brought chips and dip and a fruit platter, and she made low fat hot deli sandwiches and we had a nice light supper also.

I ate about three inches of my sandwich, and some of the fruit, and a tablespoon of the layered dip that used no-fat sour cream. I enjoyed watching the Super Bowl, but my nausea and pain just kept increasing.

We left after the Super Bowl was finished, and I came home, where the pain and nausea increased. I took phenergan trying to stop nausea, and after about another half hour I took a percocet for pain.

Unfortunately, I started breaking out in small hives after taking the percocet. I can't tell if I'm allergic to pain medication, or just determined to have hives regardless. Then the nausea started ramping up, and I threw up everything I had eaten this evening (which wasn't much). Probably also threw up the pain medication. Three AM and still vomiting. Not sure what tomorrow will bring.

Going to try to go to sleep, praying that I can quit throwing up. Not sure what to do about it. Getting really shaky and cold feeling today, would like to have some real energy. The pain is increasing, but won't take more medication since I'm not sure how much stayed with me.

Bad Night Busy Day

Puking Again!

No sleep last night - very nauseous even after taking phenergan. Vomited until I couldn't vomit any more.... So many things are wrong with me, I can't even tell what the cause was. I get so shaky after these episodes. My mother, bless her aged heart, heard me in the wee hours of the morning and brought me a chair to sit in, because I was too shaky to walk.

I was taking the enzymes at full dosage, so today I cut the dosage in half. The nausea could have been from The Headache since The Headache really woke up half way through the yucky stuff, so every dry heave was another notch up on The Headache pain scale.

I was able to go to work for 5 hours today. I had a billable project to finish, and wanted to get that out of the way. Luckily The Headache calmed itself down in the afternoon, and I was able to be a little more productive. I even got an attaboy_girl from the boss man!

My sister and her husband came over this evening. My sister has been fighting the Battle of the Bad Computer Restore Disks. She had purchased some software at Wal-Mart that seemed to have a virus embedded in it, and then got very poor advice from a tech line she called. She needed to use my connection since her PC isn't up an running yet. Hopefully maybe tomorrow.

We had chicken burrito's and my brother-in-law really enjoyed eating them! He has some serious health issues, and I made low fat burritos especially for him. My sis is a full time caregiver for him, and I was pleased that tonight she got to eat something she didn't have to cook! Of course, my own cooking skills are negligible, so the components of this were easy to buy and assemble...and I have discovered no fat sour cream! Even The Belly approved, although I couldn't eat very much.