That was unpleasant

[ciphergoth]

I've never really known what people meant by the expression "guts are churning" before, but I do now! It's 6 pm and I'm feeling a bit iffy in the office, then very iffy; I have a bit of a lie down, then I start wondering how the hell I'm going to get home. I stagger out of the office to get a taxi, but I quickly realise I'm not be able to stand the journey all the way home, so I ask them to take me to Farringdon instead. Walk onto the platform to watch my train leaving, and the next train is delayed. I sit on the platform whimpering and kneading my hands, looking like Hollywood's version of a junkie in need of a fix.

Just as my train starts to arrive, I lean down and throw up, again and again and again. When I look up I have a big bit of the platform to myself. A nice bloke gives me a roll of bogroll to clean up with, and to the horror of my fellow passengers I board the train just before the doors close. I count off the stops home, lying across three seats. When I get home Jess is there to meet me, running up the platform bearing water and tissues and sympathy; I walk the short distance home on her arm, stopping to throw up some more a little distance from our house.

It's at this point I learn that the water to our flat has been cut off. Apparently it was leaking on the flat below and has been turned off at the mains, and it will be the next morning before anything can be done about it.

I spend the next six or so hours running to the bathroom at twenty-minute intervals to sit on the bog while I throw up, feeling worse and worse, and trying not to drink too much water since I only throw it up again. Every time I do this my fabulous lovers have to sort out carrying water up from downstairs (in bins because we can't find the bucket) so we can flush the bog. It all stopped around 12:30 - 1am, after which I quickly start to feel markedly better; I can drink water in the night without throwing up, and by the morning I'm mostly just feeling fragile from dehydration and hunger rather than ill. Now I've had some lunch and I feel quite a bit better. spikeylady, lilithmagna and ergotia are stars and I love them very much.

Comments

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

Ickity ick. Sympathies.

Eat anything interesting a few hours before? That sounds very much like an "That wasn't food!" reaction to me.

[keirf.livejournal.com]

Did you eat anything unusual? If you didn't - the throwing up immediately after drinking water sounds like the Norwalk-like virus again. There was an outbreak back in February across much of the country. It's quite infectious, so your partners may end up with it soon...

[dennyd.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a textbook case of food poisoning - the onset is amazingly sudden and violent, and it goes from 'fully ill' to 'better again' relatively quickly too.

Hope you're feeling fully recovered soon!

*ick*

[bondagewoodelf.livejournal.com]

Hmm, Noro virus again? Someone at your work is not washing his or her hands ;-(

[painted-bird.livejournal.com]

Oh dear! My sitting here at work with a slightly husky voice and runny nose pales in comparison! xx

[autopope.livejournal.com]

I've had this a couple of times in my life (thankfully, that's all). Much sympathy; I feel your pain.

Two medical tips:

1. You may have been throwing up anything you drank, but you need to keep on drinking -- the worst problem with this kind of bug (typically a 24 hour rota virus) is that it causes dehydration, leading to electrolyte imbalance, which can have really nasty consequences, starting with hang-over like headaches and shivering and getting worse. (It's how cholera -- which is basically similar in effect but much more severe -- kills. You die of dehydration.)

2. Buy a box of Dioralyte sachets and keep them in the bathroom cupboard. It's a sugar/salt mix that, dissolved in the right amount of water, is designed to replace the electrolyte loss caused by violent vomiting and diarrhoea. It's a life saver in extremis, and in minor cases (like yours, or the bug that bit me in Brussels last year) it'll make you feel much less bad the morning after. (It's also the standard third-world cure for Cholera these days: mix with boiled water, feed to patient in quantities of about one litre per hour, and the infection will flush itself out in a day.)

[bootpunk.livejournal.com]

Given some of the places my mouth has been I'm always rather surprised at the lack of food bourne illnesses I suffer (maybe my immune system has been toughened up a bit?). Sorry to hear about your awfull journey home - hope you are feeling sufficiently recovered to make it out next Tuesday.

[gingiber.livejournal.com]

Ick that sounds nasty. Glad to hear you have made a quick recovery. I agree with your other commenters it sounds like food poisoning.

[cryx]

Sounds awful. Glad to hear you are feeling better. Get well soon!

[lovelybug.livejournal.com]

Glad to say it's definitely not that - Paul and I both had it in February, and this was very different. It must have been food related.

[random-redhead.livejournal.com]

How Horrible! Glad you are feeling better, I hope your SOs don't come down with it too now *fingers crossed*

[faerierhona.livejournal.com]

ew ick! I hate vomitting bugs

[redcountess]

I agree with the "food poisoning" consensus. Glad you're feeling better today.

[slightlyfoxed.livejournal.com]

So sorry. All beastly. But hurrah for the human chain of bin-toting supportive partners.

[babysimon]

You have my sympathy
Now I feel ill...

[nickys.livejournal.com]

Yes, what he said.
And if you don't have the sachets you can just drink water with 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt in instead.

Glad you're better.

[adjectivemarcus.livejournal.com]

That sounds fucking awful, you poor love!

Much sympathy! Huzzah for the infamous wonderfulness of your partners!

xx

[ajva.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell - sounds a nightmare. I'm so glad to hear you're a bit better; take care.

[xquiq.livejournal.com]

Urgh, sounds horrible.

Glad you're starting to feel better.

[vvalkyri.livejournal.com]

Yick! Glad it didn't last long, at least..

[xxxlibris.livejournal.com]

Gah - poor thing. Hope it passes soon and that your fragility transforms into well'ard grrr-ness (in an immune system sort of way).
xxx

[ex-pipistre.livejournal.com]

Salmonella sandwich?

Whatever, glad you feel better as both viruses and bacteria can be nasty little buggers.

[necialma.livejournal.com]

urk..and I though I was feeling icky.

Hope you is all better soon:)

[juliet]

Ick, poor you! Glad you're feeling better. It does sound food-poisoning-like, yes - my experience of most viral things is that they last a bit longer than the 6 hrs or so you describe.

[ergotia.livejournal.com]

Actually about all I did was help clean up the kitchen and provide moral support and lots of hugs :) So glad you are feeling better! Do you think it was avian flu? :)

[booklectica]

Eeek. Glad you're feeling better, that sounds awful.

Yes but..

[ergotia.livejournal.com]

..you can get that virus more than once and I did wonder as I threw up a few days ago and have been pretty queasy ever since....still either it is and we will all know soon or it is not so rar!

xxxx

[barking-watcher.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you're feeling better

Oh, that is all TOO familiar

[webcowgirl.livejournal.com]

*Kiss* *kiss* *kiss* and ... warn me off of whatever it was you ate.

[biog.livejournal.com]

Agree with many of the above. Classic textbook symptoms of food-poisoning. Big question though is which bit of food..?

[barakta]

Ick. Glad you are feeling a little more human today.

Re: Yes but..

[lovelybug.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'd forgotten you'd been sick too. I just don't think Paul would have thrown it off so fast if it had been viral *crosses fingers*

[lolliepopp.livejournal.com]

Having done something similar on Barking station about 3 years ago, I lay my hat on food poisoning.

Take it easy for a couple of days though, it can knock your system for six.

Yay for great partners!

[ephermata.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're feeling better, but that sounds incredibly scary.

[pavlos.livejournal.com]

Ick! You have my sympathies, especially for the bit where, I'm sure, you must have been thinking what you wrote while experiencing it. Get well soon.

Sorry t hear your unwell?

[kinkykarleen.livejournal.com]

God, you sound awful, i know how it feels, but at least you have beautiful people around you that look after you and try to make you feel better...

Unfortunately, when i get sick like that, im all alone as i live alone in a town with no friends here, but sandy usually comes over from brighton to nurse me!

Anyway i hope you get better soon!

KK

Agreed

[sherbooke.livejournal.com]

I had a bug like this when I was on a ship in Alexandria. Me and most of the ship's crew came down with severe D&V. So yeah, sympathy extended. The Dioralyte was a saver.

[lovingboth]

I'm glad about the last two sentences.

What did you have for lunch that day? Unless it was home-made and this is a sign of a faulty fridge or a pest problem, it probably wasn't just you who was affected.

[jhg.livejournal.com]

Gah! Sounds like you're on the mend; hopefully the plumbing will be sorted out today. What a nightmare.


J

[ladycat.livejournal.com]

You poor little brave angel, and thank goodness you had someone nearby to take care of you. Was it just a particularly nasty virus? Maybe food poisoning?

[cillygirl.livejournal.com]

awwe *hug* hope you feel back to normal soon!