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Scary Stuff

02:27 / 19.03.02

i was sick yesterday. really sick. i've been taking overdoses of painkillers for years, basically because i don't have any choice - excrutiating menstrual cramps and a succession of dismissive doctors - and yesterday my body rebelled. i ended up with my doctor ringing the poisons team at guy's hospital to see if i'd need hospital treatment/tests for liver damage. i didn't - luckily it appears that short, fat dykes are quite resilient. but i did learn two things:

- not to take no for an answer when it comes to my health and:

- god help you if you need help in public. it was 7 am, i was slumped in my seat in the bus, just about conscious, sweat pouring down me, obviously in great distress and everybody ignored me. i know you have to be careful in london, but someone could've informed the driver, even if they didn't want to get involved.

this has really underlined for me how utterly dehumanising living in london has become. everyone seems permanently stressed, there is trouble on nearly every single bus ride i take. people generally cannot afford to give a fuck about anyone else - to my shame, i've done it myself, though after yesterday i would hope never to do it again.

two years (promise to new laid back landlady and four cats) and i'm out of here....

[ 19-03-2002: Message edited by: shortfatdyke ]

02:50 / 19.03.02

I'm tremendously glad you're okay.

04:52 / 19.03.02

Too fucking right...

05:34 / 19.03.02

Warm fuzzy vibes heading your way from Gauda Prime. And - speaking as one who also has bad period pain - here is my list of Non-Painkiller Methods To Beat Menstrual Cramps (I usually use them while waiting for the drugs to kick in, to be honest, but a few of them have worked w/o drugs on the occasions when I had nothing in the house & all the shops were shut):

1. Dope
2. Hot-water-bottle, cup of herb tea
3. Clary sage oil, massaged into tummy or in bath (Lush do a massage bar containing clary sage oil. If you put it (in its foil wrapper) on top of your cup of tea for a minute or so it warms it up & softens it nicely. Then you can drink your tea & massage your tummy simultaneously.)
4. Wild Yam extract (is meant to be amazing, is like the new St Johns Wort but for period pain. I haven't tried it yet.)
5. Wanking (this does actually work temporarily, it's just very, very hard to keep your mind on it long enough, and indeed to co-ordinate it with doubling up/jack-knifing across the bed in pain)

Good luck darlin.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

08:13 / 19.03.02

Jeeze, SFD, are you going to be okay? That sounds fucking terrifying!

Yeah, London sucks. Me and my boyf found a guy lying on the ground the other day; people were just walking past him like nothing had happened. This was a busy high street in broad daylight, and we were the only ones that stopped. He turned out to be okay- he'd had a bit too much to drink and taken a tumble- but it just goes to show, eh?

I sympathize with the menstrual cramps thing. Gin is helpful (goes straight to the womb), hot baths, a hot water bottle, and a bed to hunch up on are about all I can suggest. I heard something about peony being useful but I've never tried it and I don't know where you can get it. Chinese herbalists, I think.

Keep badgering the doctor. If ze still won't help, then try and find another one. There are things you can take that'll make the cramps less of a problem, like a small course of progesterone tablets the week before your period starts. Don't let them give you the brush-off.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

08:26 / 19.03.02

Fucking hell! Look after yourself, sfd...

I remember a few years ago, I'd have been about 15 or so, and I came up to London with my mum to visit my sister. My mum was sick and stayed in my sister's house, while we went out to go shopping and stuff, at which point I realised I'd caught the same bug mum had. I eventually passed out in a Burger King while my sister was at the counter ordering, was roughly lifted up and told to leave. Fortunately my sister came back at this point, and put them straight, but they were also very rude to her. I mean, I understand what they must have assumed, but still...

08:28 / 19.03.02

well i'm feeling a bit better but yeah, i have to sort this out. will go look for wild yam, and i try and get the cat to sit on me (nicer than a hot water bottle). perhaps a muscle relaxent, like buscopan, might work too. wanking makes it worse - believe me, i try that one all the time!

i'm always having people, usually old women, ask me for help, especially in supermarkets when they can't reach stuff. but ill people - i understand the general reluctance; if someone's drunk or drug fucked, their behaviour can be unpredictable, but on the way to the docs last night i was well on the way to fainting again after spending much of the journey reading and looking about as 'normal' as i ever do, and the woman sitting next to me got up and moved away.

[edited to add: moominstoat - that experience must've be awful. and there's no excuse for staff making those assumptions, and then still not helping when they found out they were wrong]

[ 19-03-2002: Message edited by: shortfatdyke ]

08:28 / 19.03.02

Sorry to read that you've been so unwell, sfd, and I hope that you *can* find a good doctor who'll take an interest in getting to the base of your problem.

For what it's worth, a friend's very bad menstrual cramps turned out to be related to her longstanding bowel problems - over a number of years she'd been tested for irritable bowel syndrome, food intolerances, Candida infection, Crohn's disease, and so on. She'd tried a number of treatments, none of which seemed to help much; and before finding her current GP, she'd become very cynical about doctors. These days she takes considerable care with her diet (to ensure that she absorbs enough calcium, magnesium, zinc, essential fatty acids, vitamins B,C and E), and while not entirely free of period pain, she's no longer incapacitated by it each month.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

10:08 / 19.03.02

Calcium! Of course! Knew I forgot something. Yeah, if your diet permits it, a Rennie a day for the week leading up to your period may help a lot. A multi-vitamin and mineral supplement might not be a bad idea either, and our old freind B6 can help too.

Goodness Gracious Meme

12:18 / 19.03.02

geez SFD, that sounds awful. Hope you're feeling a bit better now. Warming soothing hugs on their way.

I'd go with most of Deva's picks, I find dope helps loads, particurlarly leaves in tea/food rather than smoking it.

Also Raspberry Leaf Extract (in tablets/drops) which is a great natural muscle relaxant, I find it helps with cramps loads and leaves me feeling fuzzy and relaxed... Can be got from Holland & Barrett or any good health food shop.

How about changing doctors, seeing an alternative of some sort?

And i've had experiences like that in London, when I was fainting alot it happened several times that I'd wake up on London Bridge platform/floor of a train and have magically become invisible. Grr. Things like that were a big part in my wanting to leave as well.

But on the other hand, I once woke up and a young guy had got me off a train, and sat with me,fetched me tea, and as we were getting the same train, insisted on coming with me and waiting while my housemate came to pick me up.

13:23 / 19.03.02

good vibes your way, sfd. hope this problem can be sorted out and future(/past) ones can be quickly taken care of with your new resolution. when I was pregnant, I was in awful pain and the hospital sent me home citing "normal pregnancy pains", making me feel like a hysterical expectant mom and afriad to complain again. turns out my kidneys had begun to shut down, and I almost skipped my scheduled appointment a few days after. could have cost us both

13:28 / 19.03.02

Yeah, take care of yourself, SFD. Can't really add more than that, other than to marvel at the sheer lack of general human-ness people display as a matter of normality.

And steady the buffers on the painkillers - my partner's gran ate most of her stomach wall away like that. Not trying to freak you, obviously, just saying be careful...

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

13:48 / 19.03.02

Hugs.

And all of the above, really.

07:57 / 20.03.02

quote:Originally posted by shortfatdyke:
wanking makes it worse - believe me, i try that one all the time!

ooh! eeevil! (I get that in the week or so before my period, oddly: but that combined with the excruciating breast pain comes in handy as a reminder to go buy cotton products. and nurofen. and dope. and porn. and wild yam extract.)

08:06 / 20.03.02

sfd,

so sorry to hear about this! I definitely second the hot water bottle thing. Also you might want to try a hot castor oil pack Put it right on that line right below the abdoment where the cramps kick in. My cramps are actually pretty mild but I've heard this helps a great deal.

Another thing you could try is to eat fish several times a week in the month leading up to your cycle. There was some recent study that indicating eating tuna/salmon etc. actually reduces menstrual pain. I can't remember the why of this now, unfortunately. But I tried it after I read this study and my cramps were indeed milder the next month. (Though, as I said, my cramps have never been that bad).

Also really if you can think about masturbating a few times. Orgasm definitely will relieve the pain, at least a bit.

On the other hand I don't know if any of these things are helpful due to the severity of your cramps.

Have you ever read "Women's Bodies Women's Wisdom"? It's a little bit hokey and Oprah-ish, but I've found the bit about menstrual pain in that book quite helpful.

08:26 / 20.03.02

i don't eat fish, so i have to count that one out. i found wild yam yesterday, but they were in gelatine capsules, so i'm trying to find an alternative (will only use animal products as an absolute last resort). seriously, orgasm gives me serious pain if i'm pre-menstrual, it's like a damn punishment or something, so that's out. but i'm seeing the doc this afternoon..... a hysterectomy wouldn't go amiss actually, but i doubt the doc will go for it.

i've also tried acupuncture - an amazing and incredibly butch german doctor stuck needles in my chunky schoolgirl legs (she was quite something in right-wing suburbia). didn't help, but gave me some very sweet dreams....

[edited to add]: thanks, all, for your comments. i feel hugged nearly to death.

[ 20-03-2002: Message edited by: shortfatdyke ]