My Wake Up Call

I turned 54 in May of this year and that makes me more than half a century old. When I hit 40, my vision started to change and I traded my driving glasses in for readers. Shortly after that, menopause took place and I no longer had to be prepared for life’s little emergencies. Then again, hot flashes started and I thought I was dying at least twice a month! I have a funny heart beat that my doctor wants me to check out again as it hasn’t been checked in over a decade. I have a tricky knee that needs to be babied and occasionally aches and hurts. Overall, I have learned to embrace the grey of middle age!

Other than this, I am in pretty good health. I have no serious health complaints, and no medical diagnosis to worry about. I take no prescription medication and rarely take anything over the counter. I do take a few supplements to aid in digestion and am considering others to support overall health.

Despite my overall good health, I had a bit of a health scare recently that puts things firmly into perspective. I woke up on a recent Wednesday morning and felt a bit off. Nothing serious and nothing that would prevent me from doing what needed to be done. I got through my work day but continued to have belly concerns for the remainder of the day. By that night diarrhea kicked in and I took a couple of doses of Immodium.

I was up several times during the night and when I got out of bed Thursday morning I was dizzy. I stumbled to the bathroom and then to the couch. After that, things get a bit hazy. I think I wanted to feed the dog and then climb back into bed. I got as far as the dining room with my head spinning and next thing I knew I was waking up on the floor (head still spinning), bloody, and confused. I managed to get myself back to the bathroom to see my chin cut open, blood smeared down to my chest and into my hair. What a sight!

I got myself cleaned up a bit and then woke up my partner to have her help me take care of Fenway. My honey reserved me a spot to get tested for COVID19 later that day. Did you know 20% of all cases start with digestive issues? Don’t worry – my test was negative! Right after my COVID test, I went to Urgent Care at my honeys insistence. They checked my blood pressure which was low, fixed my chin with some steri-strips, and gave me an IV full of fluids. I declined an XRAY of my jaw and a trip to the emergency room. I did let them take blood and have the results forwarded to my primary doctor.

After I got home, I slept and rested and ran to the bathroom until Saturday afternoon. By Sunday, I started to feel like myself and by Monday I managed to get in a few hours of work.

I spoke to my Doctor on Monday and we discussed if this was viral in nature, food poisoning or something else. I think it was just a decline in my overall digestive health which led to dehydration and subsequently to passing out. My body seems to run best when I eat as close to the Whole30 as possible. We completed one the end of October and I was feeling great. Over the next few weeks, I began to eat food that I don’t usually eat and I knew my digestion was declining. Over those 2 weeks. I ate pasta, cheese, wine, chocolate, ice cream, and bread. I think eating one of these things occasionally is fine for me; but eating all of them over a couple day period put my system into overload.

This was definetly a wake up call. My doctor was rather insistent that I follow up with cardiology to ensure my heart was not to blame for my passing out. I know I have been avoiding this so I immediately scheduled an appointment for the end of January. She also had me come in for a flu shot as I was getting ready to visit my 93 year old Mom. I don’t have much faith that my primary doctor can help me with my digestion issues. I don’t want to approach the problem from the perspective of what medication she suggests. I am considering a visit to a functional medicine doctor or nutritionist to gain some insight into what causes my digestive issues.

When I wrote the first paragraph of this blog, I was planning on writing about prescription medication use in this county. Then, I had my health emergency and I realized how quickly our health status can change. I don’t know about you but I intend to stay on the path of good health by making one good decision after another!

Don’t get complacent about your health. Not about your good health or your bad health. No matter how good or bad it is, there are always options to consider to make it better. I am convinced we know what to do to make things a bit better for ourselves. These things are not necessarily hard – just not a priority. Then we get a wake up call and improving our overall health quickly becomes a necessity.

Need ideas to improve overall health? Check out these posts!

The Rubik’s Cube Effect, Solving the Health Puzzle, Driver or Passenger?

What steps will you prioritize NOW to avoid a wake up call?

Lake Girl