Showing posts with label arsenic poisoning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arsenic poisoning. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Having a rough go

I’m having a bit of a rough go right now. First off, it’s been super, super busy at work and it’s consuming my life way more than it normally does. It’s basically like the perfect storm as far as reasons why work gets busy. They’re all happening at once, causing an utter shit-show.

Top it off with the fact that I’ve come down with this brutal cold. It’s the kind of cold where you feel so crappy that you can’t sleep, even though what you need most in the world is a good night’s sleep.

Friday was the first day of that; I had a really sore throat and I couldn’t sleep. And when I finally managed to fall asleep I woke up within a couple hours and had problems falling back asleep.

That White Girl - home sick - go to sleep

Saturday I woke up for work (because of the chaos that is happening) and my sore throat had morphed into the worst throat pain ever. Okay, not the worst… Strep is worse. I started sucking on cepacols, which are essentially lozenges that numb your throat. Within a couple hours of being at work, I had already had a couple; by the end of my 6 hour shift, I’d had a few more. I stopped at a grocery store on my way to my dad’s to buy more because I was running low. Naturally, I had another.

Then my stomach started feeling bad. At first I assumed it was because I consumed a bunch of lozenges and not much else. But when I started trying to put other things in my body (water, tea, food), my stomach was not happy.

That White Girl - home sick - I don't feel so good

Immediately after eating dinner (and part of the way through it) I knew it was going to get way worse before it got any better. I thanked my folks for dinner and said I had to go, because of my cold, of course. I spent the 40 minute drive home focusing all my energy into paying attention to the road and not the fact that I was going to throw up and/or shit myself.

That White Girl - home sick - you can do this

I made it home without incident, but spent the remainder of the night willing myself not to get sick. I was feeling pretty shitty about the whole situation, but I felt even worse when I read the package and the dosage was clearly outlined as “one drop every two hours”. I’d had 5 or 6 in just as many hours.

That White Girl - home sick - overdosed on halls

No wonder I wrecked my stomach. The next day, after too few hours of sleep, I woke up sick from the cold. My body was aching, my head was pounding; I felt like I’d been hit by a train. I drank fluids and stayed away from cough drops. I felt like I was on the mend.

Monday, I called into work sick because it turned out I wasn’t on the mend. But I had a massage therapy appointment booked that day, so I went to that. I’ve regretted it ever since. Let’s just say getting a deep tissue massage on all your injured parts isn’t a good idea when you’re having a hard time moving around because of body pain from illness. I feel like my back is bruised to the bone.

But… there’s always a silver-lining, right? So. I’ve been at home, on the couch, in bed for days. I’ve watched movies, read blogs/books, watched YouTube, and played video games. I was still bored. So I did what any “normal” person would do. I re-activated my POF account. And started talking to people.

That White Girl - home sick - blog fodder

Just a matter of time now before you get more crazy dating stories. You’re welcome.

And as if that’s not enough, I think the universe just gave me a sign that said “You have no idea just how bad it’s going to get”…  my (ex??) stalker just texted me. Seriously. It’s been a year and a half. I guess he missed Valentine’s Day, so he’s just checking in to see how I’m doing. FML.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

I decided not to hit you because you cowered as soon as I came over.

I thought I might roll with this 2% business because it occurred to me that some people might think the scarlet fever incident was an isolated event and I was just being overly dramatic.

Immediately following scarlet fever, I developed a 'secondary rash' after the antibiotics went in and blasted the strep out of my body. This rash was localized to three parts of my body: my hands, my feet and the inside of my thighs. It was quite painful.

The hand rash was absolutely disgusting. In the end, all the skin on my palms dried up and peeled off. The peeling exposed new skin. Skin that was not ready to see the light of day or to touch things. It was raw and it was angry.

Heather - Balloon Palms mod


Because of this secondary rash and because I never had strep throat, the doctor decided to send me to an internal medicine specialist, who deemed me healthy. Of course. The rash persisted on the inside of my thighs, so I was sent to a dermatologist, who prescribed me the most kick ass cream ever.

Kick Ass Hand Cream


The rash disappeared, finally. The scarlet fever, secondary rash, peeling hands fiasco lasted about two months. I was miserable. But, finally, it was over. Until one day, several months later, I woke up on my friend's couch with swollen hands.

Heather - Puffy hands mod


OH NO - I have scarlet fever again! I waited for the full body rash to develop. Fortunately, it didn't. Unfortunately, I developed the same secondary rash as the last time.

I happened to have an appointment booked with my family doctor. By the time I got there, I was at the stage right before peeling. He started asking me all kinds of questions, mostly pertaining to my work in the lab. Are you testing anything different? No. Have you switched departments? No. Have you been working with any different chemicals? No. Do you work with, or test for, heavy metals? No. He tells me that my symptoms are indicative of high level arsenic exposure. OH NO - someone has been poisoning me!

Have you started eating any new foods? No. Have you changed your diet in any way? No. Have you ingested anything at all recently that you don't normally eat?

Heather - Pepto


Well, I did take pepto bismol last week. What? I... I... I took some pepto last week. You took pepto bismol? Yes. Do you normally take it? No. Well, I guess bismuth is a heavy metal... so maybe it could produce the same symptoms of arsenic exposure. I'm sorry... what?!?! Are you telling me that I exhibit symptoms of heavy metal poisoning when I ingest pepto bismol? It appears that way, yes.

Are you fucking kidding me? He wasn't.

Any guess as to the number of people that have the same reaction? Roughly 2%, perhaps? Sounds about right.

Big thanks to EliseArt for providing the illustrations.