Miserable

That is the only way to describe how I have been feeling for the last two days. This morning, at five a.m. I woke my bleary eyed husband sobbing, asking to be taken to the nearest emergency room. I was having severe pain and cramping of my lower extremities(buttocks, backs of my thighs and calves). The pain had been building over the last twelve hours or so, but early this morning became so excruciating I didn't know what to do. So off to the E.R. we went. I am no stranger to the ER . I have gone there no less than six times for endometriosis related pain. I hate the ER. I have nothing but unhappy memories of time spent there(who doesn't). This time, however was not so bad. I was one of only two people there, I had my own room and the nurses and doctors were so kind. So anyway, I was admitted and hooked up to an IV, given some pain medicine(thank goodness for pain meds) and had some blood work done. The results? Are you ready for this? My diagnosis was exhaustion and severe dehydration. Huh? I thought only Pop Stars and Athletes suffered from that. But No, that was in fact the diagnosis. Here is how it happened:

Thursday night I overdid it at the gym. Way overdid it.(Ummmm..Hello? Eighty pound weights on the seated leg press? Not so smart.)
That night I came down very ill, and was up most of the night in the restroom. I'll save you the details of that, but let's just say there was some intestinal distress. Away I went to work anyway(a little late), with three hours of sleep. I drank nothing while at work. I was feeling nauseous, okay? I got off of work, went to an appointment, then straight to have dinner with Joe. I noticed while I was there that my legs were hurting. I thought it was just from the gym, so I took some Tylenol and didn't think much more about it. I left Joe at 8:30 and ran to the store. By this time I am tired, and my legs hurt a little more. I got home at around 9:30 and ran a hot bath, thinking it would help with the soreness. It didn't. The pain was getting progressively worse by this time. Extremely uncomfortable. More Tylenol. No relief. I spend the next three and a half hours in and out of the hot shower. By the time Joe gets home I am hysterical(he worked the late shift). We try rubbing my legs, applying heat, then cold, and Ben Gay(don't ask me why we had an unopened package of Ben Gay in my medicine chest. I don't know. We just did). Nothing helps. I spend the rest of the night in and out of the bathtub trying to get the pain to subside. At one point I fell asleep in the tub. I have no idea for how long. Finally at five o'clock this morning we decided to go to the ER. And you know the rest of the story. The doctor said there were several factors that led to the dehydration. The stress I put my body in by overdoing it at the gym, severe diarrhea, kidneys that don't function as they should, and not drinking enough fluids. I am just now beginning to feel better, with the help of rest, Vicodin, and copious amounts of Gatorade. Never a dull moment around here, huh?