I thought it was my last night here
Yesterday was so exhausting even though I did not actually have a big part to play in the Quiz Bee. But still, it affected me too much.
I felt refreshed
Despite my short hours of sleep, I woke up feeling energized which was weird. I even remarked to a friend how my body is acting out of character. It litetally felt as if I was back to the energy level I had before high school.
I did not think much of it since I was busy preparing for the day ahead. I started my morning walk at 7AM as usual, then did my morning routine quite smoothly. Everything was going so well that I should have known something will go absolutely wrong.
The event
I already shared most the background information about this event in my article yesterday so I will just share some highlights that I could remember.
The ZOOM meeting was opened earlier than the meeting time to prepare for the participants. The Department Head was there early too so we had to use Google Meet to discuss some things and it was there that facilitators were confirmed to have the dignified role of being an audience.
Even though, the meeting was opened earlier the event still started later than scheduled due to done complications. And when the participants were asked to leave, some are vocal about how rude they find that to be.
The event has so many dead times that I felt so embarassed to the professors who were watching. We know how busy they wete since the University is discussing the possibility of allowing face to face classes soon but they took time out of their day to support the first event we have. It just felt like we were wasting their time when the dead times would go up to 30 minutes.
Well, I can not complain much because like I said, my role is not that difficult to do. It just felt super frustrating since mine and my bestfriend's names were written as the organizers for the event. I knew for a fact that I would not want that much dead air if we were truly the organizers.
Anyway, there was supposed to be an hour long lunch break but the officers decided to use that time to have more meeting to discuss the event. So at this point, I was sitting continuously for around 3 hours.
The event went on and it took longer than ehat we had planned for since many 4th year students joined the event which made it difficult to keep track of the scores. After the event, I thought I could rest and eat but there was another meeting.
The Chairperson congratulated us and thanked us for our efforts. She also brought up some stuff that bothered her and encouraged us to work together more in the future. I had to admit that I admire her diplomatic skills since I knew she was irritated with the majority of officers as well as she was ranting to me during the event.
This took about an hour again since there were more chit-chat. Then me and my bestfriend had to post some message regarding the success of the event as well as to thank the participants.
In my estimate, I believe that I sat for about 6 and a half hours. There were a few times where I stood up to use the restroom as well as to drink and eat some snacks but I was mostly sitting.
The effect
When I finally stood up after the meeting, I almost fell because my head was suddenly so heavy and light at the same time. My legs were also so stiff that I had a hard time moving them without taking a deep breath to control my reaction.
I could not stomach eating but I still had enough sense to know that I could not just have one meal that day since it exhausted me. I was not full when I finished eating but I have no appetite so I just drank a lot of water since I did not drink much at all during the day.
My body still felt so broken that time. I tried to stretch my legs to somehow alleviate the pain. When that did not work, I thought that maybe I just needed to move a bit to help circulate my blood so I walked lightly while remaining in one place. I stopped after a few minutes since I felt like puking from the pain it caused me.
By this time, I walked slowly to my room then locked myself alone there. I elevated my legs to help the blood circulate my body even though it was painful. After some time, I did not notice I fell asleep already.
I only knew about it three hours later, when I was woken up by an overwhelming amount of pain. I could not help but cry out because everything in my body is hurting. Especially the part below my ribs down to my toes, it felt like my insides were getting crushed. My legs felt like there were iron nails stuck in them, and my head was pounding so much. Breathing was so difficult but I was trying to convince myself that it was okay.
The small reminder
I messaged my bestfriend taking up nursing to share my pain. But while I was messaging her I had the thought that it might be due to the fact that my period is just a few days away. After all, I experience mild versions of the pain I felt at that time between my next cycle.
But as I was chatting my partner, I could not help but cry no matter how hard I tried to keep it in. During our conversation, I would drift in and out of conciousness and my mind is so fuzzy. My partner then asked me if I had taken any medicine yet. I told him that I have not yet sone that and I would try to look for one.
When I stood up, the world tilts out of balance for me. I was so dizzy that I am pretty sure if I did not worry that my parents will see me, I would have just crawled to where the medicine box might be. But I did my best to walk without vomitting all over the floor. I was proud to say that I successfully did that and I did not fall down the stairs as well so that is a plus.
I took the medicine when I was inside my bedroom and immediately lay down again. This time, I put the cold water bottle and bent my legs over it to help with the pain.
Me and my partner had a video call around tbis time to talk for a bit. I could not focus much since I was still hurting and I was crying a bit because of it. But I did not want to sleep yet because I was afraid the pain will get worst. But I was hoping that my partner's reminder to take a medicine will help me.
About an hour later, the medicine seemed to be working as the pain becomes more tolerable. I was also able to breathe more easily and while my head was still hurting it had just became mildly annoying instead of the painful pounding that it was before.
I can not believe it
I have been so used to not taking medicine due to some minor pains that it did not even occur to me that it was an option until my partner pointed it out. It might be weird, but I only take medicine when it was absolutely necessary.
Even when I have some colds or fever, I would not take medicine when I think rest will suffice. This is usually the case so I never had the mindset to look for a medicine when I am hurting.
However, what happened last night serves as a great reminder for me to remember the things that could help me. Modern era is a time for amazing medical advancement so it would have been a shame to just succumb to the pain just because I was toi stupid to remember that there are medicine that could help me with the pain.
I am so glad that my partner was able to remind me last night because I was actually just planning on crying myself to sleep while praying that I see the next day. It sounds so idiotic now, but at the time the pain really did made me think that it was my last night here on this world.
Thank you for reading this article!
If you want to read some more articles of mine, I have monthly summaries here:
December 2021 Articles Summary
November 2021 Articles Summary
It is quite painful to sit for 6 hours straight even if you are working, it is good that you get up a couple of times and walk a little so you do not have circulation problems. You already have as an experience that such an event should have many more breaks to avoid any health problems in the future.
Not all people take medication, only when it is really urgent. Now as you say, your period pains could have been mixed with the time you spent sitting at work, the good thing is that you have a couple who has helped you by reminding you that you can take some medication to feel better.
I recommend you to avoid being so much time standing or sitting immobile, you can try to move or walk a little, just to relax your legs and your body and keep the blood circulation working properly.