One Stress Declining; Another Rising

As my work project is finally coming to its fruition this very day, the buildup of mental stress is beginning to wane.  It seems everything has been going reasonably well and any problems that may occur with our project should be relatively minor and manageable.  I'm sure there will be unanticipated little snafus here and there, but thus is any IT project.  We learn as we go, maintain and fix bugs as we continue to find them, and make continual enhancements.  So, I do finally feel better about this.

Physically, though, I've got a new stressor.  Let me give you the background first.

Last Thursday, my employer threw a lovely picnic for us all.  I had a great time, sang karaoke, even danced and enjoyed life for a while.  It was surely confusing for all my coworkers to see me looking as if I wasn't in any pain at all - especially the ones who don't understand Fibromyalgia and it's ups and downs. 

Anyway, I had been developing a headache near the end of the party, though I ignored it as part of the deal for feeling great and having a few drinks.  I met up with my husband afterwards for water, coffee, and a half-sandwich.  I continued to ignore the headache, hoping the water would help keep it at bay.  I went to sleep expecting it to be gone or mostly gone by morning.

That night, I woke up around 1am feeling absolutely awful.  The headache exploded to a level 7 or 8 and I felt very uncomfortable.  I was nauseated, too, which happens with severe migraines, so I grabbed a couple of Triscuits and water from the kitchen.  Literally, after the first Triscuit, I had to run to the toilet.

I'll spare you the details, but it was pretty clear that this wasn't a typical migraine - it was food poisoning, and my body was getting rid of what I recognized as potato salad cubes, even though I'd only had a bit at the picnic, and it about 12 hours earlier - before my dinner sandwich meal.  I felt a little better after the explosive "episode" was over, but not fantastic by any means.  I assumed I was on my way to feeling better and went back to bed and slept a bit. 

I went to work the next morning, still feeling the workout of my guts and assuming they were just tired and recovering from that night's activities.  I had green tea to help chase away any bacteria.  I'd also found out others were ill from the picnic food, too, which confirmed my theory.  It was a hot day, so it makes sense.  I just wish I'd thought to avoid the "cold" foods.  (Lesson learned!) 

As the day wore on, I started feeling more pain in the guts again.  It was building up again.  I left work early and read about typical food poisoning and how to self-treat.  I assumed it was over that day, but apparently this thing can last a few days - and it is still affecting me today, three days later.  I'm hydrating and eating only bland foods and sparingly until things improve.  When the pain comes on, it gets hard to stand up straight, or tolerate any movement. 

At least I know this is one of those temporary things that normal people get.  If this was just some random Fibro symptom, I'd be much more confused about how long it would last or what it means.  I'll just try to rest my guts and body until this passes, though I still need to get to work to deal with any fresh problems with our new application.

Never fear, though, I've got vacation time scheduled in a few weeks and will be getting some R&R soon.  Just knowing that helps relieve stress.