Starting to foam in the heat

[lizblackdog]

I'm seriously wondering if this heat is going to kill me.

can't eat, can't stop drinking, can't think straight, am soaking myself in cold water every few hours. it feels like the only thing keeping me alive.

mum is doing well at T's, Maisie is fine in London with E. I'm wondering if some of this isn't just the collapse now that the immediate responsibilities of having to rush round coping have been lifted.

however, I've been wondering for a while if there might be something wrong. I've always kept my liquid intake on the high side, but needing 5 litres a day is a bit excessive even for me. There's also been the raging thirst if I'm separated from something to drink for more than fifteen minutes, the faintiness if I don't eat in the morning, the incredible lassitude and foggy thinking - I never do well in the heat but this last week I've felt constantly hungover and I can't spend five minutes on the couch without falling asleep. None of this is normal for me even in the heat.

sister T phoned halfway through typing this entry and nagged till I made a doctor's appointment. the annoyance of getting there on foot/bus has put me off, there's no direct bus and I'm not up to walking far in this weather. however, I still have Mum's debit card (with permission) and Mum says I can get a taxi if I like.

doctor's appt, Friday 14th, 4.20pm. mustn't forget it.

forgive me if I don't comment much today. love you all. but my head's spinning and I'm going to go lie down.

Comments

[randomyst.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I hope everything's OK. (Hot weather over here too and I'm suffering the same thing as yourself including some dizziness. My doctor said I was OK though ... and I have A/C)

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I wish I had a/c. I have the fan going pretty much 24/7 with a bowl of cold water in front of it. It's helping some.

[bites-the-sun.livejournal.com]

Might be a good idea to get your blood glucose tested - raging thirst and unexplained fatigue indicate there might be a problem there.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

that's exactly what I was thinking. a lot of what I have going on is textbook diabetes symptoms. plus, my aunt had it.

[bites-the-sun.livejournal.com]

If there's a family history, it's definitely a sign you should take the symptoms seriously. At least it's an easy test to administer and nothing that requires hospitals and invasive crap. Good luck with your doc's visit.

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

Yep....Type II adult onset diabetes was my immediate thought.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

yes. that's what my aunt had, she was in her forties when she developed it.

don't worry, I've made the appointment. it'll get taken care of whatever it turns out to be.

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

Good girl.
If it IS Type II and you catch it early enough, dietary changes & pills & a bit of weight loss might be able to address it without needles.
Glad the salt drink is helping tho.
From what I read about squash, it's got a LOT of sugar in it.
So not only were you leaching out sale you were adding a lot of sugar. That probably wasn't helping either.
(tho the blackcurrant still sounds yummy)

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

it does contain sugar, but at the rate of dilution I usually make it it's pretty much just very-lightly-flavoured water.

my usual flavour is white grape and peach. I pour half an inch of squash into a 1 litre bottle and fill up with water.

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

you whacky Brits! :-)

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

dunno why Americans don't have it. it's a staple.

I suppose Kool-Aid would be the American equivalent?

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

or Crystal Light or similar things, yes
Oh, my psycho LJ stalker is back, Nye pointed her out to me in a comment on my most recent post lol

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

oh yayyy!!!

*goes to look*

[revolution-grrl.livejournal.com]

It's interesting, I have many of the same symptoms. Waking up in the morning, after hours without drinking anything, is like having spent a week in the Sahara. I drink about 100 oz. plus of water a day, when I haven't done anything especially vigorous. I also get the crazy sugar crashes when I haven't eaten. Every medical professional I have ever told this to has told me with certainty that I am clearly diabetic, and they test me every time, and I'm not. Apparently, I'm hypoglycemic, which is just the opposite. They put me on some medication to help it, and I hated it, so I stopped, but it might help others. So it might be that you're hypoglycemic too. It's mostly just a matter of eating smaller meals more frequently, and having fructosey foods around for when you crash, etc. So if that's it, it shouldn't be a big problem. I hope it nothing more worrisome, and I'll bet it isn't. *hug*

BTW, I've loved seeing the pics of the kittens! I hadn't been keeping up with blogs whilst I was in Siberia, so I didn't even know you had kittens until I got home!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

interesting. perhaps it will be that. I'd certainly rather it were something that wouldn't require me to jab myself with needles. I've done more than enough of that for one lifetime and have a strong aversion to doing it now.
(I know not all forms of diabetes require injections but it'd be a possibility if that's what it turns out to be, and that scares me)

the kittens were a surprise to me too. the arseholes who gave me Cassie didn't tell me she was pregnant (they say they didn't know, but I believe they did) and the vet who confirmed it guessed she was four to five weeks along when she turned out to be seven weeks along, so they arrived two weeks before the earliest date I was expecting them, too.

they've been brilliant, though. Cassie has handled it all like such a pro. She's so great.

[gwenhyffar.livejournal.com]

Right, stop drinking plain water right now.

You are actually in danger of dehydrating yourself by drinking too much water.

Your body needs salts in order to be able to retain a lot of the water (simplified explanation). By drinking 5 liters of plain water a day, you are flushing out the necessary salts from your system, which makes it hard for your body to retain the water.

You will need to switch to a rehydrating drink. Either get those sports drinks, or make one yourself.

Measure all ingredients precisely. Small variations can make the drink less effective or even harmful. Mix the following:

* 950 ml water
* 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 g) baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 g) table salt
* 3 to 4 tablespoons (45 g to 60 g) sugar

Drink that.

Stop drinking plain water. NOW.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

it's actually been very diluted high-juice squash but I guess the principle's the same?

I don't think I have any baking soda in the house...

[gwenhyffar.livejournal.com]

It is the same, there is not enough salt in squash.

However, add some salt to your squash, about half a teaspoon to a litre of squash. That will make things way better until you can get baking soda.

Also, try adding some extra salt to your dinner today, or eat some salty snacks.

[bites-the-sun.livejournal.com]

Just the salt/sugar thing should be Ok - that's the basis of Diaralyte (sp?) that stuff they give you when you're dehydrated from throwing up or diarrhea or something. I had it when I had gastroentertitis and threw up and had the runs constantly for 24 hours, leaving me in a right old state. Funnily enough, after that, I had this INTENSE craving for Fanta and full-sugar Coke and had about six cans in a short period and felt massively better after drinking them.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I always used to keep Dioralyte on hand for the animals but I don't have any at the moment. Funny, that. I have a recipe for a salt/sugar substitute for it and if it had been the dogs or the kittens I'd have thought of it at once.

but I never made the connection when it was me. hah.

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

Squash??

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

hmm, I have dissolvey Vit C tablets which contain sodium bicarbonate. reasonable subsitute?

it's just that I think I'll collapse if I try and go out shopping now.

[gwenhyffar.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a plan to me!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

OK. I am now drinking a concoction of dissolved Vit C tablet, squash, salt and sugar.

it tastes fucking weird and yet bizarrely satisfying, which I believe is my body telling me that was what I needed. thank you for that excellent piece of common sense when I was too brainfrelled to come up with it. :)

[kyra-neko-rei.livejournal.com]

Having read all this, question:

What the bloody blue fuck is "squash?"

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

It's a Brit thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_%28drink%29

I usually remember to translate into American as I go along but I'm too hot today...

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

Ooooo, blackcurrant...*makes note to check at the local Brit grocery*

[james-the-evil1.livejournal.com]

oh, you beat me to it.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

...I've drunk about a third of it and I feel way better. Woah. Clever you!

[gwenhyffar.livejournal.com]

Glad it worked! And glad you're feeling better, feeling lousy in this weather is really really shite.

We've got 33C here today.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

yep, that's about what it is here. all the animals are lying on the coldest parts of the floor like furry rugs of varying sizes. I keep putting ice cubes in their water bowls.

[grimprime.livejournal.com]

Gald to hear that your mum's doing ok, and I'm frankly amazed you can book a doctors appointment that far in advance - [rant] up here in retard-ville you have to book them on the same day, even if it's one the doctor told you to book last time you saw him [/rant]

And on the plus side, it's meant to be 10 degrees cooler on Thursday!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

how bizarre.

I rang them up and said I'd like to see my doctor as soon as poss and that was the soonest they could give me... which is why I don't go to the doctor all that often. Most of what goes wrong will have gone away by the time they can see you.

[huntingdon.livejournal.com]

The heat is horrible.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

it really, really is.

apparently there are thunderstorms in london. I wish there'd be one here.

[kronob.livejournal.com]

Outlaw heat

Hope ya feel better :(

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I wish!

That salt thing gwenhyffar suggested helped a lot. I'm still way too hot but I don't feel nearly so sick.

thanks :)

[curefreak.livejournal.com]

Glad your Mum is doing well :).

Little concerned about you though. Could in be "heat stroke"? No, I'm not being silly :). The symptoms do sound similar. Just keep drinking water.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I think gwenhyffar nailed it with her salt/sugar suggestion above, because as soon as I did that I felt a shitload better - basically I was drinking so much water I was leaching the salts out of myself.

it rained in the night. JOY!!!