Scream Like a Baby

Truly, it has been the worst day. Whilst the early hours of Wednesday were utterly frustrating until I managed to fall asleep at 0530, this morning was constant pain - sleep on my right one minute, on the left the next... no, that's worse. Try the right again... ad nauseum.

It feels like someone poured concrete into my left ear. I've got conductive hearing loss, and the ear canal is inflamed. Would you like me to describe what it's like to have a shooting pain in the ear every 5 minutes and having to hear the perpetual throbbing of your pulse for 2 days straight? The only sleep I got last night was about 30 minutes around 1AM, and 5 minutes at about 0430.

I gave up trying to get any sleep at half nine and had a quick shower at 10, followed by half an hour in a bath. It's probably a few years since I last had a bath, I'm a little taller than the length of the bath so I generally don't prefer it. My kitten loves the water and was sleeping under the radiator in the bathroom, whilst I tried to shut-out the pain in my ear. I felt really light as I dried my hair and went to sit down to start writing this at 1100. That's when I got that feeling I have when I'm on the verge of vomiting - that taste in the mouth in preparation, the tightness of the stomach. I stumbled to the bathroom, feeling very weak and having the blood drain from my head. I started hyperventilating, which come to think of it is probably the reason I've ever vomited over the years - the panic as you try and fit a breath in before pushing the contents of your stomach up your gullet. Sitting on the floor, leaning against the bath, I felt my legs going numb and knew I had to slow my breathing down.

Using my strength of will, I slowed my breathing; holding my breath to re-establish normal rhythm. Bah, I need no paper bag. Sleep deprivation forced me to lie down on the bed and finally fall asleep for 4 hours. I've got a prescription of Amox 250 (I was checking if it was a placebo... what?), which may actually be helping already - though the pain seems to have risen again at 10PM.

A fun day, wouldn't you agree?

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