I am writing this tip for myself this morning. Sometimes you have to remind yourself how to think, don’t you?
I am having a crap day. Actually a crap couple of days. I reacted to something with a swollen oesophagus, stomach lining and abdomen 3 days ago. The something stuck in the throat thing hasn’t happened at all for about six months so I know I have inadvertently consumed citrus or corn, which is what usually causes that particular problem. Of course, it means the whole oesophagus is swollen – which is a bit scary since it feels like there is less room in my chest for breathing. The whole digestive tract swells and I look like the proverbial Michelin man, or, as P put it this morning, as if I am carrying a litter of five or six kittens (he knows that will make me smile and feel better, bless him).
Happily, the throat swelling went down after 24 hours but I’m left with that totally bloated feeling. This is caused by the inflammation reaction sending fluid to protect the lining of the stomach and abdomen, much like you’d get a swelling if you banged your knee: everything rushes there to start healing it, which is actually a good thing even though it doesn’t feel nice.
So, I did the usual thing today and started to panic. You forget how well you feel, don’t you, when you’re on the up? You think it’s all coming back. It’s a waste of time. I may as well eat my weight in junk food. You scour your food diary or brain trying to work out what it was and gradually panic about it being more than a food reaction. I convinced myself this morning I have all the symptoms of ovarian cancer, no less! What is it they say about too much knowledge being a dangerous thing sometimes?!
The point I am trying to make is this: if you have a reaction that lasts a couple of days, don’t let it throw you, don’t spend hours trying to work it out; just accept you have a reaction, relax as much as you can and be kind to yourself. It will pass.
If the reaction lasts more than 5 days, that’s the time to start thinking about what is going on, not before; it’s simply a waste of time and energy. You WILL have reactions, you WILL have bad days amongst the improving ones, there is no doubt. The vast majority of those reactions will be temporary, albeit nasty, I know, but very few will actually last.
Right, did I hear that?! I think so. I’ll let you know how many kittens I have.